MANURES. 131 



to furnish nitrogen. Upon this subject we quote 

 from the Edinburgh Quarterly Journal of Agriculture 

 the following, in support of our own opinions. 



" On analzying the grain of wheat and the bulb of 

 the turnip (the parts for which the crops are culti- 

 vated), it is at once found that both of them contain 

 elementary principles not entering into the composi- 

 tion of ' common vegetable matter J namely, nitrogen in 

 the grain of the wheat, and sulphur in the turnip ; 

 besides which, the saline matter is also found to be 

 peculiar ; but this last will be considered more fully 

 hereafter. Having once, therefore, discovered that 

 these elements are essentially necessary to the 

 growth of the above-mentioned plants, we are evi- 

 dently led to ask ourselves the question, Whence 

 are they to be obtained ? Dear-bought experience 

 has long since answered, in animal manures. Yes, 

 all substances derived from the animal kingdom 

 contain more or less of both nitrogen and sulphur, 

 and hence the value, or, in fact, the absolute neces- 

 sity, of such manures for the particular crops now 

 under consideration. It may, indeed, be said by 

 some, that, ' however necessary animal manure may 

 be for turnips, still there can be no absolute neces- 

 sity for its application to the wheat-crop ; for, as ni- 

 trogen is the substance here wanted, surely the at- 

 mosphere will present a ready and never-failing res- 

 ervoir of that element.' But it must here be re- 

 marked, in answer to such a statement, that it is 

 exceedingly probable that the higher order of plants, 

 at least, never obtain the nitrogen they possess from 

 the air, but always from decomposing animal matter." 



And what, it may be asked, are animal manures ? 

 Not, we answer, mere vegetables, which have rot- 

 ted in the yard or passed through the cattle of the 

 farm not farmyard and stable dung, in the ordina- 

 ry mode of its management. The common" vegeta- 

 ble matters consumed by the farm-stock do not con- 

 tain nitrogen, this essential element of wheat. It, 



