NATURAL CONCLUSIONS. 31 



fiirmers of the community. Now, the first conchision at 

 which I arrive, as the result of these experiments, is this : 

 that it is possible to make these poor, worn-out fields of old 

 Massachusetts flourish with waving grain, corn and grass, 

 by the use of the chemical elements of plant-nutrition. Does 

 anybody dare, after these experiments, to dispute the state- 

 ment? It is possible, I say, to make these old, worn-out 

 fields of Massachusetts flourish with grain and with grass, by 

 the use of the chemical elements of plant-nutrition. My 

 next conclusion is this : that in order to do this, it is not 

 absolutely necessary, — and I want to put it stronger than that, 

 — it is not desirable to keep cattle for the sake of making barn- 

 yard manure to do that work with. Now, some men will 

 dissent from this. I say that it is not desirable to keep 

 cattle for the express purpose — mark the language — of mak- 

 ing barn-yard manure to renovate these fields with. I know 

 some of my brother farmers will say, "Well, you are going 

 back ou barn-yard manure, ain't you? You are going to say 

 barn-yard manure isn't worth having ; that you wouldn't cart 

 barn-yard manure a mile, if anybody would give it to you." 

 Not at all, gentlemen. I tell you this : barn-yard manure is 

 the waste product of certain industries. There is horn waste 

 and bone waste, the waste of the woollen manufactories, and 

 the waste of everj^ kind of manufacturing, that have elements 

 of fertility in them. Never waste them. Barn-yard manure 

 is simply a waste product, for we must keep cattle or horses 

 to do our work on our farms. We must make milk and 

 butter and cheese ; and in this business of makine: butter 

 and cheese, and in keeping stock of any kind to run our 

 farms, we must make barn-yard manure. Then you commit 

 a sin if you waste it. Husband your resources of every kind ; 

 husband your waste material, whether barn-yard manure, 

 w^ool, waste horn, waste hair, or whatever it is, because they 

 all contain elements of nutrition ; but I venture to prophecy, 

 that the commercial value of barn-yard manure in future is to 

 be determined by the commercial value of the chemical ele- 

 ments of plant-nutrition. But do not understand me as say- 

 ing that barn-yard manure is not valuable, and should not be 

 saved, or that all your resources of this kind should not be 

 husbanded the same as ever. 



