VOL.3. No. 6
RELATION OF CHEMISTRY TO AGRICULTURE
661
product. The rapid drying, the luster, and other desirable qualities of varnish are the result of chemical action. I n this brief discussion it has been possible merely to suggest the close relation that exists between chemistry and agriculture. The world of nature is one great laboratory in which chemical changes are continually taking place. The preparation of plant food, the growth of plants, the action of bacteria are all chemical processes that make agriculture possible. For ages man farmed blindly, hampered by ignorance of the science that lay a t the base of his enterprise. For the most part, the life of the farmer has been one of drudgery, incessant toil, privation, and loss. It is not surprising that the tillers of the soil were the serfs, the debtors, and that the ambitious and the destitute alike quitted the land for the possibilities of the city. With the coming of the knowledge of chemistry that makes the farmer the master of his craft, the scene is changed. Futile effort and wasteful practices are eliminated. Crops and livestock are protected against loss. Chemistry establishes the value of the farmer's product. Power lifts the load from tired shoulders, multiplies the farmer's accomplishments, and gives him time for the enrichment of life. Rapid transportation and communication have emancipated the farm people as social beings. Best of all, the mental attitude has changed, both of the farmer toward his occupation and of people, in general, toward agriculture. The farmer's knowledge of chemistry and of the part that i t performs in agriculture gives to him confidence, enterprise, a sense of power, satisfaction, and contentment that were impossible before. Toward the devoted scientists whose labors have made this marvelous change possible . in agriculture . the farmer can have only a feeling of confidence and esteem.
HAROLD WALKER
Friends of Harold Walker, instructor in chemistry at the Rapid City, S. D., high school were shocked to learn of his sudden demise an May 7th. It was known that he was ill of scarlet fever hut his condition had not been considered serious until shortly before he passed away. Harold Walker was born in Daleville, Ind., December 25. 1897. He was valedictorian of his high-school dass at Middletown, Ind., and graduated with distinction from Indiana University in 1920. In 1925 he received his master's degree from the University of Chicago. Walker was a member of the Senate of Chemical Education and delivered a paper at the recent Tulsa Meeting of the American Chemical Society. He is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Walker and his sister, Mrs. Young. of Daleville, Ind.
