110 AMERICAN MANURES. 



The reader can see at a glance the lack of sul- 

 phuric acid in the above soil. This is the 

 reason that the application of plaster had such a 

 beneficial effect. Every other element of fertil- 

 ity was present, but without sulphuric acid it 

 was impossible for plants to come to maturity. 



Hundreds of analyses of different soils might 

 be given, both fertile and barren, but they would 

 only prove the one great fact, that soils, to be 

 properly adapted to the growth of plants, must 

 contain every element that enters into their 

 composition. Plants must have the necessary 

 food to live on, the same as animals, as they 

 cannot create an atom of any substance to sup- 

 port themselves. Hence, when there is a falling 

 off in the productiveness of a soil, the farmer 

 should first ascertain what element is necessary 

 to restore it, and then add that substance, in a 

 definite quantity, because it is only a waste of 

 money to apply what is not required. 



Such a course would lead to an economy both 

 of the money of the farmer, and also of the ele- 

 ments of fertility. How many farmers buy ex- 

 pensive manufactured manures, when perhaps 

 the very things they need lie wasting at their 

 own doors. The application of lime, marl, 

 muck, wood and even coal ashes, is sometimes 

 attended with better results than the most ex- 

 pensive phosphates. When these expensive 



