FIELDS, JAMES T. 



283 



in available forms. Phosphoric acid is most often 

 insufficient ; next come potash and nitrogen ; then, 

 lime and sulphuric acid, and rarely magnesia. 



But the infertility of soils is due to physical causes 

 perhaps nearly as often as to chemical. Soils often do 

 not have the proper texture, they are too compact or 

 too loose, or they lack absorptive power, they can not 

 retain the plant-food until plants use it, but suffer it 

 to be leached away by drainage-water ; or the moist- 

 ure-supply is bad they are too wet or too dry. These 

 defects are as bad as lack of plant-food. Many soils 

 need first amendment and then manure. Drainage, 

 irrigation 2 tillage, use of lime or muck, are often the 

 cheapest if not the only means for bringing up poor 

 soils. Season counts for much, often for everything, 

 in the action of manure. 



9. As to the feeding/ capacities of the crops, the ex- 

 periments imply_ that the corn was somehow able to 

 gather nitrogen from natural sources, provided it had 

 enough of the mineral ingredients at its disposal. 

 They do not tell how much of the nitrogen came from 

 the roots of the preceding crops, how much from 

 other nitrogen compounds in the soil, and how much 

 from the air. They imply that potatoes possess in far 

 less degree than corn the power of gathering sufficient 

 supply of either nitrogen or the other ingredients of 

 its food from soil and air. They imply that turnips 

 are generally unable to provide themselves with phos- 

 phoric acid from the soil, and arc greatly helped by it 

 in fertilizers, and that without its application they 

 usually get but little good from other materials ; that 

 with it alone they can generally gather but a partial 

 supply of the other materials of their food ; and that 

 for a full yield considerable quantities of all the soil 

 ingredients of plant-food are needed close at hand 

 and in available forms. 



10. Leaving differences of soils out of account, and 

 considering the average results of the experiments, 

 the best fertilizer to produce large crops of corn among 

 the materials used would probably be a mixture of some 

 nitrogenous material with superphosphate or bone ? or 

 both, and muriate of potash. The most profitable mixt- 

 ure would probably consist of muriate of potash with 

 either superphosphate or fine ground bone, or both. 



11. For potatoes, which responded well to all the 

 materials, probably a mixture containing nitrogen, 

 phosphoric acid, and potash. For either corn or pota- 

 toes, nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia, dried blood, 

 or better, a mixture of these, could be advantageously 

 used to supply the nitrogen, and superphosphate or 

 bone-dust, or a mixture of the two, for phosphoric acid. 



12. The common impression among farmers that 

 the best use of artificial fertilizers is to supplement 

 farm manure is doubtless, in ordinary circumstances, 

 correct. The right way is to make the most and best 

 manure that is practicable upon the farm, and piece 

 out with such commercial fertilizers as experiments 

 and experience prove profitable. 



FIELDS, JAMES THOMAS, born December 31, 

 1817, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire; died 

 April 26, 1881, in Boston. At the age of four 

 years he lost his father, who was a ship-master. 

 His education was acquired in his native town, 

 and when only thirteen years of age he gradu- 

 ated at the high-school, having taken several 

 prizes for Greek and Latin compositions. Be- 

 fore graduating he had attracted the attention 

 of the -late Chief-Justice Woodbury, who ad- 

 vised him to continue his studies and enter 

 Harvard University ; but this advice, for good 

 reasons, was not followed, and in 1834 the lad 

 went to Boston, where he obtained employ- 

 ment in the bookstore of Messrs. Carter & Hen- 

 dee, this firm being succeeded by that of Allen 

 & Ticknor, which in turn was succeeded by 

 that of Ticknor & Fields in 1846, Mr. Fields 



having become a partner in the house soon af- 

 ter reaching his majority. Meantime he had 

 acquired an enviable social position, and at the 

 age of eighteen had been invited to deliver the 

 anniversary poem before the Mercantile Libra- 

 ry Association of Boston Edward Everett be- 

 ing the orator. "Commerce" was the sub- 

 ject of the poem. In 1847 he visited Europe, 

 passed several months in England, Scotland, 

 and Germany, and formed intimacies with some 

 of the most distinguished literary people of the 

 day; among whom were Talfourd, Dickens, 

 Moore, Landor, and "Wordsworth, at whose 

 home he became a guest. With Dickens he 

 formed a very close friendship, and it was 

 through his influence that the famous novelist 

 made his second visit to this country in 1867, 

 at which time Dickens was the guest of Mr. 

 Fields. "While returning to America after his 

 first tour, Mr. Fields narrowly escaped ship- 

 wreck on the coast of Newfoundland, the ship 

 having struck the coast in a fog, sprung a leak, 

 and was with difficulty kept afloat and taken 

 into port. In 1848 Mr. Fields was again the 

 poet at the anniversary celebration of the Mer- 

 cantile Library Association, and on this occa- 

 sion Daniel Webster was the orator. The sub- 

 ject chosen by Mr. Fields was " The Post of 

 Honor." Before the same association he de- 

 livered a lecture upon " Preparations for Trav- 

 el," which was full of sensible advice, well sea- 

 soned with humor. Often called upon to de- 

 liver poems and lectures, Mr. Fields appeared 

 as a poet or lecturer before the societies of 

 Harvard University, and Dartmouth and other 

 colleges. A volume of his poetical composi- 

 tions was published in Boston in 1843, and in 

 1858 he privately printed a beautiful volume, 

 entitled " A Few Verses for a Few Friends," 

 of which the " North American Eeview " made 

 the following comment : 



This book itself, apart from its contents, 5s a po- 

 em. In paper, type, edging, and ornament in all 

 the variable details of mechanical execution it vindi- 

 cates its title to be termed a work of high art. The 

 poems it contains are ge_m8 well worthy th e setting 

 pure thought, genial feeling, tender remembrance, and 

 lambent fancy in natural measures and easy rhythm 

 such poems as always win a higher fame than they 

 seek, and are best appreciated by those whose verdict 

 is of the most significant import. 



A second visit was made to Europe in 1851, 

 and Mr. Fields was in Paris in December of 

 1851, when the coup d'etat of Louis Napoleon 

 took place. Ho witnessed the encounter be- 

 tween the troops and the populace upon the 

 boulevards, and at the same time a house near 

 him was shattered by a cannon-ball. During 

 this trip he spent a winter in Italy chiefly in 

 Rome and while in England passed three 

 months in London, where he was the honored 

 guest in cultivated circles, and invited to mem- 

 bership in the leading clubs. Literary people 

 paid him great attention, and rendered his visit 

 profitable as well as pleasant. A visit to Ed- 

 inburgh gave him the opportunity for enjoying 

 an intimate acquaintance with Professor Wil- 



