No. 1. 



Manuring, a Science. 



27 



Manuring, a Science. 



If there is one department of agricultu- 

 ral science more neglected by the practical 

 farmer than another, it is that of manuring. 

 Chemists have made calculation after calcu- 

 lation, experiment after experiment, but all 

 to little or no purpose. The farmer — I mean 

 the working farmer — who is one from ne- 

 cessity, has derived little or no benefit from 

 the host of eminent individuals who have 

 concentrated their whole attention on agri- 

 cultural chemistry. Why is this J Wiiy is 

 it that the great and all-important discove- 

 ries of Davy, are still laughed at by many — 

 but slightly attended to by all ; at least by 

 all those who would reap the greatest profit 

 from them] 'Tis true that a wonderful pro- 

 gress has been made in agriculture within 

 the last few years; and much has been done 

 in the improvement of stock, perfection of 

 machinery, etc., but very little in the sci- 

 ence of manuring. And the circumstance 

 appears to be still more unaccountable when 

 we call to mind the fact, that there are 

 greater means of improvement in this par- 

 ticular branch of husbandry, than any other; 

 in no other department are the rudiments so 

 well understood and so generally circulated, 

 as in this. We know the constitution of 

 every agricultural plant ; we have analyses 

 of every description of soils; we are well 

 versed in the respective compositions of air 

 and water ; we have abundant means of as- 

 certaining the constitution of all manures ; 

 indeed, we know and perceive all but the 

 peculiar operation of the vital principle, and 

 yet we are daily applying matter to soils in 

 which a sufficiency already exists. Why is 

 all this? Why is it that in some depart- 

 ments agriculture is rapidl)' advancing — in 

 others, making no perceptible progress ! It 

 is unpleasant, and by no means the choice 

 of the writer, to give the cause of this ano- 

 maly ; but ' facts are stubborn things,' and it 

 becomes no one to conceal the truth. 



It is well known that the improvements 

 which have been made in stock, are owing 

 to the exertions of experimental farmers, 

 and those who farm for example ; independ- 

 ent of which it requires little or no calcula- 

 tion to improve stock — there are no scien- 

 tific rules to be perused and committed to 

 memory; it can be accomplished as well by 

 a man of mediocre ability, as by one of a 

 high order of intellectual capacity, provided] 

 he has perseverance. It must not be sup- 

 posed, therefore, that no credit is due tot 

 those who have by their exertions improved! 

 the breed of any kind of stock. Credit isi 

 due to any one who confers the smallest 

 benefit upon his fellow-creatures; but the! 



purpose is to show why our breeds of ani-, 

 mals have been so much improved, and an- 

 other department of husbandry almost totally 

 neglected. The cause, then, is that much 

 in this respect has been done for the agri- 

 culturist, and there being little difficulty in 

 what has been accomplished. 



With respect to machinery, in which, 

 perhaps, the most extensive as well as the 

 most beneficial results have taken place, it 

 need only be asked, who take the majority of 

 prizes for machinery, at agricultural prize 

 meetings'? Not farmers, but machinists. 

 This then speaks for itself; the improve- 

 ments, the wonderful impro^■ements made 

 in machines, have been brought about by 

 the machine venders, and not by farmers. 

 It is readily admitted that it would be of no 

 avail for machinists, &c., to construct new 

 implements, if the farmer had no disposition 

 to encourage their laudable exertions ; still, 

 it must be confessed, that the advance of 

 agriculture in this department, is too little 

 owing to agriculturists themselves. 



The true signification of the word science 

 is, a knowledge of all that exists, and of the 

 laws that sfovern the operations of nature — 

 a knowledge of matter, things, and systems. 

 Whatever is done by a system, is done sci- 

 entifically; nature does nothing, except by 

 the interposition of nature's God, without a 

 system. A knowledge of these systems is 

 science, generally ; a knowledge of any one 

 system, a science. The numerous terms, 

 the difficult rules, the complicated calcula- 

 tions, the mysterious analyses, are not the 

 science; they are the handles, the guides, 

 the agents which render the science com- 

 prehensible by the human mind, invented 

 by human beings for that purpose. They 

 are the channels through which the New- 

 tons, the Lockes, the Davys, the Liebigs, 

 convey the researches of their expansive 

 minds to unborn generations. If science 

 then, is a knowledge of the operations of 

 nature, it must be from some unwholesome 

 influence that so many individuals neglect 

 to profit by it. The influence in the present 

 instance, is prejudice — yes, prejudice — how- 

 ever disagreeable it may sound to those in- 

 terested, it is too true ; for what can it be 

 but prejudice, that prompts men to say, — 

 "Our forefathers prospered without science, 

 and why should'nt we V What can it be 

 but prejudice, which induces men to believe 

 that the system they adopt, admits of no im- 

 provement ? 



In order to render the question more in- 

 telligible, it may be asked for what purpose 

 do men apply manure to soils? Most as- 

 suredly to supply a something which is re- 

 quisite to the growth of a plant, and which 



