V MANURES 89 



the component parts of a plant by burning it and 

 analysing the ashes, and they then said (and proved 

 it) , These are the things of which the plant is made, 

 and therefore with these things it can be fed. They 

 found next that the different parts of a plant, roots, 

 stem, leaves, and flowers, often had the principal 

 constituents in very different proportions, but this 

 could be allowed for in considering which part of the 

 plant is most valuable. The obvious next step was 

 to analyse the soil too, and it was found that some 

 of the mineral constituents of plants are practically 

 present in sufficient quantities in nearly all soils, but 

 that some land is deficient in one material and some 

 in another. A pleasing picture was then presented 

 to the cultivator, that, with the analyses before him 

 of his own soil and of the plant he intended to grow, 

 it was comparatively easy to see just how much he 

 required of each mineral constituent to feed his 

 plants fully and perfectly. 



But in practice, I am bound to say, the matter is 

 by no means so simple. Analyses both of soil and 

 of plants have proved very fallacious, at all events 

 to those who, like myself, are not chemical experts : 

 and specially compounded Bose manures have 

 often proved disappointing, particularly in dry 

 seasons. 



Still, I give here an account of what is probably 

 the best known Artificial Eose Manure, which may 

 at all events be worth a trial. 



In the Bosarian's Year-Booh for 1889, edited by 

 the late Eev. H. D'Ombrain, Sec. to the National 

 Eose Society, there was a very interesting and valu- 

 able paper on artificial manure for Eoses, by Mr. 

 E. Tonks, B.C.L. The analysis of the ashes of the 



