256 [Assembly 



carefully registered his imports and exports. If he sells a hun- 

 dred bushels of grain he should ascertain how many pounds of 

 each kind of inorgcinic matter are thus removed; this he may 

 learn from printed tables which are within his reach. He may 

 pursue the same course with the milk and other animal and vege- 

 table products sold. In some cases strict accuracy will be hardly 

 possible; in such the estimate should be too great, rather than 

 too small. At his yearly settlement of accounts this stock in 

 trade sold should be charged to the cash receipts, at its actual 

 value, and an equivalent amoutof the same kind of matter should 

 be purchased and applied to the soil. 



True economy requires this, and no farmer, after having once 

 pursued such a practice, will abandon it. I speak now only of 

 the mineral parts of |)laiits, those which constitute the ash left 

 after burning. The organic portions are not so strictly due to 

 the soil, as they may be obtained from the atmosphere, and other 

 available sources, while the ashy parts can be obtained only from 

 the soil, and must be artificially returned after their removal. 



In preparing the soil for one crop or rotation, return to it an 

 equivalent for every mineral ingredient removed in the preceding 

 crop or rotation. This rule should be ever before the mind of the 

 farmer. By following it he may fully maintain the character of 

 his soil ; and it will be necessary to apply, besides this, only am- 

 moniacal manures. If the soil is to be improved, it may be ne- 

 cessary to increase its amount of mineral matter. This can be done 

 judiciously only after the soil has been analyzed. 



Those materials which are removed in crops, but which are not 

 sold iu vegetable and animal products, find their way to the ma- 

 nure heap, where they must be protected from loss. Hundreds of 

 barn yards in this State have carefully constructed gutters to car- 

 ry their liquids to the nearest stream or swamp, and thus, while 

 they sa.p the riches of the farm, they show to the world the pro- 

 fligacy of our economical and practical farmers. I think, sir, that 

 badly arranged barn ) ards are the greatest sources of loss with 

 which our country is cursed. 



