410 Tlie Neglect of Chemistry hy Practical Far men 



in the following pages will be, in the first place, to discover the 

 causes of this neglect by the farmer of what may be — I might 

 almost say must he — of such practical advantage to him ; and, in 

 the second, how far these obstacles may be removed by means 

 that are already in our possession. 



And first let me state, for the information of those farmers 

 who question the right of chemists to teach them, that I am no 

 chemist, and that the knowledge of chemistry requisite for the 

 formation of such tables as are appended to this essay, is nothing- 

 more than may be easily acquired by any farmer, with the aid 

 of any of the many excellent treatises on chemistry that are now 

 published. But, so far as I can understand, the fact that chemists 

 have hitherto received so little assistance from the practical 

 farmer, may be mainly ascribed to the following causes : — 



1. The previous habits and education of the farmer not adapted to the ex- 



igencies of the times from the rapidity with which agricultural chemistry 

 has sprung up into importance. 



2. Mistrust in the minds of farmers, caused by the practical failure of many 



theories which had been too rashly and dogmatically asserted as fads 

 by chemists and others. 



3. The liability to error, from the great caution necessary in drawina: deduc- 



tions from any experiment in practical agriculture, and the difficulty of 

 ascertaining the amount of dependence to be placed on it, from the 

 variety of influences that may affect the result obtained. 



4. The few opportunities that the generality of farmers have of selecting 



the most trustworthy analyses, or of estimating the degree of depend- 

 ence that may be placed on any analysis, by comparing it with similar 

 ones, made by different chemists ; on accotmt of their being scattered 

 through so many different works. 



5. The labour required to reduce them when found, to a state in which they 



may be of any practical service, from the fact of chemists not adhering 

 to one uniform standard, or calculating the results of their researches 

 in a practical form. 



6. The impossibility of making any practical use of many of the analyses, 



published for the benefit of farmers, on account of the chemist having 

 omitted to state the proportion of ash contained in the substance 

 analyzed, w^hen in its natural state. 



Cause 1. — " Previous Habits and Education of Farmers," &c. — 

 The British farmer of the last generation would have laughed at the 

 idea of learning anything of farming from books ; he felt that he 

 had gained the proud pre-eminence of being the best practical 

 farmer in the world, and therefore, he thought that the system he 

 had inherited was perfection, and that all that was necessary for 

 his son was, to follow faithfully in his steps (and it must be 

 allowed that the son has well sustained the reputation of the 

 father) ; so that, instead of keeping him at school longer than 

 was necessary to learn the mere rudiments of general knowledge, 

 he early withdrew him, in order to instruct him in all the then 

 known mysteries of practical farming. Hence it arises that the 



