19»7] 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



299 



est channel by which if jnay he conveyed to the I sealer or lees extent deficient in gypsum, the con 



ocean. This takes place, with very i'aw excep- j 

 tions, on almost every farm in Scotland: and 

 when we consider ihe vast amount ol" rich and 

 nutritive matter that is permitted to escape in the 

 very same way from our populous towns and cities, 

 the loss sustained is ahi)osi incalculable. 



It may, perhaps, be said, that the beneficial ef- 

 fects of li(|uid manure are so well known as not 

 to require any additional exemplification by means 

 of an experimental farm. We have elsewhere 

 observed, that farmers in general are so slow of 

 heart to believe, so tremulously sensitive with re- 

 spect to every innovation, as to resist all the plau- 

 sibilities of theory, however, fiiscinating and invi- 

 ting they may be. In the present instance, al- 

 though they may not verbally deny that certain 

 advantatjes may result from the application of li- 

 quid manures in certain cases, they excuse their 

 own apathy and neglect by. attempting to show 

 that these advantages are more than counterbal- 

 anced by the trouble and expense attending the 

 process. Althousrh nothing can be more unfound- 

 ed, no mere theorists will convince them of the re- 

 verse. Therefore, the very fact of an agricultural 

 truth being so well established, and yet so gene- 

 rally and practically belied, instead of proving 

 against the establishment of an experimental farm, 

 is a very strong argument in its lavor, inasmuch as 

 it shows that improvements — real and radical im- 

 provements — will not meet with a ready or fiivo- 

 able reception from practical men, unless they be 

 promulgated in a practical way. 



But further, the operation of an experimental 

 establishment regards not merely the composition, 

 but also the application of manures; and here a 

 new and hitherto untried field of investigation lies 

 ready to be explored. Apart altogether I'rom the 

 preparation of them, it is sufficiently apparent 

 that little or no certainty can be attained in their 

 apphcation, unless the constituent parts of which 

 they are composed, as well as those of the soil to 

 which they are to be applied, and the vegetables 

 to be raised, be accurately ascertained by chemical 

 analysis. The decay of animal and vegetable sub- 

 stances is nothintrmore than the resolution of or- 

 ganized forms into chemical constituents; and it is 

 a well-established fact, that vegetables when de- 

 composed afford many earthy and elementary 

 particles, which it is more than probable could 

 have been derived only from the soil, or the ma- 

 nures incorporated with it. It is therefore an es- 

 sential preliminary to successful cultivation that 

 the various elementary ingredients of the soil, 

 and the manures to be applied to it, be a^^certained, 

 together with the relative proportions in which 

 they exist, and that those plants only should be 

 raised from it in which the same substances are 

 found in similar quantities, and whose habits are 

 best suited to its texture. For example, clover, 

 when chemically analyzed, isfoundto contain gyp- 

 sum, or sulphate of lime. When sown successive- 

 ly on certain descriptions of soil, in a four or five 



firmation of the previous conclusion becomes 80 

 strong as only to be exceeded by the direct exhi 

 bition of gypsum, when applied to such soils, re- 

 storing them to their original fertility. This sci- 

 entific mode, therefore, of afiplying manures, is far 

 from being chimerical, as many of those who 

 plume themselves on being practical would have 

 little hesitation in stigmatizing it. Independent of 

 the many direct proofs that might be adduced in 

 support of it, we have only to survey the process- 

 es of nature in daily operation around us. There 

 we see certain soils better adapted tor the produc- 

 tion of certain plants than others, solely because 

 of their texture and constituent parts. So uni- 

 formly, indeed, is this the case, that in many in- 

 stances the nature of the soil can be at once in- 

 ferred from a knowledge of the plant it produces. 

 Thus no one at all acquainted with the subject 

 would hesitate to pronounce that soil argillaceous 

 in which tussilago abounded — that peaty which 

 was distinguished for the bilberry and heath — that 

 ferruginous where the common or sheep sorrel 

 was eminent — and so on with aquatic, calcareous, 

 and saline soils — all of them being almost every 

 where indicated by the appropriate plants; demon- 

 strating most unequivocally that every plant na- 

 turally flourishes most luxuriantly, and injthe great- 

 est abundance, in those soils which supply them 

 most plentifully with the chemical substances that 

 enter into their composition. 



Now, if this opinion be correct (and the present 

 state of^ chemical science in relation to the vege- 

 table kingdom goes iiir to prove that it is so) it is 

 evident that many of the soils at present devoted 

 to the production of those crops which are more 

 common to the agriculture of this country, would 

 receive more permanent beuelit from an alteration 

 in their constitution and texture, than from the 

 most abundant supply of the richest manures. 

 The materials necessary for this purpose are gene- 

 rally within the reach of every larmer, being sel- 

 dom far distant; and although the original outlay 

 may in the first instaiice be considerable, it will 

 be amply and speedily repaid by great permanent 

 advantages. For, in supplying organic matter, a 

 temporary food only is provided, and on many de- 

 scriiJtions of soil much waste is necessarily incur- 

 red by doing so; but in altering the composition 

 of a soil, for example in rendering clays friable 

 by a mixture of sand, and the reverse — in over- 

 cominga superabundance of calcareous matter, by 

 inducincj a stratum of peat — in neutralizing the 

 effects of the salts of iron, or any acid matter, by 

 Ihe application of quick lime, &c. — the Itertility of 

 the soil may be considered as permanently estab- 

 lished. Less labor will be required to pre|)are it 

 — less manure to enrich it. It becomes capable of 

 attracting a larger proportion of vegetable nour- 

 ishment from the atmosphere, of supplying the 

 plants with a greater proportion of appropriate 

 food; or if this should be exhausted, it is possessed 

 a greater capacity for receiving and retaining 



years rotation, and carried [off], it very soon fails. J such foreign organic substances as may be incorpo- 

 This of itself afibrds a presumption that the \ rated with it, aud thus of producing its crops with, 

 failure of the clover is attributable to the exhaus- | comparatively less expense. 



tion of that substance from the soil by the previous I But what is the present practice? Almost all 

 crops. But when it is also established that the ' that is yet known upon the subject, is, that the 

 cereal crops are altogether destitute of it, and con- ] application of manures is necessary to the continu- 

 sequenlly do not take it up from the soil, and that j ance of production. The fiirmer, no doubt, can 

 those soils on which the clovers fail are to a ! tell generally the nature of the soils of which his 



