THE COMPOSITION OF FERTILE AND BARREN SOILS. 57 



fertilising gases, from the atmosphere, while barren sandy soils 

 do not possess the power. Moreover, all soils characterised by 

 great fertility retain manurial substances for a much longer time 

 than others which are what are called " hungry " soils. It is im- 

 portant to bear this in mind, because it will influence our practice 

 of applying manure to the land. We frequently hear a discussion 

 about the use of long and short dung, or winter and spring ma- 

 nuring, and 1 find in agricultural discussions each man closes 

 his opinion with the words, " I know I am right," and thinks his 

 opponent is wrong ; the discussion concludes, and each goes 

 away exactly in the same mind as when it began simply through 

 not understanding that the advocates of long dung are right in 

 one case, and the advocates of short dung in another particular 

 case ; but the reason why they are right is unknown to one or 

 the other, because each doggedly adheres to his opinion, and 

 will not give the other credit for being a good farmer. It has 

 often struck me, in attending agricultural meetings, that if you 

 ask one farmer about another, Is so and so a good farmer ? the 

 reply is, " He may be, but he knows nothing about stock," and 

 so on. Now this does not come of a disparaging or jealous 

 spirit, but it is the result of a conviction that the person spoken 

 of must be quite wrong. Yet inquiry may show that one is as 

 right as the other, but that they have to deal with two different 

 cases. On one of the farms at Cirencester some of the fields 

 differ from each other greatly in composition some only contain 

 2 per cent, of lime, while others come under the denomination 

 calcareous soils, and contain as much as 54 per cent. Suppose 

 the farm were divided into several small farms, one of the occu- 

 piers might say, "I find lime of the greatest benefit," and another 

 might try it and say, " I find lime of no use at all," and both be 

 right, though wrong in condemning each Other's practice. I could 

 point out soils where guano would be useful, and others where it 

 would be useless. Therefore, criticisms on farming must not be 

 based on particular cases. 



Manuring depends on the kind of Crop. 



We must take into account the crops we intend to cultivate. 

 What is good for turnips is not always so for wheat, and this is 

 not dependent on a chemical difference between the ashes of the 

 wheat and the turnip, but on the mode of growth of plants. We 

 have to calculate how long we keep a plant in the soil before we 

 reap it. It is not a question of the composition of plants, but of 

 the time they may have for assimilating food from the soil. If, 

 like wheat, it is long in growth, often the food present in the soil 

 is sufficient to supply what it wants : perhaps a little top dressing 

 might be desirable to give it a start at first, but after that the 



