284, THE FARMER OF TO-MORROW 



farming is recognized as one of the highest 

 types because of the immense amount of or- 

 ganic refuse it enables the husbandman to re- 

 turn to the soil. 



Yet, when we analyze stable manure, the 

 best of all fertilizers, we do not find large 

 quantities of nitrogen, potash, or phosphoric 

 acid even under the most favorable conditions. 

 Stable manure is admitted to have a fertiliz- 

 ing effect on land far in excess of what can 

 be computed from an analysis. In England 

 it is a common practice to charge a fresh 

 dressing of manure against a new tenant for 

 seven years. In a long continued investiga- 

 tion in our own country, it was found that 

 96 per cent, of soils responded better to or- 

 ganic manures than to mineral fertilizers in 

 commercial form. 



Our western prairies are rich with the de- 

 caying mold of thousands of generations. 

 Nature practices a rotation of her own. First 

 comes the process of selection, in which the 

 plants best suited to the soil survive and per- 

 sist, while the others perish. In time each 

 month of the growing season comes to have its 

 peculiar plant. This is illustrated by the suc- 

 cession of weeds in an uncared-for garden. 



