OF PLANTS BY MANURING. 



51 



ously follows, that the action of any kind of manure 

 will always vary according to the plants to which it 

 is applied. Manuring with lime has perhaps no in- 

 fluence whatever upon rye, whilst upon pease or clo- 

 ver, in the same portion of the field, it exhibits a very 

 excellent effect. In such a case we must suppose 

 that the soil contained lime in sufficient abundance 

 to meet the small requirements of the rye, but not so 

 plentifully as to avail for a full yield of pease or clo- 

 ver ; the first of which requires five times, and the lat- 

 ter ten times, as much lime as rye. 



Similar diffisrences occur, not merely in different 

 kinds of plants, but also in the different parts of one 

 and the same plant ; a fact which teaches us that 

 some of the constituent parts of our manures act 

 more especially upon the leaves, others upon the 

 seed, and others, again, upon the root. Thus, for ex- 

 ample, there have been found (we use round num- 

 bers) : — 



These figures can be admitted only as approxima- 

 tive, but they at all events show, although they do 

 not coincide entirely with each other, that, as a gen- 



