46 THE COMPOSITION OF FERTILE AND BARREN SOILS. 



from high authorities in agricultural matters, would possibly find, 

 to his loss, that he had much better have obeyed his own judgment, 

 and acted on his own discretion. But the question is, how is he 

 to form a correct opinion ? How can he be assured he is right 

 in introducing improved methods of tillage ? Certainly, if he 

 only blindly follows the practices of his forefathers, it is impos- 

 sible for him to take advantage of the suggestions that are made 

 from time to time by men well qualified to give an opinion ; it is 

 impossible for him to apply with advantage artificial manures, 

 for the true use of those manures requires a mind trained in, at 

 least, the first principles of chemistry. Apply artificial manures 

 simply because you are recommended to do so, and in nine cases 

 out of ten you will be disappointed. Hence it is that we fre- 

 quently find the good farmers of the old school, and who hitherto 

 have secured a fair return for their money, setting their faces 

 against all modern improvements, and decrying superphosphates 

 and all other artificial manures. And in their position perhaps 

 they are right ; for it is not the introduction of artificial manures 

 alone that will enable a farmer to get a large crop of turnips or 

 grain ; he requires to exercise his judgment in the purchase of a 

 manure, and when he has it, he must again exercise judgment in 

 applying it to the land. Without this judgment, it is safer to 

 continue to use the farmyard manure ; for it is a universal manure, 

 containing all the elements of fertility, all the substances which 

 plants thriving luxuriantly require. In a word, if he is not 

 acquainted with the first principles of chemistry, he had much 

 better follow his own approved practice of farming than rush 

 heedlessly into modern improvements, and apply artificial 

 manures without ascertaining whether those manures are suitable 

 to his particular soil or crop. 



Practice and Theory. 



Indeed, as we advance in agriculture it becomes more and 

 more a rational Practice, and assumes more and more the form of 

 an Art. Agriculture, in my belief, will never become thoroughly 

 a science. The very nature of its object precludes this. Agri- 

 culture bears in this respect a close analogy to the practice of 

 medicine : in both cases it is well to lay down principles or 

 rather, to elucidate principles ; but in a very great measure we 

 should depend on experiences (hear hear). In one farm we may 

 produce one year only 20 bushels of wheat, and in another 30 

 bushels, though in both instances we follow exactly the same 

 mode of tillage and use the same manure ; for we have not all 

 the modifying influences affecting the result under control, and 

 therefore we cannot shape, so to speak, agriculture into a science, 

 or establish any invariable scientific rules for our guidance. We 

 are dependent on the test of experience, and thus many results 



