338 TALKS ON MANURES. 



These results, if they are to be accepted as correct, must 

 bring about a very considerable change in the generally re- 

 ceived views in regard to fertility. We not only see more clearly 

 the connection between a former vegetation and the stored up 

 fertility in our soil, but we also see the importance of vegeta- 

 tion at the present day, as the only means by which the loss of 

 nitric acid is prevented. The more completely the land is cov- 

 ered with vegetation, and the more growth there is, the greater 

 will ba the evaporation of water, and the less will be the loss of 

 nitric acid by drainage. 



I was not at all surprised to find, that the surface soil of a 

 wood on my farm, was poorer in nitrogen than the soil of an 

 old permanent pasture, to which no manure had been applied 

 for twenty-five years, though during the whole period, the crop 

 of hay had been removed every year from the land. The wood 

 to which I refer is covered with oak, centuries old, and the 

 foliage is so dense that but little underwood or other vegetation 

 can grow beneath it. If both the wood and the pasture were 

 put into arable cultivation, I have no doubt that the pasture 

 would prove much more fertile than the wood land. 



In our experiments on permanent pasture, it has been ob- 

 served that the character of the herbage is mainly dependent on 

 the food supplied. Weeds, and inferior grasses, can hold their 

 own as long as poverty exists, but with a liberal supply of ma- 

 nure, the superior grasses overgrow and drive out the bad 

 grasses and weeds. In consequence of the low price of wheat 

 a good deal of land in England has bsen laid down to perma- 

 nent pasture, and much money has been spent in cleaning the 

 land preparatory to sowing the grass-seeds. I have on more 

 occasions than one, suggested that the money employed in this 

 process would be better expended in manure, by which the 

 weeds would be " improved " off the face of the land. While 

 walking over the abandoned portion of these estates I explained 

 my views upon this point to the manager. They were, how- 

 ever, received with the usual skepticism, and the rejoinder that 

 " there was only one way of getting rid of the weeds, which 

 was by the plow and fire." 



There is nothing that speaks to me so forcibly as color in 

 vegetation ; when travelling by rail, I do not require to be told 

 that such a farm is, or is not, in high condition, or that we are 

 passing through a fertile or infertile district. There is a pecu- 

 liar green color in vegetation which is an unmistakable sign 

 that it is living upon the fat of the land. I need hardly say 



