No. G. TJiae7'^s Principles of JlgricuHure — Mineral Manures. 



195 



hardy and industrious family, and from the] 

 country where such land abounds, issues 

 many a fine and elevated character, who 

 carries to tlic furthest limits of t'.iis continent 

 t!io arts of life and the elements of civiliza- 

 tion, with an energy of character, a resolute 

 perseverance, and a spirit of enterprise, with 

 uiiich those from more favoured regions can- 

 not compare or compete. If we were to 

 carry out these ideas, they will bring us to 

 that point in which it will be necessary for 

 every farmer to be a man of science: — of 

 course a most absurd conclusion and ex- 

 pectation, not that it would not be much 

 better for the interests of agriculture that 

 they were so, or that agriculture would not 

 be a much higher art if they were so; but 

 that it is absurd to expect such a thing- 

 There is no profession or occupation where 

 each member is of the highest order of mind, 

 and no one where much the larger portion 

 arc not ignorant of the principles of the art 

 they profess and practice. The mass of men 

 are followers and imitators — it is the few 

 who are grent and do great things; the rest 

 are mere labourers on the already worn and 

 beaten track of life. It is not therefoie to 

 be supposed, that science is to direct the 

 man who has the evil fortune to possess land 

 that is out of order, or that he will refer to 

 chemical laws for assistance, consult Liebig, 

 or talk about phosphates, silicates, carbon- 

 ates, ainmouia, alumina, geine, or humus, or 

 use any other learned and vexatious cata- 

 logue of terms; but he will turn from these 

 with disgust, drop science and all its beauti- 

 ful principles, and look for aid to his dung- 

 heap or his lime. lie knows that the art of 

 retrieving a worn-out soil is to restore to it 

 what it has lost, but how is he to know what 

 it has lost; or if his land contain an excess 

 of some one thing, as clay or sand, he may 

 be aware that the proper mode of proceed- 

 ing is to correct tliis excess, by applying 

 something of an opposite nature. Or if the 

 soil is deficient in the earths, or salts, it may 

 be easy to know and apply the remedy; and 

 also if the land has been exhausted of its 

 humus or vegetable mould. The difficulty 

 does not consist in finding the remedy, but 

 in knowing when it is wanted ; or in other 

 words, the great majority of farmers would 

 be unable to tell what was the reason their 

 land did not yield well, nor could tliey con- 

 jecture or discover the cause, unless by an 

 analysis of the soil. And how many are 

 there, who would not rather trust to his own 

 opinions, and to his own meagre n)cans, than 

 to 2fo to some chemist and ask what was the 

 matter vvith his land, and endeavour to find 

 out wliy it tailed in jiroducing wheat or corn, 

 or any other crop. And in this way be en- 



abled to make an immediate application of 

 the remedy. There are, no doubt, peculiar 

 influences exerted by every agent that we 

 employ — a fact tiiat renders it doubly im- 

 portant for us to know how we shall proceed, 

 and whether we are on the right track when 

 we commence our work. 



"But what docs the soil contain, and what 

 are the components of the substances used 

 as manure'? Until these points are satisfac- 

 torily determined, a rational system of agri- 

 culture cannot exist." These are the words 

 of Liebig on this point, and there is no man 

 who has anything to do with land, who does 

 not feel ther force. With these general re- 

 marks, we proceed to take up Von Thaer on 

 " Mineral Manures," the last part of the 

 chapter on "Manuring the Soil." iHe opens 

 with some observations that go to prove the 

 necessity that vVe have urged of knowing 

 the nature of our soil and its wants. It is 

 on this knowledge that is founded the Vv'hole 

 art of manuring and bringing up land — the 

 art of correcting the defects of a soil so as 

 to make it productive. We find, for exam- 

 ple, that our land contains too much clay or 

 sand, or too much of some one of the ele- 

 mentary earths, or even of humus, or on 

 the other hand, too little of some of those 

 ingredients of a soil that make it valuable 

 for cultivation; in other words, that the just 

 balance between its component parts is im- 

 paired. In these circumstances we cannot 

 expect our land to be as productive as we 

 wish, but how are we to correct the evil"? 

 The most natural mode is to introduce into 

 the soil something of an opposite nature to 

 that which is in excess, and to add to it 

 something of the same character as that 

 which is deficient. This art of improving 

 nature, and attempting to adjust her defici- 

 encies is a delicate matter, and as we have 

 already said, requires experience and the 

 exercise of sound judgment to prevent fail- 

 ure. "It is hardly possible," says Von Thaer, 

 "to correct the defects of an argillaceous 

 and tenacious soil with sand, or those of a 

 sandy soil with clay, excepting in those cases 

 in which the kind of earth necessary to effect 

 the required amelioration is found in the in- 

 ferior stratum of the soil to which it is to be 

 applied." In that case it may be done by 

 deep plougliings, so directed, however, as 

 not to bring too thick a layer of the virgin 

 earth to the surface; but where the earth 

 has to be brought from a distance, or raised 

 from a great depth, then we have to calcu- 

 late the expense, which may be so great as 

 to make it an absurd undertaking. But after 

 having done this, and resolved to attempt it, 

 we then have this fact for our consideration, 

 "that it is exceedingly difBcult to efl'ect a 



