121 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



dence of every other, is the spirit of inquiry awakened concerning 

 our business and the increase of knowledge which has come or is 

 coming in consequence of the use of these articles. The time is not 

 yet far enough behind us to be the olden time, when our knowl- 

 edge concerning the sources whence plants derive their food was 

 very limited and our philosophy of fertilization very crude. Land 

 which would produce large crops we called rich, and it was our wish 

 and purpose to make our land as rich as we could. Heavy growth 

 followed the application of manure and so we concluded that 

 manure made land rich. Heavy growth also followed the apphca- 

 tion of Peruvian guano, and so we assumed that Peruvian guano 

 made land rich. It was the diminished effect of succeeding 

 applications of this article and the obvious poverty of the soil 

 resulting from its continued use without other manures that gave 

 many farmers their j&rst lesson in scientific fertilization. Fertility 

 which was beforetime thought of as a unit, was now found to be* 

 composite in its nature, and it became necessary to inquire what 

 were its elements. I do not claim that we have as yet made any 

 great attainments in this line, but we have at least made a begin- 

 ning. We have commenced to inquire, we have commenced to 

 listen, we have commenced to think. Just try to imagine a meet- 

 ing of farmers thirty years ago, listening with interest to the 

 Professor of chemistry, while he expounds to them the composi- 

 tion of plants and the sources whence they draw their supply of 

 material; telling them of mineral and volatile elements, coming, 

 the one from the earth, and the other from the air; expounding 

 the ordinary ratio of the elements to each other and the absolute 

 necessity of a full supply of each; showing how the plant may, as 

 it were, starve in the midst of plenty, if but one essential ingredi- 

 ent be wanting. Or, changing the figure, he leminds his hearers 

 that the man who has the contract to build a house must provide 

 stone, brick, mortar, glass, and nails. He must have timber, 

 boards, and shingles. The amount of nails needed may not be 

 large, but unless he has them he cannot build the house. With- 

 out this essential element the house remains simply unorganized 

 chaotic material. None of the blessings of home can be derived 

 from it; none of the sweet associations of home can cluster around 

 it. And using this for an illustration, he proceeds to show how 

 you may have in your soil abundant supplies of silica and lime 

 and potash and nitrogen, that carbon and oxygen are abundant in 

 the atmosphere and easily obtained, but until phosphoric acid is 



