MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
63 
even with the same crop, present just the same problems, and no 
stereotyped practice can bring the best results any more than a stereo- 
typed “analysis'" will enable you to advise him. 
The State of Michigan is to be congratulated in that the Academy 
of Science recognizes the importance and the character of soil investiga- 
tions by formulating the comprehensive program of today. The State is 
to be congratulated that the State Agricultural College and Experi- 
ment Station have inaugurated the comprehensive and coordinated in- 
vestigations which have made possible this program. For alone, neither 
the chemist, the physicist or mineralogist, nor the biologist can longer 
hope to advance in soil work. Each must have the continued assist- 
ance of the others. No longer can the Michigan farmer continue with 
success the methods of his father or grandfather. He must develop a 
judgment that will enable him to handle each particular field accord- 
ing to its own individual merits for definite crops or rotations. To 
this end he can now command invaluable assistance from the soil sur- 
veys; from the office of the experiment stations; and from the professors 
in the State Agricultural College. Above all, from his own observa- 
tions and deductions can he get direction for the future. But to get 
intelligent counsel from reading, observation, or expert, the farmer 
must know the nature of his problem and the character of the principal 
processes taking place therein. 
To sum up, the principal points that I would like to emphasize are: 
That soils are complex, but that they are susceptible to management 
and the development of high efficiency; that the methods for doing this 
are fairly well known; that in its major outlines the theoretical basis 
of soil management is fairly simple, and that its practice is rapidly 
becoming a highly developed art which needs for its best application 
a comprehensive coordination of the labors of the physicist, chemist, 
biologist, and other investigators, and a clearer understanding between 
the layman and the expert as to how they may be mutually helpful. 
Washington, D. C., April, 1911. 
