lOS [Senate 



sequence necessarily i&, that a continued course of cropping must 

 eventually exhaust this fund of matter, and leave the land unproduc- 

 tive, a result perfectly consonant with experience. To prevent this 

 result, the plants and vegetable or organic matter^ taken from the 

 soil, or its equivalent, must be returned to it in the shape of manure. 

 When this is done, there is no such thing as exhausting a soil, or 

 rendering it unproductive. Farmers talk about lands becoming unfit 

 for the production of crops, for which they w^er€ once excellent. 

 Why is this] Simply because some substance which existed in that 

 soil, to but a limited extent, but which was essential to the perfection 

 of the crop grow^n, wheat for example, had been exhausted by crop- 

 ping, and therefore the grain could not be perfected. It is evident 

 that if as much, or more of this substance had been returned to the 

 soil in the shape of manure than had been taken from it in the shape 

 of crops, the fertility would not only have been maintained, but even 

 increased. There are no farmers that manure so heavily as the Fle- 

 mish ones; and there are no farms, which as a whole, approach so 

 near the state of rich garden mold as these ; and in no department 

 of farm management in the United States, is there such culpable waste 

 of money as is shown in our neglect of manures. It is unnecessary here 

 to go into an elaborate notice of the different kinds of manures. Ex- 

 cept in the immediate vicinity of cities, the farmer must rely princi- 

 pally on stable and barn-yard manure; making use occasionally of 

 lime, marl, gypsum, or such other articles as the soil may demand, or 

 his ability permit. Of the mineral manures, gypsum or plaster is most 

 used, and is certainly one of the most valuable of the whole class. 

 It is therefore to the preparation and use of stable and barn-yard 

 manure, that the farmer must look for his supply of manures; and in 

 this, much of the skill of farm management consists. A much greater 

 quantity of manure will be saved where animals are fed in stables, 

 or soiled as this mode of feeding is called, throughout the year, than 

 where they are allowed to run at large in pastures during the summer 

 months, or in open yards during the winter. To increase the quan- 

 tity of manure and its value, the stables, yards, pig-pens, and cow- 

 houses, &c., should be furnished with regular and ample supplies of 

 straw litter, as this will absorb and retain a large portion of the urine 

 and fluid matters which might otherwise escape and be lost. A large 

 supply of swamp muck, or peat, should be always provided to be 



