VARIOUS MANURES. 123 



CHAPTEK III. 



VARIOUS MANURES. 



How unfortunate it is that a country like our own, 

 most productive in every way, yielding crops on soils 

 and in a manner far excelling those of other nations, 

 should not have at the same time a greater number of 

 men sufficiently versed in scientific agricultural prin- 

 ciples, or even its elementary rules, to fully appreciate 

 the probability of exhausting the soil, and the certainty 

 of rendering it sterile, if a change for the better does 

 not take place ere long. There might be some excuse 

 if we had not before our eyes examples such as Sicily, 

 which furnished the grain for the Roman Empire, 

 and where the soil was quite equal in fertility to our 

 own, and which, from neglect and exhaustion, is now 

 worthless or nearly so. This exhaustion takes place 

 with every plant, and in a manner that varies with the 

 soil, etc., and, in order that things should remain nor- 

 mal, it becomes necessary to restore what has been 

 taken away. As far as the direct chemicals are con- 

 cerned it is not difficult, as science will exactly tell 

 what these are, but when we are obliged to consider 

 organic compounds, the problem is changed, and be- 

 comes most complicated. But^ as a general thing, a 



