

ENGLISH AGRICULTURE. 13 



grassy and weedy herbage may be considered to indicate the 

 quality of soil, some plants growing luxuriantly upon bad 

 soil, others requiring good land for their perfect development ; 

 certain species of grasses tell a tale of poverty, whereas others 

 may be employed as arguing a high productiveness. This 

 subject will be subsequently enlarged upon. The methods of 

 land improvement form legitimate subject for teaching. The 

 reasons why drainage is beneficial, the action of drains, and 

 the differences in water economy between soils of free 

 character and those which are naturally disposed to retain 

 the water on the surface. The methods pursued and the 

 effects produced by such an important act as land drainage 

 ought to form an important part of agricultural teaching. 

 Similarly the advantages and the dangers of deep cultivation, 

 the advantages of clay burning, of chalking, claying, marling 

 or liming land, and the secrets of successful tillage. The 

 subject of fertilizers ought to be handled practically and not 

 theoretically as it too frequently is. Students should not 

 be taught that silica is an all-important constituent in 

 fertilizers, neither should they be led to think that because 

 a plant abounds in silica, or abounds in lime, or abounds in 

 potash, that silica, lime, or potash are necessarily the best 

 substances for application. I am often told by examinees 

 that wheat takes up a large amount of silica, and that there- 

 fore silica must be applied, or that turnips take up a con- 

 siderable quantity of potash, and that therefore potash must 

 be applied, all of which is erroneous, and springs apparently 

 from faulty instruction. It is propagating the error fallen 

 into by the great Baron Liebig, to whom we owe so much, 

 when he recommended phosphates and other mineral sub- 

 stances in his so-called wheat manure. Wheat, however, 

 appears to be able to get its phosphates, its potash, and its 

 silica in sufficient quantities from the soil, and what it 

 apparently is most in need of is plenty of nitrates, hence if 



