412 
Agricultural Chemistry. 
in the laboratory at Giessen, with tlie sole object of giving a 
firmer basis to bis " exposition of the causes of the advantageous 
results attending the jiractice of rotation of crops, and also of 
effectually banishing all doubts concerning their accuracy." 
He goes on to say, " / am now, for the first time, since 
the completion of these labours, in a situation to give a simple 
and determinate expression to my views of the origin of 
animal excrements, and of the cause of their beneficial effects on 
the growth of all vegetables." And he adds : " Noio that the 
conditions xoliich render the soil j)roductive, and capable of afford- 
ing support to p)lants, are ascertained, it cannot well be denied, 
that from chemistry alone all further progress in agriculture is to 
be expected." 
After this announcement, it would have been unfair to Baron 
Liebig, to have attributed to him in any discussion, the A'iews of 
his earlier editions, on points wherein he had modified them in 
his later ones. With this feeling, Avhenever we have, in our various 
papers, pointed out wherein it appeared to us that Baron Liebig's 
doctrines, as applied to agriculture as it is, required either modi- 
fication or correction, we have invariably discarded all reference 
to his earlier published views, and assumed as our starting-j)oint 
those given in his later editions, for which he claims a firmer 
basis and a greater certainty. 
Baron Liebig, however, as it would appear, Avithout having 
at that time read our own statement of our views, but only that 
summary of tliem given in a few lines by the late Mr. I'usey, 
devoted a note of some pages to a notice of our conclusions as so 
given. He expresses himself thus : 
■f " With regard to the experiments of Mr. Lawes (tlie best authority, according 
to Mr. I'usey), they are entirely devoid of value, as the foundation for general 
conclusions. With a knowledge of our experience of the effects of fallow, and 
of production on the large scale, it re()uires all the coin-age derived from a 
want of intimate acqiuiintance with the subject to assert, that certainly 
ammonia is peculiarly lifted (ov f/rain, and ^Jivyhoriifi for turnips, and that 
manuring with straw is proliahly advantageous for turnips." — Letters, 3rd 
edition, p. 480. 
Now, although Mr. Pusey was, perhaps, more competent than 
any other practical agriculturist to speak to the wants of British 
farming, yet the terms used by him were by no means those which 
we ourselves should have employed ; and it was obviously unfair 
in any writer to take his statement of our views, rather than 
that which we have ourselves given of them. 
But, nevertheless, so fully satisfied were we of the conclu- 
sions intended to be expressed by Mr. Pusey — in the language 
and in the connexion in which we have ourselves given them 
in our Papers — that we felt it incumbent on us to reply to 
such emphatic condemnation of our ex2)eriments and conclusions, 
