MY FARM OF EDGEWOOD 



observing that a living plant built itself out of 

 the debris of dead plants, declared for the 

 primal necessity of a large supply of decayed 

 vegetable material. This at least was simple, 

 and the farmer, if he had only his stock of 

 humus, left the further fulfilment of the miracle 

 of growth to wind and weather. In process of 

 time, however, science detected the rare luxu- 

 riance which ammonia imparts to plant foliage, 

 and after refining upon the observation, de- 

 clared for nitrogen as the great needed ele- 

 ment; schedules were prepared and widely 

 published, in which the various manures were 

 graduated in value, in strict accordance with 

 their respective admixtures of nitrogenous ma- 

 terial. The quiet farmer accepts the theory, 

 and considers the wonderful effects that fol- 

 low the application of the droppings from his 

 dovecot, a demonstration of its truth. 



But he has hardly nestled himself warmly 

 into this belief,— modified to a degree by the 

 humus doctrine, — than a distinguished chemist 

 comes down upon us all with the representa- 

 tion—supported by a large array of figures — 

 that nitrogen is already present in ample 

 quantity in almost all soils, and that the vital 

 necessity in the way of fertilizers, is the 

 mineral element of the plant. This splinters 



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