CORX SOLD IS MANURE LOST. 181 



lime, and sulphiu'ic acid. The clover draws these con- 

 stituents from the soil, the cereal plants may be represented 

 as deriving them from the clover. In selling his clover, 

 therefore, the farmer takes away the conditions for the 

 production of corn, and there remains behind in the soil 

 less nutriment for the corn ; if he sells his corn, he takes 

 away fr-om the land some of the most indispensable con- 

 ditions for the production of clover, hence the clover 

 crop fails in a subsequent year. 



The peasant knows the operation of these fodder-plants, 

 and expresses his views in his own w\ay when he says, 

 'that, as a matter of course, a man must not sell his 

 manure, without which no permanent cultivation is 

 possible, and that in selling the fodder-plants, a man sells 

 his manure.' But that in selhng his corn, a farmer is still 

 parting with his manure, does not seem to be understood 

 by many even of the most enlightened agriculturists. 

 Farm-yard manure contains all the mineral constituents of 

 fodder ; and these consist of the constituents of corn, plus 

 a certain quantity of potash, hme, and sulphuric acid. It 

 is quite evident, that as the whole dung-heap consists of 

 parts, not one of those parts should be alienated ; and if 

 it were possible, by any means, to separate the corn-con- 

 stituents from the rest, they would possess the greatest 

 value to the farmer, because upon them the cultivation of 

 the corn depends. But this separation actually takes 

 place in the growth of corn, as the mineral constituents of 

 the manure become the constituents of the corn ; hence 

 in selling the corn, the farmer ahenates a portion, and 

 mdeed the most efficient portion, of his manure. 



Two dung-heaps, looking quite alike, and apparently of 

 the same quality, may yet have a very dissimilar value for 

 the cultivation of corn. If in one heap the ash -con- 

 stituents of corn are twice as many as in the other, the 



