262 HANDY-BOOK OF HUSBANDRY. 



*' in its minutest particles, a thorough transposition of the nutritive 

 " substances required by plants." 



The above quotation describes the action of all those elements 

 of manure vi^hich come under the head of solvents, and precludes 

 the necessity of a further discussion of the subject by my less 

 skillful pen. 



Absorbent Manures. 



There are no manures applied to the soil which probably depend 

 entirely for their beneficial action upon their ability to absorb 

 fertilizing gases from the atmosphere, or fertilizing solutions from 

 other sources ; and it need only be stated, in general terms, that 

 clay and decomposed organic matter, and, less conspicuously, 

 charcoal dust and plaster, in addition to their other modes of action, 

 have, to a considerable extent this accessory power ; and, whether in 

 compost with animal manures or as direct applications to the sur- 

 face of the soil, they are worthy of the farmer's careful attention 

 and preservation. In this respect it will be enough to follow the 

 recognized rule, that, in agriculture, every thing which can in any 

 way add to the fertility of the land should be secured, from what- 

 ever source, and nothing whatever should be allowed to go to 

 waste. 



Mechanical Manures. 



Interlacing, also, in almost every part, with the feeding and 

 solvent action of special fertilizers, and of the results of the de- 

 composition of organic manures, we find another effect which can 

 hardly in any single instance be set down as the sole source of the 

 benefit of any manurial application, and which is known as me- 

 chanical. Probably the effect of the application of sea-sand, espe- 

 cially such as by exposure to rain has been washed clean of its small 

 amount of salt, is to be ascribed pretty nearly, if not altogether, 

 to its purely mechanical effect in loosening the rigidity of clays, 

 and in rendering heavy soils lighter, and it may, perhaps, be set 

 down as a simply mechanical manure. 



