COMPOST MANURES. 57 



f 58 -per ton, the price of guano, would equal $11,600,000,000 per 

 aunum. 



Thus, it would seem, that, if every farmer and consumer of Earth s 

 products would save all, by taking heed that nothing which can be 

 used as a fertilizer of the tilled and cropped soil, be wasted, the ne- 

 cessit}^ of importing manures or purchasing superphosphate, would 

 soon be known, only, as connected Avith the history of bad economy. 

 The sources oi' foreign manures are by no means inexhaustible — and, 

 if resorted to, to any considerable extent, would soon be exhausted ; 

 besides, it is bad, exceedingly bad national policy to purchase of a 

 foreign government, what cai'e and attention might secure at home. 

 He who suffers his crops to waste away, and return to the earth and 

 air, whence they came, when ready to harvest, is not regarded, either, 

 as a good, or provident husbandman. Neither should he be, who 

 fails to save and compost and return to the field those elements nec- 

 essary to feed, nourish, and promote the luxuriant growth and matu- 

 rity of such plants as are cultivated and produced for the growth and 

 sustenance of both man and beast. May tliis subject be duly con- 

 sidered by all, who are engaged in farming and gardening. 



Having thus presented the subject of manures, composting, &,c., it 

 is hoped that the farmers of the Hampshire Agricultural Society will 

 here find such facts and suggestions as shall serve to incite them to 

 the exercise of greater diligence, economy and skill in saving, com- 

 posting and applying specific manures. Manure is to plant-culture, 

 what food is to your stock. Be as eager, then, to save and provide 

 manure to feed your plants, as fodder and provender for your cattle 

 and hogs. It is no more essential to your thrift and prosperity as a 

 breeder of stock, that you should know how to feed your animals, so 

 as to promote their most rapid growth and maturity, than it is that 

 you should know how to cultivate and manure your land so as to 

 secure the greatest possible return in crops for the capital and labor 

 invested. In other words, it is as essential that you should know 

 how to feed your plants, as your animals. Neither will grow and 

 mature to perfection, unless rightly fed and nourished. Both the 

 quantity and quality of what the farmer and his domestic animals 

 subsist upon, from his tilled acres, will depend chiefly upon his skill 

 as a husbandman. 



In order to compass the end that every good farmer should have 

 in view, to wit, to secure the greatest possible return for labor and 

 capital invested in farming, he should read and study carefully the 



