XIV TALKS OX MANURES. 



water passes through the soil from the time we commence fc .4 

 summer-fallow until the wheat is sown in the autumn, or foi 

 many weeks afterwards. The nitrogen, which is converted 

 into nitric acid by the agency of a good summer-fallow, is no 

 more liable to bo washed out of the soil after the field is sown 

 to wluat in the autumn, than if we applied the nitrogen in the 

 form of some readily available manure. 



I still believe in summer fallows. If I had my life to live 

 over again, I would certainly summer- fallow more than I have 

 done. I have been an agricultural writer for one-third of a 

 century, and have persistently advocated the more extended 

 use of the summer-fallow. I have nothing to take back, unless 

 it is what I have said in reference to " fall-fallowing." Possibly 

 this practice may result in loss, though I do not think so. 



A good summer-fallow, on rather heavy clay land, if the con- 

 ditions are otherwise favorable, is pretty sure to give us a good 

 crop of wheat, and a good crop of clover and grass afterwards. 

 Of course, a farmer who has nice, clean sandy soil, will not 

 think of summer-fallowing it. Such soils are easily worked, 

 and it is not a difficult matter to keep them clean without 

 summer-fallowing. Such soils, however, seldom contain a 

 large store of unavailable plant food, and instead of summer- 

 fallowing, we had better manure. On such soils artificial ma- 

 nures are often very profitable, though barn-yard manure, or 

 the droppings of animals feeding on the land, should be the 

 prime basis of all attempts to maintain, or increase, the pro- 

 ductiveness of such soils. 



Since this book was first published, I do not know of any new 

 facts in regard to the important question of, how best to 

 manage and apply our barn-yard manure, so as to make it more 

 immediately active and available. It is unquestionably true, 

 that the same amount of nitrogen in barn-yard manure, will 

 not produce so great an effect as its theoretical value would in- 

 dicate. There can be no doubt, however, that the better wr 

 feed our animals, and the more carefully we save the liquids 

 the more valuable and active will be the manure. 



The conversion of the inert nitrogen of manures and soils, 

 into nitric acid, as already stated, is now known to be produced 

 by a minute fungus. I hope it will be found that we can intro- 

 duce this bacterium into our manure piles, in such a way as to 

 greatly aid the conversion of inert nitrogen into nitrates. 



Experiments have been made, and are still continued, at 

 Vi r oburn. under the auspices of the Royal Agricultural Society 



