NO MANURE TO WASTE. 95 



mount to extol clover and the tread of his fleecy flocks with a 

 clear conscience. 



Farmers too often overlook the fact, that by feeding oil-cake 

 and corn-fodder or straw to their flocks, they are not only gain- 

 ing the benefit of a cheap purchase, perhaps, but greatly adding 

 to the inorganic constituents of their land. 



In thus reasoning upon the rather startling statement of Mr. 

 Geddcs, we concede three things, viz. : — 



That the bones and inorganic parts of the animals are derived 

 from the plants. 



That the plants obtain them from the soil. 



That they are essential food for the plant, and must exist in 

 fertile soils. 



These propositions are true. It is true also that in most soils 

 continued cropping rapidly reduces the supply and decreases 

 fertility, unless both be maintained by manuring. 



These propositions, which I here allude to in general terms 

 as the result of a simple course of thought upon that statement 

 of Mr. Geddes, I do not propose to argue. They have been 

 proved so many times, and are so universally acknowledged by 

 intelligent agriculturists, that we may take them as agricultural 

 axioms. 



The wise farmer allows no manure to waste ; he composts the 

 droppings of his animals with straw and litter ; he makes the 

 swamps and woods contribute to his manure heaps ; he keeps 

 his farm up by one year after another enriching different fields, 

 and he sends the long-rooted clover to bring up the hidden 

 wealth of the subsoil. With all this he will find it is with the 

 whole farm as it is with the single field — in time it will feel the 

 draft, and the farmer must look beyond the resources of the 

 farm itself to supply what he sends away in his marketable 

 productions, whatever they may be. 



No matter what the farmer sells, he sells the inorganic con- 

 stituents of his soil. If he would keep his soil improving, or 

 not decreasing in value, he must restore those in some way. 



This necessity to purchase has created the trafl&c in fer- 

 tilizers. 



If a farm is chiefly devoted to grazing, and the number of 

 cattle, great and small, is such that a great abundance of barn- 

 yard manure is made every winter, for the enrichment of the 



