J. A. Voelcker

John Augustus (Jr.) succeeded his father as consulting chemist to the Royal Agricultural Society of England and continued research on soil fertility.

[1][2] Voelcker then, like his father, studied chemistry in Giessen and received a doctorate for work on the composition of apatite and natural forms of calcium phosphate.

[3] In 1889, Voelcker was requested, on the recommendation of Sir James Caird,[4] by the Secretary of State for India to examine improvements in Indian agriculture.

[3] Voelcker's travels and enquiries led to his noting that Indian agriculture was highly varied across the country, defying generalization, and that some of the farming practices were as good as they could be.

The department of agriculture had been dissolved but Voelcker met a key person associated with it in the past, Allan Octavian Hume.