SECOND MEETING, FEBRUARY 5th, P. M. 



Vice-President Hadwen in the chair. 



Subject : Manures and Fertilizers. 



by john b. moore of concord. 



The object sought to be obtained when manure is applied to 

 land, is to furnish the requisite plant food for the crop then 

 growing, or to be grown. The only other effects produced would 

 be the mechanical subdivision and lightening up of the soil by 

 which the air and water from the rains could more easil}' penetrate 

 the soil and render the plant food tiierein soluble, and also the 

 shade produced by the mulching of the surface roots, which is 

 often benelicial to plant growth. The difference between good 

 and poor land is in the amount of available plant food contained 

 in the foot or two of the surface soil and its mechanical condition 

 of fineness. Suppose two lots of sandy loam with the same ex- 

 posure ; the ability of each lot to produce a crop would depend 

 upon the amount of soluble plant food contained in the soil, and 

 also upon the fineness of the particles of the soil itself; the finer 

 the better, because the roots can penetrate better in the fine than 

 in the coarse, and it will retain the water better and hold the 

 plant by its roots firmer. Tlie same rule would apply also to any 

 other soils. 



Manures and fertilizers, when subjected to a chemical analysis, 

 are divided into a number of different elements that are found 

 necessary for plant growth. About the only ones that we need 

 to concern ourselves about are nitrogen, or ammonia, phosphoric 

 acid, and potash. Lime, magnesia and other articles are very use- 

 ful in some instances, but are usually found in sufficient abundance 

 in our soils to supply all the want of crops. Therefore the three 

 first named articles are what we must supply. Stable manure is 

 to-day the great source of supply for fertilization of the soil. It 

 is, perhaps, the nearest to a perfect manure of anything that we 

 have, although its actual worth varies very much, — that made from 

 animals fed upon good hay and grain being much more valuable 

 than that from ])oor hay, and that from stall-fed animals' being 

 still more so than that from milch cows ; and the excrements 



