Adolf Lehmann

A 1902 pamphlet on crop pests in Kannada produced by Lehmann

In 1898 he moved to India to set up the department of agriculture in Mysore State. Lehmann's appointment was based on the recommendations of the Voelcker commission to the government of India.[7] Among his achievements were the establishment of rigorous experimental techniques based on pot cultures, field plots, and developing chemical assays for phosphorus in plant and animal matter (including studies on the nutritive value of "famine foods"). He studied soil fertility, and conducted research on improving the process of converting sugarcane juice to sugar (reducing losses by neutralizing with lime before boiling[8]),[9] treating water for drinking, and in paper making.[10] In 1908, as his appointment term ended,[11] shortly after the death of his wife,[12] the Government of Mysore decided not to renew the position of Agricultural Chemist. He also worked with coffee planters in attempts to improve the quality and yield of coffee.[13] The Planters' Association resolved in a meeting "That this Association deplores the retrograde policy of the Mysore Government with regard to agriculture by which the services of Dr Lehmann are lost to the Province. It desires to place on record its high appreciation of the valuable services rendered to the planting industry by Dr. Lehmann."[14] Lehmann was quoted by the planters as saying - "what you need is experiment, and experiment, and experiment."[15] Lehmann had worked for nine years before he returned to Canada, to work initially at Queen's University, and then at the University of Alberta as a professor of chemistry. He was succeeded in 1908 in the state of Mysore by Leslie Coleman who had been recruited as a mycologist and entomologist. In Canada he studied bitumen deposits in the Athabasca river, studied soil chemistry and influenced numerous students. He was invalid for the last eight years of his life and died at Kingston, Ontario.[16][17]

Lehmann married Georgina Mary Agnes (born Lovick) (May 11, 1870, Kingston - May 3, 1908, Bangalore) on October 12, 1898 and they had three sons and a daughter in Bangalore. Georgina died of typhoid six weeks after the birth of their only daughter Mary Georgina in Bangalore. Georgina's sister Caroline Melissa Lovick (1867-1967) took care of the children and Lehmann married her in 1911 at Edmonton. The family lived at Gowsworth on Fittons Road in Orillia.

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  Lehmann's office and laboratory, currently housing the department of agriculture in Bangalore
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  Floor plan of the agricultural laboratory and office
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  Design of the wetland experimental plots at Hebbal (now part of the flyover and ring road)