198 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



opment without applying that manure in very large quantities. 

 Now, instead of that, would it not be better to apply a good but 

 "more moderate quantity of such manure, and also if it does not 

 contain in itself everything necessary for the particular crop to 

 be grown, than to apply, in addition, a sufficient quantity of 

 such particular element or food to supply all such wants ? 



It is perfectly clear to our minds, not so much by an analysis 

 of the plants themselves by chemists, — for no chemist can tell 

 the exact wants of plants by an analysis of the plant itself, or 

 how much of any particular manure to apply for any crop by 

 an analysis of the soil, — as by well authenticated experiments 

 and by our own experience, that certain varieties of plants do 

 require, as they are said, a certain food. Wheat and corn re- 

 quire nitrogen and potash ; turnips and cabbages, phosphates ; 

 potatoes, potash in large quantities. Now all these varieties of 

 plants require all the elements named, but each of them re- 

 quires the particular one assigned to it largely in excess of the 

 others. Therefore a heavy dressing of barnyard manure — say 

 one hundred loads to the acre — applied on good land for corn, 

 containing as it does a very large amount of nitrogen and pot- 

 ash, would produce a large and luxuriant crop of corn. The 

 same amount of manure applied for turnips or potatoes, 

 although the soil might contain everything needed for them, yet 

 perhaps they would be so overstimulated by the large amount 

 of nitrogen as to force them to tops, and thus lessen the crop. 



As some may doubt this proposition, perhaps we can illustrate it 

 in this way : take a field upon which the manure has laid in a pile 

 the previous winter ; of course under the pile it is exceedingly 

 rich in ammonia and other matters which have washed and 

 soaked down from the heap above. If planted with corn it will 

 be the largest and most productive spot in the field, from the fact 

 of the great supply of this desirable food furnished it ; but what 

 is the result if planted with turnips or potatoes : why great tops, 

 poor turnips and small potatoes, from the great excess of nitrog- 

 enous substances, which are too stimulating. 



Therefore, in preparing soils, while we would apply barn- 

 yard manure plentifully if we had it, we would also add to the 

 soil a quantity of such other particular substances as in our 

 judgment the crop might require ; this, with a thorough pulver- 

 ization of the soil, and an intimate mixture of the manure suit- 



