6 THE FIRST AND FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE IN AGRICULTURE. 



land is asjaiii brousfht under cultivation, the rootlets of the 

 various crops follow the dead vegetable matter deep down into 

 the soil, extracting nitrogen therefrom as required. For the 

 same reason all crops thrive w^ell after a crop of beans ; they 

 leave a large quantity of vegetable matter in the soil, by their 

 rootlets, when in vigorous growth the previous year, having 

 penetrated deep into the soil, bringing nitrogen from afar to be 

 made use of by the following crops. 



Before leaving this part of the subject I would point out some 

 of the results of the use of special manures. In the first place, 

 they were the means of raising larger crops, which paid the farmer. 

 ISText in order, they raised the value of land by farmers outbidding 

 each other. And lastly, they have been the means, along with 

 the rotation system and other conditions in leases, of reducing 

 the vegetable matter in the soil to a state below which profitable 

 cultivation cannot now be carried on. 



II. Artificial Manures used in Large Quantities to Continuous 

 Cro]oping ; and have they upheld the Fertility of the Soil at 

 a Paying Cost .? 



I can only refer to the experiments at Eothamsted for proof 

 under this heading, as published in the Transactions of the 

 HighlaMcl and Agricidturcd Society for 1880, being a descrip- 

 tion of a visit to this experimental station by Dr. Andrew P. 

 Aitken. It is unfortunate, however, for these experiments that 

 Dr. Aitken did not give us some idea of the composition of the 

 soil at Eothamsted, and of the profit and loss attending these 

 experiments. On these all-important points we are left to judge 

 from the produce of the unmanured plot, and from the expense 

 of the manures applied. Twenty-four years ago the produce of 

 barley from the unmanured plot would have been about three 

 quarters per acre. This of itself shows that the soil at Eotham- 

 sted was then fairly rich in vegetable matter; and from the 

 fact that this plot, after twenty-four years of continuous 

 cropping, is still giving nearly two quarters of barley per acre, 

 the belief is forced upoa one that the soil at Eothamsted must 

 contain a depth of A^egetable matter becoming gradually avail- 

 able for the use of crops. Our scientific gentlemen have 

 obviously overlooked this fundamental element in the soil, and 

 drawn conclusions from the use of certain manures at Eotham- 

 sted that can never be attained to upon a soil devoid of vege- 

 table matter. This appears to explain why so many different 

 opinions are held with regard to Dr. Lawes' experiments. 

 Favourable as such a soil is for the application of special 

 manures, yet these experiments afford strong proof on the 

 negative side of the problem I have on hand. 



On examining the barley experiments at page 249, we find 



