CHAPTER II. 



MAXl'RKS AND MANURING. 



There are many systems of fanning in different countries. 

 While some of these are governed by the differences in soils and 

 climate, others are the results of the investigations of scientists into 

 the requirements of the soils and plants in order to ensure a healthy 



.vth. What is best suited to one country is not always the best 

 for others with differing soils or climate. It cannot be expected 

 that a system of fanning which would suit the cold climate and 

 damp soils of England would in every way suit the warm climate and 

 light soils of Western Australia. Each country has, in a measure, to 

 investigate the matter for itself, that is, so far as to the method and 

 time of applying manures to the maintenance of its soils in a fertile 

 state, and also as to the class and quantity of manures it is best to 

 apply. The food that is required by any particular plant in one 

 country is just the food that will be required by the s.une kind of 

 plant in another country ; so we are not called upon to investigate 

 the actual food required by any given plant, as we have plenty of 

 records of a large number of practical and scientific investigations 

 on this subject from a great many parts of the world ; but what 

 we are called upon to investigate is how best to apply the plant 

 food required by the crops in this climate so as to produce a good 

 and profitable crop to the producer. It is the first principle of 

 husbandry to produce at a profit. To do so the farmer must first 

 know what is the food required for the plant he intends to grow ; 

 then to ascertain if the soil contains that food in sufficient quantity 

 to maintain the plant during its growth ; and not only to know if it 

 is there in sufficient quantity, but whether it is in a state that the 

 plant can easily assimilate. If the soil does not contain sufficient 

 food for the plant, or it is in such an insoluble state that the plant 

 cannot assimilate it in sufficient quantities for its requirements, it 

 will be necessary for the farmer to supply what is deficient in the 

 soil to maintain the plants, and to supply it in such a state that the 

 plants can easily absorb it. 



The foods that are required by plants in varying quantities are 

 nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash, lime, magnesia, soda, silica, oxide 

 of iron, sulphuric acid and chlorine. Most soils contain these in 

 sufficient quantities for all the requirements of any crop, 



