HINDRANCES AND HELPS 



once again the compactness of our purpose, 

 and puts us upon a keen scent for the soluble 

 phosphates; though without destroying our 

 faith in good vegetable-mould and strong- 

 smelling manures. 



And not only in this direction, but also in 

 what relates to the feeding of animals, the ger- 

 mination of seeds, the comminution of soils, 

 the chemical effects of air, and light, and 

 warmth — we have a hundred minute truths by 

 which to adjust our practical management, 

 where we had formerly less than a score of 

 gross ones. And in this adjustment — modified 

 still further by a great many physiological and 

 meteorological considerations — I think a man 

 of tolerable parts might find enough to lay his 

 mind to very closely, and to encourage some 

 activity of thought. 



There will be disappointments — as In every 

 sphere of life. I have felt them keenly and 

 often. The humus has baffled my expecta- 

 tions, and my potatoes ; the nitrogenous riches 

 have shot up into thickets of rank and watery 

 luxuriance ; the phosphoric acid has oozed into 

 some unthrifty combination, or has remained 

 locked up in an unyielding nugget of Som- 

 brero. But little disappointments count for 

 nothing, when (as now) we are reckoning the 



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