MANUKES AND THEIR APPLICATION. 305 



manures, is looked upon somewhat as a necessary evil and a 

 nuisance. This is indeed a strange doctrine, and those who run 

 after it will have all the way to run back again. A deeper truth 

 and a truer science teach us that farmyard manure ought to 

 be the one on which most attention should be bestowed, and that 

 artificial manures should be used chiefly as adjuncts and supple- 

 ments of this great manure. It is in this respect that artificial 

 manures are so beneficial. They can be used to supply the 

 deficiences of farmyard manure, and by their judicious em- 

 ployment they are capable of greatly enhancing the value of a 

 crop, and often by their timely application even rescue it from 

 failure. 



While I should be sorry to undervalue the great services 

 rendered to agriculture by artificial manures, where judiciously 

 and economically applied, yet when I consider their costliness, 

 their susceptibility to weather influence, the ease with which 

 they can be misapplied, and the great want of knowledge which 

 prevails regarding their qualities and their proper and precise 

 application, I can see that in relying too much upon their help, 

 farmers are running considerable risk, and that as the use of 

 these manures is becoming more and more extended, it is of the 

 utmost importance that efficient means should be adopted to 

 prevent their being used indiscriminately or wastefuUy. Of 

 equal, or even greater importance, is the exercise of economy and 

 care in the production and accumulation of farmyard manure. 



I would like to say a few words regarding farmyard manure. In 

 the abundance of the discussion which has been going on all around 

 us recently regarding various forms of artificial manures, the 

 claims of farmyard manure have been somewhat overlooked. The 

 great difference between it and artificial manures is its great bulk 

 and the large amount of organic matter it contains. This is fre- 

 quently cited against it as a disadvantage, but this very bulkiness 

 is a characteristic which contributes largely to its usefulness as 

 an ameliorator of the soil. The effects of short dung upon light 

 soil and of long dung upon heavy soil are to improve greatly the 

 physical character of each, and upon sharp, cold soils the large 

 amount of organic matter imported by a liberal application of 

 farmyard manure, is attended with the greatest benefit. Organic 

 matter, althougli it has fallen into disregard during these days of 

 phosphate of lime and nitrate of soda, is a very valuable consti- 

 .tuent in a soil, and though it is not directly absorbed by the roots 

 of such plants as form our crops, it has nevertheless very impor- 

 tant functions to perform in the soil. It forms a soft kindly bed 

 for roots to ramify in, and it is suiTiciently retentive of moisture 

 to prevent tlie crop from suffering much from drought. i)y its 

 decomposition it yields carbonic acid, which has the power of 

 decomposing various minerals in the soil, and setting free their 



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