CHAPTER V. 



STERCOLOGY.* MANURES. 



ALL agents used by the Agriculturist to preserve or restore 

 the productiveness of the soil, are properly called manures. 

 All soils, after being long cultivated and subjected to the ex- 

 hausting- influence of continual harvests, become deficient in 

 mineral and organic elements, which must be replaced artifi- 

 cially or total barrenness will ensue. Manuring is the process 

 by which this end is accomplished, and for it, there is no 

 substitute. 



If the supply be less than the crops require, the soil increases 

 in barrenness : if it just replaces what lias been removed by 

 the crops, the fertility remains the same: if more be added 

 than the crops require, the fertility of the land is increased. 



*A NKW TERM STERCOLOGY, Mr. Editor: I wish to propose, 

 through your paper a new term, which I think will supply a deficiency 

 in agricultural language. We have no generic term which embraces in 

 its signification, the science or art of enriching the soil. 1 therefore 

 propose the term STERCOLOGY, which is compounded from the word 

 stercus, which means manure, and logos, a discourse. 



Although hardly general enough in its strict meaning, this word may, 

 by a little extension, be understood to embrace everything under the 

 head of manuring, enriching, ameliorating or amending the soil. And 

 although words are only the signs of ideas, and technical language 

 should not be used unnecessarily, still a systematic division of any 

 branch of science into parts embraced under generic heads is always 

 convenient. 



Yours, respectfully, 



M. M. RODGERS." 



Genesee Farmer, August, 1847. 



