COMPARISON OF RESULTS IN AGRICULTURE. 217 



at its extraordinarily scanty crop of oat-grain and straw, 

 we see at once that in the latter field the deeper layers 

 of the soil were ranch poorer in corn and straw con- 

 stituents, but that the topmost layer was much richer 

 in corn constituents than the land at Ounnersdorf. 



Although the Kotitz field received above 25 per 

 cent, more farm-yard manure than the Cunnersdorf 

 field, yet only a very insignificant portion of that 

 manure found its way down to the clover, as the layer 

 above had retained the substances nutritive to clover, 

 and these had principally served to benefit the oat- 

 plant. The increase in the produce of oat-grain at 

 Kotitz was more than double that obtained from the 

 Cunnersdorf field. At Mausegast the relations were 

 similar ; from the uncommon abundance of corn and 

 straw constituents in the arable surface soil, the absorp- 

 tive or retentive power of the latter for the dung-con- 

 stituents in solution was comparatively less, and a con- 

 siderable proportion of these substances was thus per- 

 mitted to reach the deepest layers. The uniform rise 

 of the successive crops obtained from the manured field 

 at Oberbobritzsch evidently shows a very uniform dis- 

 tribution of active dung-constituents, such as might be 

 expected in a soil which, though not exactly sandy, yet 

 contained a larger proportion of sand than any of the 

 other experimental fields. 



It is easy to see, that by knowing the absorptive 

 power of the arable soil in these several fields, the 

 farmer is enabled to determine beforehand to what 

 depth the nutritive substances supplied in the manure 

 will penetrate into the ground ; and it follows, as a 

 matter of course, that he is able to apply with greater 

 effect the mechanical means at his disposal for promot- 

 ing the distribution of these elements in the soil, in the 

 right places and in the proper manner. 



It would answer no good purpose to expatiate still 

 further on this point ; my object has been to direct the 

 attention of the farmer to the different facts or phenom- 

 ena which are presented by his land during the process 

 of cultivation; because a closer observation of each 

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