PRIZE ESSAY 



ON MANURES AND THEIR APPLICATION. 



BY EDWARD MASON, OF DETROIT. 



The word Manure, is derived from manus, the hand, and was intend- 

 ed to mean all substances which are applied to the soil, artificially, that 

 is by the hand. 



In early ages of the world, when men were ^Q'vr, they maintained 

 themselves by their flocks and herds, or derived a precarious support 

 from the chase ; but when they multiplied and collected together in 

 cities, it was necessary to cultivate the ground, in order to procure a reg- 

 ular supply of food. After a time it was disco»-ered that a continual 

 succession of crops exhausted the fertility of the soil, and the earth 

 refused to yield its fruits without the aid of manure. 



The Egyptians have been an agricultural people from the earliest 

 ages, and the manure which they depended on was the mud deposited 

 by the overflowing of the Nile. 



Various plans were adopted for the purpose of conveying the water 

 of this river, and causing it to spread in fertilizing streams over the 

 corn fields. Columns were erected in certain places along the river, and 

 by them the rising or falling of the water, was accurately determined. 

 When the river rose to a certain height, the people knew it would soon 

 overflow the plains, and the land resounded with mirth; but when it 

 remained at low water mark the Egyptians mourned, for they knew that 

 a famine would ensue. 



The Chinese seem to have understood the value of manure, from a 

 very remote period of antiquity. They found that in order to be ena- 

 bled to raise food for their dense population, it was necessary to culti- 

 vate every spot of ground, and they carried their tillage even up to the 



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