54 MAINE STATE SOCIETY. 



thence learning;' from succccssivc cxpcritucnts the invaluable 

 resources which chemistry discloses, he no longer need fear a 

 deterioration cither in his harvests or liis soil. Ilis manures 

 ■which .formerly, through incautious nse were deemed insufficient 

 would then be found, by careful husbandry and chemical assist- 

 ance, fully able to meet every requirement. His soil instead 

 of losing strength each succeeding year would daily recuperate 

 itself. 



Among the many marked instances of this undeniable value 

 of a knowledge of chemistry, one occurs in the recent introduc- 

 tion of phosphate of lime as a manure. Reliable experiments 

 Slave ascertained that its application to the soil is highly bene- 

 ficial, while it is generally within the reacli of the commonest 

 farmer. The refuse bones which were formerly thrown away 

 as useless, are found to contain fifty per cent, of this manure, 

 and old fish skins are quite as valuable, containing full forty- 

 eight per cent. It becomes then a matter of moment to a 

 farmer, whose land fails to sustain the crops it once supported, 

 to ascertain whether his soil possesses a sufficient quantity of 

 tlii.s necessary component, or Avhether it is suffering from a lack 

 of it. Every soil is composed of certain elements or ingre- 

 dients in definite, though often diifcrcnt proportions. This 

 variety of organization, (if I may use the term in such a connec- 

 tion) is that which determines the fitness of the soil for its 

 requisite requirements. Every farmer, therefore, should know 

 what are the peculiarities of his soil, or rather perhaps what is 

 its organization, and conversely, what is best adapted for it. 

 But the sustenance of successive crops is constantly exhausting- 

 some one or more of its component parts; it is necessary con- 

 sequently to add to the soil that which it has lost, in order to 

 restore it to its original vigor and excellence. If he knows 

 primarily what is its composition, and what are its properties 

 in such a state, he may thence be able to ascertain in what re- 

 spect, and how far it has deteriorated. This deterioration, as 

 remarked above, is occasioned by the loss of some one or more 

 of its elementary parts. To restore them is the next difficulty 

 that presents itself Chemistry alone offers a satisfactory way. 



lleturning, therefore, to our" illustration — for which, and the 

 one succeeding, I am indebted to the admirable Address of Dr, 



