MANURES. 131 



era, mentions an old kino; who was found manuring his fields 

 with his own hands. Whether this circumstance gave applica- 

 tion of the word manure, from manus, signifying the hand, docs 

 not belong to the essayist to determine ; neither is it of any 

 consequence in the present discussion, because every farmer as 

 well understands the meaning of the word as now popularly- 

 used by writers and speakers, as he would were the question 

 of its etymological derivation settled beyond a query by the 

 most learned English or German philologist. 



Compost, in agriculture, is a mixture or composition of vari- 

 ous mammal substances for fertilizing land. Compost manure 

 may therefore consist, as it often does, of a mixture of vegeta- 

 ble and animal substances with lime or other earthy matter, 

 substances, or compounds. 



Before proceeding to the discussion of the subject under con- 

 sideration, it may be well to review, briefly, its past history, 

 in order that all who feel interested may be able to mark the 

 progress made through a long series of ages. 



We read concerning Adam, the progenitor of the human race, 

 that after he was created, even before his lovely and loving 

 consort was provided for him, the Lord God planted a garden 

 in Eden, and there put he man, whom he had created, to 

 dress and keep it — thus implying that a life of innocence, 

 even, was not a life of indolence nor idleness, but a life 

 of activity. Eden's garden was to Adam a place of pleasure 

 and delight, and yielded at first, no doubt, spontaneously, the 

 cereals and fruits upon which man subsisted. This early ac- 

 count of the first man would seem clearly to demonstrate that 

 his first employment was horticulture — a vocation than which 

 none, even now, can be found more consonant with man's purity 

 and innocence. In what place even now, in man's degeneracy, 

 does he find more exquisite pleasure and delight than in a 

 well-dressed and well-kept garden of beautiful flowers and de- 

 licious fruits ? In order, therefore, to enjoy this paradisiacal 

 delight and pleasure, designed for man by his Creator, it is 

 necessary that he should know how not only to dress and keep 

 the " planted garden," but how, also, to restore and replenish 

 its exhausted condition, caused by a successive cropping of 

 fruits, and grains, and pulse. No virgin soil, however richly 



