448 [Assembly 



grass, and keep it there as long as he can. Mr. Tattle said not a 

 word, as I understood him, about tillage : no doubt if he had, he 

 would recommend as the best, deep ploughing and stirring the 

 earth well, and pulverizing it elfectually, so as to put it in the 

 best state for the reception of the seeds. Mr. Pell, in his essay 

 took a more extensive view of the whole subject on the growth of 

 plants and their fertilizers ; he gave a minute and scientific history 

 of most of the organic and inorganic manures, their chemical 

 names, the gases they produce, and the various combinations of 

 these according to the-principles of chemical aflSnity. 



Mr. Pell admitted that plants receive nourishment from the 

 atmosphere through their foliage and other channels. He said 

 little about tillage ; if he had, he would have advocated the best, 

 as he has often done in this Club. The final result of the two 

 papers, then, are not so very different ; light existed in both ; 

 they were both luminous papers, and if darkness existed any 

 where, it must be in a different quarter. Agriculture is a mighty 

 subject, full of important questions and problems, which need 

 demonstration and solution. The best science and practice, it is 

 to be hoped, in time will elucidate many of these. Mr. Scott 

 cited an appropriate case of a farmer in England, having raised 

 five or six crops of wheat, 30 bushels or more to the acre, in suc- 

 cession, on the same piece of ground, without putting any manure 

 on the ground, tilled and stirred it well. We had a particular 

 account given to this Club not long since, by a member, Mr. El- 

 liot, of the same operation. Mr. Elliot had a friend living in the 

 neighborhood where it occurred, who gave him all the particulars 

 and facts in a letter, and which this Club published at the time. 

 Here, I think, was a case in which the atmosphere had some in- 

 fluence as a fertilizer, probably both on the roots of the plant and 

 that portion of it above the earth, stems, flower, and leaves in 

 every stage of it, until it reached maturity. 



Solon Robinson — The object of this Club is to get at truth ; 

 therefore we must speak our own sentiments with perfect free- 

 dom. Now, as to the theory of resting the soil, put forth by our 

 friend the Jersey farmer, I think that if you let your land lie still, 

 sir, you will have to lie still yourself. No, sir; Tull was a stirrer 



