Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-05-28
Agricultural.
Prof At~"ter'. Pamphiet-.Chemi.try.

Prof Atw ater's PamphIet-..Ch
The pamphlet on Fertilizers by Prof W.
o. Atwater. published and distributed under
the auspices of the State Agricultural College,
deserves more extended notice. The con
illusions therein are based, in part. on the re-
suit of experiments by persons in different
parts Of this State, under the superintendent
of the University, and, in part, on expert
ments at various other stations and the gen
eral principles of agricultural chemistry The
pamphlet contains a brief summary of these
general principles clearly stated in language
as much free from technical terms as the sub
iect admits.
Prof Atwater has the merit, not possessed
by all agricultural chemists, of not assuming
to know positively things which are uncer-
tain. He joins to his theoretical knowledge
rare amount of caution and practical good
sense. He is familiar with the varying re-
suits of large number of experiments in
growing plants by the use Of chemicals, both
in this country and in Europe, and accepts
nothing beyond what appears to be proved
by repeated trials. Though his field of labor
has been mostly at the experimental station
in Connecticut, he has been acquainted from
boyhood with the practical working of
Vermont farm.
The pamphlet has only sixteen pages, yet
it contains the gist and substance of whole
volume 1t may be obtained at our office
gratuitously or 10y addressing President
Buckham, at Burlington.
1t is possible that We shall he more than
compensated for the difficulty of finding gen
uine students OF agriculture to fill that de
partment of the college, by the diversion of
part of the income of the fund to the teach
ing of all the farmers in the State. The work
of the University in conducting these expert
ments and procuring the publication of the
results is certainly, SO far as it goes, to be
commended
The lectures Of Prof Atwater have done
much to awaken new interest in agricultur-
al chemistry among the intelligent farmers
of this State The value of the science in
its application to agriculture is beginning to
be appreciated. 1t is only few years since
its practical use in determining what should
be applied to certain soils to restore or in
crease their fertility, was doubted by some
writers of high repute. The theories of the
earlier authors of books on agricultural chem
istry, though in the main correct, were found
to fail in practice being modified by so many
conditions and circumstances not taken into
account Thus their teachings came to be
considered hs having little value for practi-
cal farmers. Later writers have tested the
cries by repeated experiments, till the great
value of the science to agriculture has been
completely demonstrated. No intelligent
person longer doubts.
The application of chemistry to agricul-
ture is work of the present generation.
This branch of the science is yet in its infan-
cy. The possibilities of what may be done
in the future may be greater than any chem
list now claims. The whole science of chem
istry is of comparatively recent origin. On
ly a little more than century ago, oxygen,
one of the most abundant substances in ma
ture, constituting two-ffths of all the matter
with which we are acquainted, was not known
to exist. 1t was discovered by Dr. Priestly
in l774. OF course, the composition of air
and water and the hundreds of mineral and
organic substances into which oxygen enters
in combination, was not understood before
this date. At the present time new theories
are being advanced and new facts discov-
the idea of the ancient alchemists of the
transmutation of metals, or their artificial
production, is no longer ridiculed.