332 TALKS ON MA.NUEES. 



CHAPTEE XL. 

 RESTORING FERTILITY TO THE SOIL. 



BY SIR J. B. LAWES, BART., LL.D., F.K.S., ROTHAMSTED, ENG. 



A relation of mine, who already possessed a very consider- 

 able estate, consisting of light land, about twenty years ago 

 purchased a large property adjoining it at a very high price. 

 These were days when farmers were nourishing, and they no 

 more anticipated what was in store for them in the future, 

 than the inhabitants of the earth in the days of Noah. 



Times have changed since then, and bad seasons, low prices 

 of wheat, and cattle-disease, have swept off the tenants from 

 these two estates, so that my relation finds himself now in the 

 position of being the unhappy owner and occupier of five or 

 six farms, extending over several thousand acres one farm 

 alone occupying an area of two thousand four hundred acres. 

 Fortunately for the owner, he possesses town property in addi- 

 tion to his landed estates, so that the question with him is not, 

 as it is with many land owners, how to find the necessary capi- 

 tal to cultivate the land, but, having found the capital, how to 

 expend it in farming, so as to produce a proper return. 



It is not very surprising that, under these circumstances, my 

 opinion should have been asked. What, indeed, would have 

 been the use of a relation, who not only spent all his time in 

 agricultural experiments, but also pretended to teach our 

 neighbors how to farm on the other side of the Atlantic, if he 

 could not bring his science to bear on the land of an adjoining 

 county ! Here is the land my relation might naturally say 

 here is the money, and I have so much confidence in your 

 capacity that I will give you carte-blanche to spend as much as 

 you please what am I to do ? 



An inspection of the property brought out the following facts 

 that all the land was very light, and that you might walk 

 over the fresh plowed surface in the wettest weather without 

 any clay sticking to your boots : still a portion of the soil was 

 dark in color, and therefore probably contained a sufficient 

 amount of fertility to make cultivation profitable, provided the 

 management could be conducted with that care and economy 

 which arc absolute essentials in a business where the expendi- 

 ture is always pressing closely upon the income. 



