SECRETARY'S REPORT. 7 



ing to the varying circumstances. One writer is in the habit 

 of burying his manure deep, and he is convinced that it is the 

 preferable plan, because he gets large crops, forgetting that 

 there are a score of other conditions which influence the pro- 

 duct more or less, any one of which might be judged by others 

 to account for his large crops. Another applies his manure 

 upon or very near the surface, and the result in his case is a 

 satisfactory return. He forthwith proclaims this as the best 

 mode, and he knoivs that it is so, because he has tried it. But 

 what has he tried, pray ? 



He may have taken a piece of land of some particular quality, 

 having certain characteristics of moisture and retentiveness of 

 manures, which was manured and cropped in a certain way the 

 year previously. This land he has ploughed to some fixed 

 depth one or more times, and manured upon the surface. He 

 has planted a certain crop, cultivated it in a certain way, during 

 a certain succession of weather, and at the harvest he has a 

 large return. Hence he reasons that if the manure had been 

 applied six or eight inches deeper, the result would have been 

 a failure to a greater or less extent, when perhaps an equal 

 variation of almost any of the other circumstances or conditions 

 would have produced the same variation in the product. But 

 what kind of an experiment is this ? Is it an experiment at all ? 

 Does it deserve the name ? We might with almost equal pro- 

 priety assert, that the particular amount of the gold harvest of 

 California, daring the year 1859, is directly attributable to the 

 fact that Washington crossed the Delaware in the night. It is 

 not difficult to imagine a connection, but how ridiculous to 

 insist that these two facts shall stand out prominently, and 

 that every other circumstance shall be lost sight of. And yet 

 what is called experience among cultivators of the soil, is simply 

 an aggregation of such experiments (!) in an individual's 

 practice. 



In this state of uncertainty, however, there are some general 

 considerations which may be allowed to guide us, in so far as 

 to indicate the course to be pursued in attaining the end for 

 which we are seeking. Plants, like all living organisms, grow 

 by the absorption and appropriation of nutritious substances 

 from without. As a rule, animals travel in search of food, 

 while vegetables remain stationary ; though to some extent, by 



