124 FIRESIDE SCIENCE. 



or crushed condition during the lifetime of any 

 farmer, though he may live far beyond the common 

 age of man. This important truth should be un- 

 derstood by all who desire to use bones in connec- 

 tion with their crops. 



In the renovation of my farm by the employment 

 of special fertilizers, I have kept a few prominent, 

 well established facts and principles in view, and 

 have never allowed myself to be diverted, turned 

 aside, or confused by any apparently conflicting 

 statements or alleged results on the part of others. 

 A truth is a truth, a fact is a fact, no matter how 

 difficult it may sometimes be to compel all agencies 

 and influences to contribute to the establishment 

 of verities. I believe we have some truths, some 

 facts in agriculture ; although the contrary view 

 ought to prevail, if the contradictory opinions and 

 statements of many of its professed friends are en- 

 titled to regard. Chemistry is an exact science ; it 

 is based on the retort, the balance, and mathemat- 

 ics ; and when its aid is called in to inform us re- 

 garding the constitution of plant structures, its 

 teachings are infallible. We can no more escape 

 from its demonstrated facts in this department, than 

 we can from a belief in those applied principles 

 which enable us to produce, in our industrial lab- 

 oratories, the wonderful and complex bodies which 



