FERTILIZERS. 7 



Where do the fertilizing elements in barn manure come 

 from ? From the food animals eat. But do all the fertiliz- 

 ing elements in the food find their way to the manure ? 

 Certainly not ; a portion of them are used to promote the 

 growth of the animal, going into its flesh and bones. Is 

 there not, then, in the body of the animal, which has in it 

 a part of the fertilizing elements contained in the food, 

 plant-food also, as well as in the manure that passes 

 through it ? Every farmer will assent to this. As it has 

 less water and waste in its composition than the manure 

 itself, is it not more concentrated plant-food? Now, it 

 is these bones, blood, flesh, and other waste that are used 

 in fertilizers as one of the principal sources for ammonia 

 and phosphoric acid, ammonia in the dried blood and 

 flesh, and phosphoric acid in the bones, to carry back to 

 earth the plant-food received from it. What is the differ- 

 ence, then, between using the manure of an animal as 

 plant-food, and using the animal himself as plant-food? 

 Simply, that we get more water and waste in the one case 

 than in the other. 



Go into the fields, and study the crops of the Great 

 Farmer of the universe. From the majestic Sequoia, that 

 tower toward high heaven, even to the tiny hyssop, that 

 creepeth on the wall, observe the green mantle of his 

 mighty domain thrown over the mountains that span a con- 

 tinent, and trailing along their thousand valleys, contrast- 

 ing, in its vast amplitude, with the patches of soil on which 

 dwell nations, covering every latitude and enveloping all 

 continents in its mighty folds up to the great icy circles. 

 How does the Great Farmer raise his crops ? Take your 

 spade, and dig down into the soil. Do you find any barn 

 manure there ? Go out on the boundless prairies of the far 

 West, " where bounteous nature only, tills the willing soil." 

 Do you find any barn manure there ? They waved their 



