ENGLISH AGRICULTURE. 41 



in animals. The conditions of health are very different from 

 the indications of health ; and the conditions of fertility are 

 very different from the indications of fertility. To carry the 

 analogy a little farther, I should say that the conditions of 

 health in a man or in any animal might be enumerated as 

 follows plenty of good food, plenty of pure air, plenty of 

 occupation, plenty of rest, a healthy constitution inherited 

 and kept up, &c. These are some of the conditions of health. 

 But the indications of health would be a well-nourished 

 body, a healthy complexion, vigour as indicated in action, 

 and due powers of endurance. But we should not for a 

 moment dream of confusing the conditions of health with 

 the indications of health. And yet after some years' ex- 

 perience of this particular point which I have tried to 

 illustrate, I find that, after the student has answered the 

 question on the conditions of fertility, he repeats himself 

 when asked for the indications of fertility. He answers, 

 " Plenty of plant food." That is not an indication at all ; it 

 is a condition. 



Let us address ourselves to the conditions of fertility in a 

 soil, and ascertain what are the conditions without which no 

 soil can be fertile, and with which a soil is always fertile. 



The first condition of fertility is, as you might expect, 

 )lenty of plant food in an available state. A student may 

 lake two points or one of it. A great many students like 

 make as many points as they can. It looks well, they 

 think, to see fifteen points made instead of five. Plenty of 

 )lant food, and of course in an assimilable form, is a condition 

 >f fertility. But there is a great tendency to regard this as 

 everything that is to say, to take an exclusively chemical 

 dew of the matter. Students are too apt to think that if a 

 )il is well stocked with plant food in an available state it is 

 a fertile soil, but such is not the case. The wonder is, how 

 little mere quantity of plant food has to do with fertility. 



