tili.a(;k is mamrk. 33 



" The fariiuT for centuries was simply a ' tiller of tlic ^rouiul.' 

 Guano, tli<MigU fonneci, acconlinir to souie eminent authorities, 

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

 coprolites lay undisturbed in countless numbers in the lias, the 

 greensand, and the Sutlblk crag. Charleston pliosphates were 

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

 and kainit were not dreamed of. Nothing was said aV)out 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, neeiicd only to be 

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

 about the value of the manure obtained from the consumjjlion 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 

 made. A Roman farmer — proltably a prominent Granger — stum- 

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

 cultivating it— inereased its fertility. This was well known— had 

 been known for ag(s, and acted ui)on ; but this Roman farmer, 

 Stereutius, who was a dose observer, discovered that the dropping^ 

 of animala had th* same cfTect 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 tlie effects of both are, to a cer- 

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



