SOMKMIINt; ABOIT rLAN'1-FOOD. 21 



C II A P T E K 111. 

 SOMETHING AIJOIT PI. A NT-FOOD. 



" Tlie Doclnr is in tlu- main c-orrct-t," said 1; " but he doos not 

 fully au.^wcr the (jiKstiun, ' Wliat is inanure * ' To say tliat manure 

 i.s plant-food, do<s not cover the whole ground. All soils on whieh 

 planLs grow, contain more or less pluut-food. A plant can not 

 cn-ale an atom of ]M)tash. It can not iret it from the atmos|)heie 

 We find potash in the pl.-mt, and we know that it got it fron) the 

 soil, and we are certain, therefore, that the soil contains potash. 

 And so of all the other mineral elements of jilants. A soil that 

 will produce a thistle, or a pig-weed, contains plant-food. And so 

 the definition of the Doctor is defective, inasmuch as it makes no 

 distinction between st)il and manun-. Botli contain plant-food." 



"What is your definition of manure?" asked Charley; *' it 

 would seem as though we all knew what manure was. W^e have 

 got a great hc.ip of it in the yard, and it is fermenting nicely." 



" Yes," I replie 1, " we arc making more manure on the farm this 

 winter than ever before. Two hundreil |)iL:s, 120 large sheep, 8 

 horses, 11 cows, and a hundred head of poultry make considerable 

 manure ; and it is a good deal of work to clean out the pens, pih; the 

 manure, draw it to the field, and apply it to the crops. We ought 

 to know something about it ; but we might work among manure 

 all our lives, and not know what manure is. At any rate, we 

 mitrht not be able to define it accurately. I will, however, try my 

 hand at a definition. 



" Let us assume that we have a field that is free from stagnant 

 water at all seasons of the year; that the soil is clean, mellow, 

 and well worked seven inches deep, and in good order for putthig 

 in a crop. What the coming 'sf/z^o/i' will be we know not. It 

 may be what we call a hot, dry summer, or it may be cool and 

 moist, or it may be partly one and partly the other. The ' season' 

 is a great clement of uncertainty in all our fanning calculations; 

 but we know that we shall have a season of some kind. We have 

 the promise of seed-time and harvest, and we have never known 

 the promise to fail us. Crops, however, var^'^ very much, accord- 

 ing to the season ; and it is necessary to bear this fact in mind. 

 Let us say that the sun and heat, and rain and dews, or wh;.t we 

 call * the season,' is cajiabie of producing 50 bushels of wheat per 

 acre, but that the soil I have described above, does not produce 

 over 20 bushels per acre. There is no mechanical defect in tlie 

 boil. The seed is good, it is put in properly, and at the right time, 



