JOHN P. NORTON'S ADDRESS. 237 



annual loss, this constant cropping will begin to tell after a 

 time, and the crops will gradually diminish. This diminution 

 will at first be slow, but no less sure ; and, if such a ruinous 

 course be continued, we shall see tracts of our finest western 

 soil become like that of Virginia, deserted and barren now, but 

 once fertile as any soil could be. 



It is a matter of national importance, that this should not 

 happen, that these broad and beautiful regions should remain 

 what they now are, the garden of the earth ; that the slow pro- 

 cess of recovering worn out and exhausted land, should not be 

 needed here. When land is in fine condition, as that of The first 

 column in the table, with all of the necessary substances present, 

 the task of keeping it up is comparatively easy. A bushel of 

 wheat, weighing sixty pounds, does not contain, on an average, 

 more than one pound of ash, or inorganic matter ; so that, even 

 if the crop is fifty bushels, there will be little more than fifty 

 pounds of ash to the acre carried away in the grain. If the 

 straw is also not returned to the land, the loss is far greater, for 

 two tons of straw would contain not far from two hundred and 

 fifty pounds of ash. Here, there would be a loss of about three 

 hundred pounds annually. I am aware, that, in some western 

 districts, the application of this straw as manure would be in- 

 jurious, because there is already more than enough organic 

 matter. It might, however, be burned, and the ashes applied, 

 even in such cases. There would be no danger of over-luxuri- 

 ance from this last application, and the disappearance of a class 

 of substances difficult to replace, would be greatly retarded. It 

 is, on most soils, much easier to supply organic matter than in- 

 organic. By proper management, the former may be obtained 

 chiefly at the expense of the atmosphere, but the latter must 

 come from foreign sources. 



The time will arrive, even on the richest of our western land, 

 when the organic matter will begin to fail also ; this period 

 should be carefully watched for, and organic manures added as 

 soon as it is found that the land will bear them. 



It will have been noticed, perhaps, that I have, during all of 

 my remarks, spoken of inorganic and organic manures as alike 

 necessary ; this may have seemed strange to those who have 



