136 THE WHEAT CULTTJRIST. 



and saturated, with urine, I regard as the cheapest 

 and most useful fertilizer that can be applied to a 

 poor soil, for the production of wheat or almost any 

 other crop. 



The earths contained in charcoal, as the analysis of 

 its ash demonstrates, are identical with the earths found 

 in the wheat plant. Coal contains a very large portion 

 of carbon, and will imbibe from the atmosphere a large 

 quantity of nitrogen in the form of ammonia and its 

 carbonates. Unlike stable manure, the salts of lime, 

 potash, soda, and magnesia, it will not waste by prema- 

 ture solution nor by evaporation. On the contrary, it 

 is of incalculable value to mix with the liquid and solid 

 excretions of all animals, to absorb and fix in a tangible 

 condition those volatile fertilizing elements which are 

 so prone to escape beyond our reach. 



When it is recollected that without nitrogen in some 

 form, it is utterly impossible to grow one kernel of good 

 wheat, and that a pint of human urine, or four quarts 

 of that of the cow, or one quart of that of the horse 

 fed on grain, contain nitrogen enough to supply sixty 

 pounds of wheat, we may begin to understand some- 

 thing of the money value of this animal product. Ad- 

 ditions cheaply made to even worn-out soils — supplying 

 them with the comparatively small amount of ingre- 

 dients essential to the production of grain, and without 

 which wheat cannot be grown — would richly repay the 

 farmer, and vastly enhance the wealth of the country. 

 Analysis shows that a very small portion of the nutri- 

 ment of wheat comes from the soil ; but that portion 

 must be restored in some form, as lime or otherwise, if 

 we expect to make the earth yield profitable returns for 

 our labor. 



