4 THE FIRST AND FUNDAMENTAL PKINCIPLE IN AGRICULTURE. 



be found. Experiments in these two cases "wonld be more 

 truthful in telling the value of the manures alone. Would these 

 manures leave a profit without the vegetable matter in the soil? 

 My experience tells me that it is nothing short of a delusion 

 to think of such a thing, and how such a line of action has 

 ever been adopted at our experimental stations is beyond my 

 conjecture. Vegetable matter cannot be displaced with profit, 

 because it is the cheapest source from whence to supply nitrogen 

 to all the crops of the farm. It was the first manure. It may 

 be said to be the manure of the Creator. And there are in- 

 stances, where, by cqyjjlication, it has stood the test of con- 

 tinuous cropping throughout the history of agriculture. There- 

 fore, to preserve it in paying quantity in the soil is the first 

 principle in agiiculture, and will, undoubtedly, direct the future 

 of land management ; for it is indisputable that dead vegetable 

 matter of good quality contains every ingredient necessary for 

 the production of all the crops of the farm. If our men of 

 science wish to test the value of vegetable matter as a fertiliser 

 against these special manures, then let them break up a piece 

 of rich grass land full of vegetable matter, and apply these 

 special manures in any quantity they please to land containing 

 no vegetable matter whatever. Let this be done both to root 

 crops and grain crops, and publish the results and profit and 

 loss in both cases, when, I am sure, the mind of the agricultural 

 communitv will be directed into a new channel. 



A theory has gone abroad that if a certain field is rich in 

 any particular manure, farmers need only apply such other 

 manures as the field is deficient in to secure good results ; but 

 to make this practicable it would require an army of chemists 

 continually about the country to analyse not only every field, 

 but difterent parts of every field, which cannot be carried out. 

 But supposing there were no hindrances to farmers putting 

 down their land to grass, would they not have at their command 

 a much surer and better way of knowing what kind of manure 

 every spot of the farm would require than by analysis of the 

 soil; for there is nothing that will show the condition of the 

 land better than three and four-years-old grass, — and this is the 

 time to supply deficiencies, which a practical farmer w^ould not 

 have much difficulty in doing. And I think it is good practice 

 not to plough up any grass land until it has first been made 

 sufficiently rich in vegetable matter so as to support, at least, 

 two paying grain crops and one turnip crop without any 

 manure, excepting a moderate quantity of byre dung applied to 

 the turnip crop. I believe it will be necessary here to explain 

 that by adopting this system the whole of the present method 

 of farming would be revolutionised. The object being to in- 

 crease the quantity and quality of vegetable matter in the soil, — 

 and rye grass by cultivation, having become a kind of cereal, 



