APPENDIX. ISl 



to the highest state of productiveness, even did such manures 

 coutain, in the requisite proportion, all the ingredients required. 

 Everj intelligent agriculturist knows, that in the present con- 

 dition of things, fertilizers must be had from some source aside 

 from the stables, or it is impossible to bring our farms to the 

 highest state of fertility, even if when attained, their fertility 

 can be maintained from this source alone. Hence, every intelli- 

 gent farmer desires most of all to know, 



1. How he can the most economically and successfully in- 

 crease the quantity of his stable manures, iuiprove their quality, 

 and most eflfectually and economically apply thcni to the soil. 



2. To what other sources can he look for a supply of fer- 

 tilizers, aside from his stables, the best adapted to the peculiar 

 wants of his soil, and which will supply them at the least cost. 



Now these questions can be effectually solved only by the 

 aid of scientific investigation. We want the aid of Analytical 

 Chemistry to put us on the track and set our faces in the right 

 direction. We need first of all, to know what are the specific 

 wants of our soils ; and second, tlie several sources from which 

 these wants may be supplied, so that farmers, in different 

 localities, may select that source which will supply these wants 

 at the least cost. 



Thus the whole matter resolves itself into this: The thing 

 most wanted by the agriculturists of this State, is knowledge, 

 knowledge of the scientific principles on which their profession 

 is based. Not that every farmer needs to become an agricultural 

 chemist, but that he needs to know the results to which science 

 points — to be qualified to abandon guess-work, and be guided 

 by knowledge, fie needs to know the composition of the soil 

 he cultivates, the manures he applies, and the crops he raises, 

 so that he can adjust the one to the other. And this needs to 

 be known now — the sooner the better — so that he can be 

 availing himself of the benefits of this knowledge. He does 

 not want to wait long years, to have all the suggestions of 

 science tested in detail, before he is permitted to know wliat 

 these suggestions are, lest he might be disappointed in some of 

 the results. He wants something to help the present generation, 

 as well as to put matters in operation to help future generations. 

 Aad this knowledge is not only the want of the farmer uqw 



