152 Tbansactioxs of the American Institute. 



expense. It cannot be thrown out of the bog, and carted into the 

 barn celhirs and out again, without a considerable outhiy of labor and 

 money. Expend no more of these on any compost than is absolutely 

 necessary. Hely upon it, the action of unadulterated and uiidi- 

 luted manure on the soil is not to be lost sight of Choose for com- 

 posting that material in which your soil is deficient — muck for light 

 lands and sand for clays — and have faith in the fertilizing salts of the 

 manure, and in their immediate and economical application, and 

 generally in composting with the soil to which the manure is applied. 

 Eemember that manure should be placed within the soil, so as to 

 avoid evaporation, and prevent the escape of gases, and at sucli a 

 depth as not to be beyond the immediate influence of the atmos- 

 phere, without which decomposition will not take place ; that decom- 

 position which, Yoelcker has taught ns, increases the value of manure, 

 in soluble salts, in greater proportion than it reduces its weight and 

 volume. Use all the barn-yard manure yon can get ; apply as little 

 labor to it as possible ; and be not led into increasing its bulk by an 

 unnecessary admixture of composting materials. The use of com- 

 mercial fertilizers, of every description, hardly comes within the 

 scojie of my subject. Every man must judge for himself which of 

 them he is to use, and how to apply them. Yaluable as they are to 

 the cultivator, they constitute but a small proportion of the aggregate 

 amount of fertilizers used in this country ; and their economical 

 application by labor is not so much a question with the farmer, as 

 the permanent benefit to be derived from their use, and the most 

 reliable means by which they can be furnished to the consumer in an 

 unadulterated form. I have said it is not profitable to transport 

 muck and sand in too large quantities, or too great a distance on the 

 farm ; I think it is not safe to ])urehase theui by the barrel at too 

 high a price in the market. 



Selection a^td Maxagement of Soils. 

 Great care should be exercised in the selection of soils for special 

 crops, and in the choice of lands Avhicli are to be cleared, and espe- 

 cially of those which are to be drained. Every farmer is expected to 

 know that he cannot raise mangold on gravel, or Swedes in a clay 

 pit; but all men do not exercise this knoM'ledge if they have it. A 

 ■wise man plows his clay lands in the fall ; and stirs not his liglit and 

 leachy lands until spring. But all are not wise. It indicates unflinch- 

 ing energy and courage to clear the stumps and boulders from a 



