156 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, [Jan., 



ture and history, and each is differently related to our crops. 

 If you put potash or phosphoric acid on a soil of average 

 quality, you need not fear that any surplus not consumed by 

 the current crops will go to waste. The soil, if it be any- 

 thing better than a sand-pit or a gravel-bank, will retain these 

 elements with a firm grasp. It is otherwise with lime, 

 with sulphuric acid, and especially with nitrogen. These 

 substances are more freely soluble in water, and are therefore 

 liable to be carried down or away by heavy leading rains. To 

 conserve them against loss is as important as to restore them 

 when deficient, and amending the texture of tlie soil, increas- 

 ing its water-storing power by suitable tillage, by incorpora- 

 ting with it porous vegetable matters in stable manure or buried 

 green crops, is a necessary part of any rational system of 

 treatment. 



To prevent waste of valuable fertilizing elements, there is 

 no plan so simple and efficacious as constant occupation of 

 the tilled land with living vegetation. 



When the corn or potato fields have been harvested, why not 

 break up the surface liglitly with a horse hoe, and sow to rye, 

 with fertilizers on poor land, if need be, and in spring-time 

 turn under the young grain for another planting, rather than 

 leave the ground to pack and leach under the latter and early 

 rains. 



These, and similar suggestive considerations, I believe 

 justify us in concluding that we cannot fertilize by recipe, 

 and that there is no best corn manure. 



Adjourned to Thursday, at 10.30, A. M. 



