260 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



having been made, until the amount of produce is much less 

 than on virgin soil ; and also as food for man and beast it has • 

 deteriorated in quality. We cannot doubt that a Being of such 

 illimitable and ready resource as we sec constantly evidenced 

 has provided a soil of the proper degree of fertility, and of the 

 proper elements to support that fertility. 



The farmer is the one in fault — for the most part, at least ; 

 and that, too, when the remedy is within his reach. In searching 

 for this remedy it will be necessary to use terms expressing the 

 nature of the earth, air and water. And let no farmer throw 

 down the subject in impatience, at the sight of those scientific 

 terms he has so often detested ; but consider the importance of 

 the subject, and rest assured that with a little study the subject 

 will become as interesting as it is important to himself. 



The earth originally, or at the time it was deposited in its 

 present position, was inorganic, or particles of rock. It has 

 now mixed with its upper portion organic or vegetable matter, 

 supposed to have been produced by a gradual ascent from a 

 low order of vegetation to a higher, occupying a long period of 

 years, before the earth was fitted for the sustenance of man. 



This vegetable or organic matter is mostly carbon or inide- 

 cayed organic matter, of which carbon is the dominant power, 

 and which in a fertile soil is nearly always less than ten per 

 cent., often less than five, of the whole cultivated soil. 



Now, as nearly every product of the farm is principally car- 

 bon, the great question to be answered is, How can the great 

 storehouses of nature — the earth, air and water — be made 

 available resources of the farmer, so that amply remunerative 

 crops can be produced, and at the same time a constant 

 approach be made to a full restoration of the soil to its origi- 

 nal fertility ? 



It is the interest, as it is the duty, of every owner of the soil 

 to intelligently labor for this full restoration. And by many 

 farmers it is believed to be fully attainable, the writer among 

 them. 



Carbon, in its properties useful to the farmer, should be well 

 understood. It is the fuel of combustion. The rusting of iron, 

 burning of wood or any substance by flame, the decay of any 

 vegetable or animal matter on or in the ground, or the system 

 of man or beast — these all can be shown beyond a doubt to be 



