FERTILIZERS. 529 



in the rotation which precede the cereals. In this country, the 

 direct application of phosphates to the cereals may be said to be 

 the universal practice. Is this the best practice ? Certainly 

 it may be doubted. This question may well be propounded 

 to our experiment stations. 



The effect of the presence of organic matter in our soils is 

 a matter of much importance, profoundly altering, as it does, 

 color, texture, capacity for heat and moisture, and other phys- 

 ical characters. This question must be studied in its relations 

 to the meteorology of the season of active development of our 

 cereals, for it is certain that the conditions of their growth in 

 America are all widely different from those of other countries. 

 It is only necessary to point out that, in England, wheat is 

 seeded during the same weeks as in Maryland and Virginia ; 

 whereas we reap ours in June, and they reap theirs in Septem- 

 ber. This is obviously due to different meteorological conditions 

 there and here ; but it shows that we cannot accept, as appli- 

 cable here, the results^ of their experience, or deductions from 

 their data, until fully tested with us. The results of English, 

 French, or German experiments may prove misleading here, 

 and cannot be safely adopted without strict verification, subject 

 to all the conditions which prevail with us. I believe that the 

 importance of abundant organic matter in the soil is very much 

 greater in this country than in either of those. The results 

 obtained with chemical salts, by their experimenters, have never 

 been equalled here, nor do I believe it to be possible. The 

 huge rains, alternating with intense sunshine and parching heat, 

 which prevail here in late spring and early summer, have no 

 counterpart there. The effects of such alternations are of 

 themselves disastrous, and are greatly intensified by the absence 

 of abundant organic matter, the effect of which is to intensify 

 the injury to crops by parching heat and drought, and by leach- 

 ing rains. Abundant organic matter increases the hygroscopic 

 powers of the soil, or its retentiveness of moisture, and lessens 

 its capacity for heat. In view of the foregoing facts, the con- 

 clusion is easily reached that the weak point of American agri- 

 culture is the depletion of our arable land of organic matter, 

 resulting from the too exclusive reliance upon commercial fer- 



