124 ANNUAL BEPORT OF N. Y. STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



for the chemical melioration of the soil by means of manures, 

 and as thus one most fruitful source of the failure of fertilizers 

 would be removed, we should have reason to hope that the vexed 

 questions concerning them would be brought to a solution, and 

 out of the present confusion of agricultural opinions and prac- 

 tices, would be evolved a system having in it some signs of har- 

 mony and completeness. 



That between these different characters of the soil and circum- 

 stances in which it may be found an intimate connection exists, is 

 perfectly obvious. In these pages the writer has endeavored to 

 show this connection to a sufficient extent; much more, however, 

 might be written regarding it — much space might also be occupied 

 with the discussion of the characteristics of special soils, but it 

 would be necessary in so doing, in the deficiency of experimental 

 data, to trust more to speculation than is desirable in cases com- 

 plicated with so many conditions. The subject is therefore com- 

 mended to the careful study of the farmer, in full confidence 

 that he will here and there be able to derive practical benefit 

 from it. In conclusion it must not be neglected to repeat, that 

 in addition to these physical characters, the chemical properties 

 and relations of the soil (including the theory of manures), 

 are concerned in determining the fertility of soils, and a compre- 

 hensive view of the whole subject is indispensable to the highest 

 success in making a practical application of science. 



For the full elucidation of the chemistry of the soil, and for 

 the theory of those mechanical operations, as drainage and 

 tillage, which, serving greatly to improve the physical condition 

 of soils, also materially influence its chemical character, the 

 reader is referred to Johnston's " Lectures on Agricultural Chem- 

 istry and Geology," or to Stoeckhardt's "Chemical Field Lectures." 



