Abstract

Agricutural science as we understand it today is a young growth. It is only in the past 25 years or so, that any considerable number of trained and competent scientists has been engaged in agricultural research, and with rare exceptions the agricultural laboratories have not celebrated a Golden Jubilee. The soil physicist was a relatively late arrival; there was no physicist on the Rothamsted staff until 1913. The primary contribution of physics to agricultural science is obviously in the study of the soil, its physical properties, the laws governing the retention, movement and loss of water, and the bearing of these laws on plant growth. The practical applications of this knowledge largely concern the operations and their effect on soil moisture and on plant growth. Those are the main subjects embraced in soil physics: theory and practice.

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