132 FIRESIDE SCIENCE. 



tegration or crumbling of limestone rocks will be 

 rich in the calcareous element, but deficient in sev- 

 eral of the other essentials. Soils resulting largely 

 from feldspathic masses and granite will hold quite 

 all that supply the elements of nutrition to plants, 

 and such are therefore good. No two fields or 

 farms are alike as respects the nature of the soil ; 

 and, therefore, when the question occurs, how can 

 this or that farm be restored to fertility, it is neces- 

 sary to know the general composition of the soil as 

 preliminary to any intelligent attempt to bring it 

 into good tilth. Much of the confusion and doubt 

 which prevail among farmers springs from this dif- 

 ference which exists in soils. Farmers seek for 

 some specific manure which will insure large re- 

 turns of all kinds ; but no such specific exists, nor 

 ever will. There is certainly no specific for our 

 bodily diseases, and therefore doctors in prescribing 

 are said to feel their way in the dark. The farmer 

 who is searching for specifics is groping in thick 

 darkness. The intelligent doctor, who is acquainted 

 with the constitution and the idiosyncrasies of his 

 patient, has a great advantage over one who knows 

 nothing of such peculiarities. The most proper 

 business of the physician is to study the peculiar- 

 ities of his patients, and the most proper business 

 of the farmer is to study the physical and chemical 

 peculiarities of his soils. Of course, a knowledge 



