118 Artificial Manures. 



indeed it is obvious that he does not, for otherwise he 

 would first of all inquire whether the farmer does make 

 a full tise of all the natural resources at his disposal 

 before advising that various kinds of chemical manures 

 should be used. But the chemist makes no such inquiries. 

 He takes British soil in hand as he finds it exhausted 

 more or less by long courses of limings and artificial 

 manures, and tells the farmer that all he has to do is to 

 replace what he has taken out of the soil, and that if he 

 wants more produce from it he must at once apply an 

 increased supply of the chemical ingredients that have 

 been carried off the land. By this process the chemist 

 manures the plant and not the soil, while the farmer puts 

 down as little as he thinks will serve to grow the plant, 

 which he could not otherwise effectually do, and the 

 plant, grown through this aid, searches through the 

 soil to absorb thb remains of its natural fertility. Thus 

 the decline of our soils proceeds till the humus of the 

 soil becomes so thoroughly exhausted that the diseases 

 of plants increase, and they are more and more, at the 

 mercy of the vicissitudes of unfavourable seasons. 

 Then as the fertility of the soil declines, and natural 

 sources of plant food diminish, and are not replaced, or 

 only in most inadequate degrees, by natural agencies, 

 the artificial manure bill must be increased, and it has 

 been so increased that farmers now complain that it 

 amounts to another rent. But such manures, even if 

 they could be had for nothing, would not enable the 

 plants of the farmer to contend successfully with 

 climatic shortcomings which so frequently occur in 

 these islands— excessive drought, or excessive wet, or 

 excessive cold. If the season is perfect the artificial 

 manure will act fairly well. If it is too dry there 

 may be too little water present to convey the plant 

 food into the plant, and if very wet much of the manure 

 may be washed away, and other parts of it, if not used 

 at once„ are liable to enter into insoluble compounds in 

 the soil ; while if the season is cold the artificial manure 



