THE FOOD QUESTION. 85 



nitrogenous portion of his food, while perhaps he may not starve, 

 he ma}^ yet die for lack of heat or for want of some other element 

 of life. 



Has the correlation of forces, thus illustrated, been considered 

 fully either in agriculture or in horticulture ? Has not agricultural 

 chemistry thus far consisted, to a great extent, in mere prelimi- 

 nary investigations? Is it not, as yet, very greatl}' empirical in its 

 application ? And is not this in pai-t the reason why the practical 

 farmer so greatly despises the book farmer ? He remembers that 

 almost all the scientists utterly condemned ensilage, while the 

 skilful farmers, who tried it, have almost all doubled their silos. 



Are we not just at the beginning of the true application of 

 science to the nutrition both of the soil, the plant, the beast, and 

 the man ? 



Let us consider a moment. Nitrogen is the most expensive and 

 moreover the most necessary element of nutrition, so far as either 

 soil, beast, or man is concerned. It is floating all about us. It 

 constitutes by far the greater proportion of our atmosphere ; but 

 no man has yet fully solved the problem of combining the nitro- 

 gen of the atmosphere in a speedy and effective way. "Whenever 

 that is accomplished, the problem of plant and animal sustenance 

 will have been solved for centuries to come, if not forever. 



Now there are certain plants which are known as renovating 

 plants. Why? Because in some way they serve as a link or 

 medium by means of which nitrogen is gathered, somehow and 

 somewhere ; either from the atmosphere, or, as one of the French 

 chemists now believes, from the microbes which float in the atmos- 

 phere. By means of these renovating plants, turned under in a soil 

 already containing its necessary supply of phosphates and the 

 like, the soil is stored with nitrogen, thereafter to yield up food to 

 the plants which are not of the renovating kind, — such as wheat, 

 rj'e, barley, and the like. 



Clover, buckwheat, beans, cow-peas, and a few other plants are 

 well known as renovating crops, when turned under. But now 

 coraes the doubt. Our greatest crop is Indian corn. Is this 

 plant, or is it not, a renovating crop? If it is, how shall the soil 

 be enriched by its use ? Shall we turn it under as we do clover 

 and buckwheat? By no means. We will presently consider how 

 it may best be made use of, if it is the trap to catch the nitrogen. 

 Prof. Atwater believes that it is. Sir J. B. Lawes has believed 

 that it is not. 



