23 TALKS ON MANURES. 



in the soil, and to accumulate enough available plant-food for uhe 

 production of the largest possible yield of those crops which we 

 sell. In other words, we want enough available plant-food in tho 

 soil to grow 40 bushels of wheat and 50 bushels of barley. I think 

 the farmer who raises 10 tons for every ton he sells, will soon 

 reach this point, and when once reached, it is a comparatively 

 easy matter t j maintain this degree of fertility. 



WHY OUR CROPS ARE SO POOR. 



" If the soil is so rich in plant-food," said the Deacon, " I again 

 ask, why are our crops so poor ? " 



The Deacon said this very quietly. He did not seem to know 

 that he had asked one of the most important questions in the 

 whole range of agricultural science. It is a fact that a soil may 

 contain enough plant-food to produce a thousand large crops, and 

 yet the crops we obtain from it may be so poor as hardly to pay 

 the cost of cultivation. The plant-food is there, but the plants 

 cannot get at it. It is not in an available condition ; it is not sol- 

 uble. A case is quoted by Prof. Johnson, where a soil was an- 

 alyzed, arid found to contain to the depth of one foot 4,652 Ibs. of 

 nitrogen per acre, but only 63 Ibs. of this was in an available con- 

 dition. And this is equally true of phosphoric acid, potash, and 

 other elements of plant-food. No matter how much plant-food 

 there may be in the soil, the only portion that is of any immediate 

 value is the small amount that is annually available for the growth 

 of crops. 



HOW TO GET LARGER CROPS. 



" I am tired of so much talk about plant-food," said the Deacon ; 

 " what we want to know is ho\v to make our land produce larger 

 crops of wheat, corn, oats, barley, potatoes, clover, and grass." 



This is precisely what I am trying to show. On my own farm, 

 the three leading objects are (1) to get the land drained, (2) to make 

 it clean and mellow, and (3) to get available nitrogen for the cereal 

 crops, i^'ter the first two objects are accomplished, the measure 

 of productiveness will be determined by the amount of available 

 nitrogen in the soil. How to get available nitrogen, therefore, is 

 my chief and ultimate object in all the operations on the farm, 

 and it is here that science can help me. I know how to get nitro- 

 gen, but I want to get it in tho cheapest way, and then to be sure 

 that I do not waste it. 



There is one fact fully ost iblishccl by repotted experiment and 

 general experience that 80 Ibs. of available nitrogen per a^re, 



