ECONOMY OF FARMING. 93 



Thus, according to EinhofF, 100 parts of wheat contain, of nourishing matter — 

 starch, gluten, albumen, slime, sugar, and oil, 77.5 



100 parts of rye contain 70. 

 " '• " large barley, 62.5 

 " " " small " 60.3 

 ♦' " " oats, 58. 



Therefore the field would lose so much the more in humus, than the excess it pro- 

 duced of like weight of the first fruits above the last, or would need so much more 

 manure, if one cultivated it in the rotation of wheat and barley, than if with rye and 

 oats. But because the success of the one or the other plants depends not only on the 

 manure, but also on a quantity of moisture, warmth, &c., proportioned to the nature of 

 the plants ; therefore it must be ascribed to these circumstances, that the same quan- 

 tity of manure which is here required for the production of a certain amount of rye 

 and oats, elsewhere produces as great a weight of wheat and barley. I have with 

 the greatest particularity ascertained the quantity of manure used in Upper Austria, 

 in many regions of Lower Stiermark and Carinthia, in Friuli and Istria, with their 

 harvests in wheat, barley, and other fruits, and compared these with the manure and 

 the harvests of other countries, in rye, oats, millet, &c. ; and I have not found more 

 manure necessary for the production of a certain amount of wheat and barley, 

 in the former countries than in the latter, to produce an equal weight of rye and 

 oats. I found, moreover, they manured rather less there than here, which seems 

 very probable, if we take into consideration the effect of the light soil of the former 

 regions on the consumption of manure, and on that of the looser soil of the last coun- 

 try. But if any one will cultivate these fruits in a soil unpropitious to wheat and 

 barley, then he needs everywhere more manure, if he would obtain a product pro- 

 portioned to that of a soil of any particular grade, since the humus must then be- 

 come not only a nutritious substance, but one which will absorb the water, and retain 

 the same in the soil ; and hence must be explained the idea prevailing in all coun- 

 tries with an easy soil, and the correct observation, that wheat needs more manure 

 than rye. Besides this, there are Thaer's views concerning the increase of power 

 which the soil obtains by fallows, the threefold division of fields, and the culture of 

 clover — by no means corresponding with my own, yet ingenious, and if we grant 

 the premises, conclusive. I cannot here allow myself a closer opposition to Thaer's 

 hypothesis, yet I maintain that mine is capable of proof in all its parts. It is suf- 

 ficient for the object of this volume, to give a sketch of my own view : whoever 

 wishes to learn Thaer's opinion fully will find it in the first volume of his Rational 

 Land Husbandry, § 251, &c. ; then in the second volume, p. 14, in his History of Hus- 

 bandry at Moghn, p. 247 ; and finally, in the first volume of the MOglin Annals, p. 235. 



But it is necessary to read also the views of Wulfen, in the MOglin Annals, Vol. 

 II. p. 258 ; and a Treatise, very admirable in many respects, of J. G. Koppe (the 

 Review of the Systems of Agriculture, Berlin 1818), in order to learn what is said for 

 the further explanation of Thaer's hypothesis in the first of these papers ; and what 

 against it in the second of them. 



Finally, I must here mention, also, an Essay, relating to this subject, from an 

 anonymous writer, contained in the Land-and-Forst-wissensch.of Sprengel, Bruns- 

 wick, 1834, p. 396. It bears the title, " Of the Statics of Agriculture," and is extend- 

 ed to the four following questions : 



1. In what proportions do the different fruits derive their nourishment from the soil. 



2. In what proportions does the product of the fruits stand with nutritious particles 

 existing in the soil, drawn from the crops ; and what can one promise himself of a 

 supposed power in the soil, in an average year of any kind of grain ? 



3. In what proportions can the productive power of the soil, be replaced by manure 

 or in any other way ? 



4. In what proportion, in fine, is the power of production to a given culture of fruit 

 and weight of manure, for or against, in a certain rotation ? 



The Author relates when and where Thaer proposed these questions ; how, here- 

 upon, Wulfen sought to answer them by algebraic formula ; how, more recently, 

 Messrs. Von Thunen and Geisler have labored on the subject^ but without having 

 found any response from the educated agricultural public. Agreeing perfectly with 

 my own view, he goes on to say that in the circumstances, as one cannot leave unno- 

 ticed the elementary influences on the culture of the soil, herein lies the ground, 

 wherefore land-husbandry, considered as a science, must not be counted among the 

 positive, but the experimental sciences ; and since an infinite number of experiments 

 remain to be made in the same, so the science can take no positive character j whence 



