36 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



of the inorganic elements, and if he does supply these elements 

 he can make plants at will. 



Scientific men are also agreed that the amount of material that 

 thus enters into the composition of plants is very minute in 

 quantity: tliat for the production of the most magnificent crops 

 that any of our fields can be asked to produce, it is only neces- 

 sary to use one, two, or three hundred pounds of material per 

 acre, for it is not necessary that the elements should be contained 

 in a large bulk, since they are themselves exceedingly small in 

 quantity. 



These, gentlemen, are the principles upon which scientific men 

 are fully agreed in regard to plant nutrition, stated as briefly and 

 simply as I can give them. 



!Now, to show the contrast, we will turn to the other side of 

 the case — the opinions of practical farmers, as expressed in their 

 practise, for I fear that they have no opinions to express iu any 

 other way. Now, then, I am one of you, gentlemen, and I say 

 that as a general rule among the farmers of the country, and the 

 farmers of Maine are the peers of any others, barn-yard manure 

 is king. It has no peer; nothing can be substituted for it, and 

 nothing can take its place. The farmer says, " Do you tell me 

 that two or three hundred pounds of material per acre can be 

 made to take the place of barn-yard manures? When you say 

 that you publish yourself as a fool, for I know better." lie be- 

 lieves in quantity, in tons, cords, bulk, and he cannot be per- 

 suaded that anything else will nourish his plants and make his 

 fields fruitful. If I were to tell him that I could take a basket on 

 my arm, and carry into the field what would not weigh more than 

 twenty-six pounds, and in it there should be more plant food than 

 he could draw there in the form of the best barn-yard manure 

 with a yoke of oxen, he would say he knew I was a fool then, and 

 yet I will piedge myself that I am able to do it. 



Don't 3'ou know, gentlemen, that when you use barn-yard ma- 

 nure )'ou often fail to get a crop ? Why don't you always get a 

 crop ? I know what 3'ou will say — that you are dependent on the 

 weather. Though barn-yard manure is such a wonderful thing, 

 and has in it all the manurial elements, you cannot get crops by 

 the use of it unless the Almighty gives you sun and rain. Now 

 here I want to ask you one question. What is the influence of 

 the weather on plant nutrition ? That is the very thing you need 

 to know. If you give your plants barn-yard manure, why don't 



