WELL PREPARED SOIL LOSES NO MANURE. 123 



396. Is it not very discouraging that after all the pains 

 a farmer takes to fill his soil with valuable manure, it 

 should be all washed away or into the deep earth by the 

 rain ? It would be very discouraging if it were true, but 

 fortunately it is not true ; as is made very apparent by 

 a simple experiment or two. If a funnel be filled with 

 soil, and a dilute solution of silicate of potash be poured 

 upon it, there will not be found in the filtered water, as it 

 runs out of the funnel, a trace of potash, and, only under 

 certain circumstances, silicic acid. 



If a funnel be filled with earth, and water, holding in 

 solution ammonia, potash, phosphoric acid and silicic acid, 

 be poured into it, none of these substances will be found 

 in the water escaping from the funnel. The soil will have 

 completely withdrawn them and incorporated them with 

 itself. 



397. Or make another experiment. Take a portion of 

 garden soil full of potash, silicic acid, ammonia, or phos 

 phoric acid, put it into a funnel and pour water upon it. 

 The water will not dissolve out a trace of it. The most 

 continuous rain cannot remove from a field, except 

 mechanically, that is, unless it carry off soil and all, 

 any of the essential constituents of its fertility. It is a 

 common fear that the nourishing substances in liquid 

 manure and in guano, will, if not immediately taken up 

 by plants, be lost. But the fear is wholly unfounded. 

 From liquid manure diluted with much water, or from a 

 solution of guano, soil, when used in sufficient quantity, 

 removes the whole of the ammonia, potash, and phos 

 phoric acid which they contain. Not a trace of these 

 substances can be found in the water which flows from 

 the soil. 



