TILLAGE IS MANURE. 33 



" The farmer for centuries was simply a * tiller of the ground.' 

 Guano, though formed, according to some eminent authorities, 

 long ages before the creation of man, was not then known. The 

 coprolites lay undisturbed in countless numbers in the lias, the 

 greensand, and the Suffolk crag. Charleston phosphates were 

 unknown. Superphosphate, sulphate of ammonia, nitrate of soda, 

 and kainit were not dreamed of. Nothing was said about the 

 mineral manure theory, or the exhaustion of the soil. There were 

 no frauds in artificial fertilizers ; no Experiment Stations- The 

 earth, fresh from the hands of its Creator, needed only to be 

 'tickled with a hoe to laugh with a harvest.' Nothing was said 

 about the value of the manure obtained from the consumption of 

 a ton of oil-cake, or malt-combs, or bran, or clover-hay. For 

 many centuries, the hoe, the spade, and the rake constituted 

 Adam's whole stock in trade. 



"At length," continued the Doctor, "a great discovery was 

 ma'de. A Roman farmer probably a prominent Granger stum- 

 bled on a mighty truth. Manuring the land that is, hoeing and 

 cultivating it increased its fertility. This was well known had 

 been known for ages, and acted upon ; but this Roman farmer, 

 Stercutius, who was a close observer, discovered that the droppings 

 of animals had the same effect as hoeing. No wonder these idol- 

 atrous people voted him a god. They thought there would be no 

 more old-fashioned manuring ; no more hoeing. 



" Of course they were mistaken," continued the Doctor, " our 

 arable land will always need plowing and cultivating to kill 

 weeds. Manure, in the sense in which we now use the term, is 

 only a partial substitute for tillage, and tillage is only a partial 

 substitute for manure ; but it is well to bear in mind that the 

 words mean the same thing, and the effects of both are, to a cer- 

 tain extent, identical. Tillage is manure, and manure is tillage." 



