Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 39.djvu/363

Rh this field, and numerous agricultural societies had their more or less active chemists.

But the epoch begun at Möckern in 1851 was new. The work which had been already accomplished had been so brilliant, so practical, so helpful, that when the society at Möckern established the first German experiment station, and secured government aid for it, the scientific German mind became fully aroused. It needed but two years of its valuable work to demonstrate its usefulness, and in 1853 the good example set by the Möckern farmers was followed by those of Chemnitz, also in Saxony.

From this time on agricultural experiment stations have multiplied so rapidly in Europe that it has been almost impossible to keep statistical pace with their growth. In 1856 there were five, in 1866 there were thirty, in 1873 there were sixty-three, while today there are one hundred and ten in France and Germany alone.

Fortunately for American farmers, a young American of exceptional intellectual abilities, reared in an agricultural community, and full of interest and zeal for his chosen profession of chemistry, went to Germany in 1853 to finish his studies at the University of Leipsic. Although Samuel W. Johnson had chosen scientific pursuits, he had by no means lost his interest in rural life, and, when led by chance or accident within so short a distance of the new station at Möckern, he at once became imbued with its life and spirit. The career of Samuel W. Johnson, now Professor of Agricultural Chemistry in the Sheffield Scientific School, and Director of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, was begun, and a fame was started which, gradually increasing with his investigations and published works, has reached a height in agricultural science which many will strive to reach in vain. He must always be considered the pioneer of America in science applied to agriculture-Fortunately, also, another young man, whose chief fault was in being born a few years later than his teacher, went to take a post-graduate course under Prof. Johnson, at New Haven. Receiving his doctor's degree in 1860, Wilbur O. Atwater went to Germany and there made a special study of the then largely increased number of experiment stations.

In 1872 the question had been discussed at a convention held in Washington, but on the 17th of December, 1873, the first direct effort to start an agricultural experiment station on this continent was made. Dr. Atwater on that day read a paper before an assembly of Connecticut farmers, in which he strongly advocated the establishment of such a station. His remarks were supplemented by Prof. Johnson; and, although the idea was new to most of those present, their arguments were so clear and convincing that a committee of eight was appointed to try and secure an appropriation from their Legislature for the purpose. The