196 OF MANURE. 



in every house, in which they are collected with 

 the greatest care. No other kind of manure is 

 used for their corn-fields. 



China is the birth-place of the experimental art ; 

 the incessant striving after experiments has con- 

 ducted the Chinese a thousand years since to dis- 

 coveries, which hare been the envy and admiration 

 of Europeans for centuries, especially in regard to 

 dyeing and painting, and to the manufactures of 

 porcelain, silk, and colours for painters. These we 

 were long unable to imitate, and yet they were dis- 

 covered by them without the assistance of scientific 

 principles ; for in the books of the Chinese we find 

 recipes and directions for use, but never explana- 

 tions of processes. 



Half a century sufficed to Europeans, not only to 

 equal but to surpass the Chinese in the arts and 

 manufactures, and this was owing merely to the 

 application of correct principles deduced from the 

 study of chemistry. But how infinitely inferior 

 is the agriculture of Europe to that of China! 

 The Chinese are the most admirable gardeners and 

 trainers of plants, for each of which they under- 

 stand how to prepare and apply the best adapted 

 manure. The agriculture of their country is the 

 most perfect in the world ; and there, where the cli- 

 mate in the most fertile districts differs little from 

 the European, very little value is attached to the 

 excrements of animals. With us, thick books are 

 written, but no experiments instituted ; the quan- 



