294 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



When the farmer has saved and utilized all his manures, 

 and wishes still further to extend his operations, he may buy 

 commercial fertilizers at a living profit. He may also do it 

 when he wishes to improve land (and has no manure) so that 

 he can keep stock and make manure, when he wishes to im- 

 prove his land to which it is difficult to haul barnyard- 

 manure, or when, from any circumstance, he wishes, for the 

 time being, to cultivate more land than he can well manure. 

 If a farmer understands his soils, knows what each piece 

 needs (what shallow, what deep ploughing), how to apply his 

 barnyard-manure (whether on the surface, just beneath, or 

 still deeper), what crops are best adapted to his several 

 fields, he can safely experiment with a commercial fertilizer 

 that contains all the elements of plant-food. One reason why 

 there are so many more failures from the use of fertilizers 

 than from barnyard-manures, is, that the latter contain all 

 the elements of plant-food, whereas many special fertilizers 

 contain only a part. It is essential that every plant, to attain 

 its full development, should have its full amount of each in- 

 gredient that enters into its composition ; and failing to find 

 this in the soil or manure, it cannot substitute any other, 

 although it be present in abundance. Partial manures 

 answer for certain crops that feed largely on the article used, 

 and also for certain fields where Nature has stored up the 

 other ingredients in profusion. 



A vast amount of knowledge is needed to adapt the ma- 

 nure and the soils to the crops in order to obtain the most 

 certain results ; and yet failures come from other reasons than 

 misapplication of manures. 



We have the promise of " seed-time and harvest, summer 

 and winter, cold and heat," the early and the latter rains ; 

 and yet we have a failure of the crops, because the early or 

 latter rains come not at that particular juncture essential to 

 their perfection. The soil may be prepared in the best pos- 

 sible manner, supplied with the most productive manures and 

 in the greatest profusion ; and yet, if the dews of heaven cease 

 to fall, and the rain is withheld, the crop will be a failure. 

 Moisture is an element in plant-growth as essential as ma- 

 nure, and is ordinarily provided by a kind Providence, for 

 which the husbandman makes little provision, and takes less 

 heed. But let this be wanting in May and early June, and 



