XYI TALKS ON MANURES. 



not. It depends on our general management. Theoretically, 

 the use of a manure furnishing only one element of plant food, 

 if it increases the growth of crops which are sold from the 

 farm, must have a tendency to impoverish the land of the other 

 elements of plant food. In other words, the use of superphos- 

 phate furnishing only, or principally, phosphoric acid, lime and 

 sulphuric acid, must have a tendency to impoverish the soil of 

 nitrogen and potash. Practically, however, it need do nothing 

 of the kind. If the land is well cultivated, and if our low, 

 rich, alluvial portions of the farm are drained, and if the hay, 

 grass, clover, straw and fodder crops are retained, the more 

 phosphates we use, the richer and more productive will the 

 farm become. And I think it is a fact, that the farmers who 

 use the most phosphates, are the very men who take the great- 

 est pains to drain their land, cultivate it thoroughly, and make 

 the most manure. It follows, therefore, that the use of phos- 

 phates is a national benefit. 



Some of our railroad managers take this view of the subject. 

 They carry superphosphate at a low rate, knowing that its use 

 will increase the freight the other way. In other words, they 

 bring a ton of superphosphate from the seaboard, knowing that 

 its use will give them many tons of freight of produce, from 

 the interior to the seaboard. It is not an uncommon thing for 

 two hundred pounds of superphosphate, to give an increase of 

 five tons of turnips per acre. Or, so to spe-ik, the railroad that 

 brings one ton of superphosphate from the seaboard, might, as 

 the result of its use, have fifty tons of freight to carry back 

 again. This is perhaps a'u exceptionably favorable instance, 

 but it illustrates the principle. Years ago, before the abolition 

 of tolls on the English turnpike roads, carriages loaded with 

 lime, and all other substances intended for manure, were 

 allowed to go free. And our railroads will find it to their in- 

 t?rest to transport manures of all kinds, at a merely nominal 

 rate. 



Many people will be surprised at the recommendation of Sir 

 John B. Lawes, not to waste time and money in cleaning poor 

 land, before seeding it down to grass. He thinks that if the 

 land is made rich, the superior grasses overgrow the bad 

 grasses and weeds. I have no doubt he is right in this, though 

 the principle may be pushed to an extreme. Our climate, in 

 this country, is so favorable for killing weeds, that the plow 

 and the cultivator will probably be a more economical means 

 of making our land clean, than the liberal use of expensive 



