Albrecht Thaer Quotes
1752–1828 Germany
Albrecht Daniel Thaer (14 May 1752 – 26 October 1828) was a renowned German agronomist and an avid supporter of the humus theory for plant nutrition.
Random Albrecht Thaer quote
11 quotes
The true yield of business is determined less by the size of the estate than by the sum of the investment.
Thaer cited in: Marion W. Gray (2000)
An agricultural enterprise requires: 1st, a suitable person; 2nd, capital; 3rd, an estate.
In the greater number of cases, peat is very much like acid or sour humus; indeed, it sometimes resembles it so strikingly that it is impossible to distinguish these substances apart.
Agronomy; or a Treatise on the Constituent Parts and Physical Properties of the Soil, and the best Method of acquiring a Knowledge of the different Earths, and ascertaining their Value.
Agriculture is a trade with the purpose... to produce profit or to gain money. The higher this benefit in the long run, the more complete this purpose is fulfilled.
Thaer (1810)
Every person who seeks to practise agriculture with the full success which it admits—and that is the natural aim of every one who engages in it—must possess energy, activity, reflection, perseverance, and a knowledge of all the kindred and accessory sciences.
It is the residue of animal and vegetable putrefaction, and is a black body; when dry it is pulverulent, and when wet has a soft, greasy feel... It is the produce of organic power—a compound of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen, such as cannot be chemically composed.
By capital we understand everything that, from the special use by the individual, or from its being placed at the disposal of others, produces a revenue or rent. We do not inquire into its origin, or ask whether it has been acquired by inheritance or by labour.
The science of agriculture rests on experience; and nothing else should be required or expected from it but that which appertains to a practical science. The first principles arise from the perceptions of the senses; but if experience wholly and entirely flowed from these perceptions, the development would not be less the offspring of science and the work of the understanding.
The science of agriculture does not lay down any positive rules, but it develops the motives by which the best possible method of proceeding may be discovered and successfully pursued. In fact, the art executes some law given and received, but it is from science that law emanates.
The art of agriculture is the realization of some ideal object. lie who practises it has received from others, without considering the reasons on which it is founded, the idea or rule by which he proceeds. The skilful practice of an art consists, therefore, in the adoption of new ideas, in the study of new rules, and in judging the fitness of their being carried into practice.