A WORD ABOUT MANURES. 295 



salts It is in this form known to chemists as vegetable 

 .mould. 



We see, then, that the fertile elements do not consist en- 

 tirely of mould, there must be some inorganic substances 

 mixed with the mould to make a fertile soil. The inor- 

 ganic substances, it may be proper to say, are the dust of 

 rocks and metals. 



Fertile soil, then, is composed of a combination of or- 

 ganic and inorganic matters. A clay bank, (inorganic mat- 

 ter), will grow nothing. A pile of rotton wood, (organic 

 matter), will grow mosses, but no higher plants. Combine 

 the two, however, in suitable proportions, and any kind of 

 plant will spring up luxuriantly. Spread a heavy coat 

 of stable manure on land and everything burns up; this 

 is from the presence of a powerful alkali, (ammonia), that 

 destroys vegetation by its acrid quality. 



A neighbor thought he had a treasure house in a great 

 heap of saw-dust left on his land by a mill. He poured 

 wagon load after wagon load of it on his garden. What 

 was the result? Such a mass of mould extracted large 

 amounts of oxygen from the air, and aeids were formed 

 freely, making the land sour. Nothing would grow, and 

 he lost the use of his garden for three or four years, and 

 then it was good enough. Had he known it, lime spread 

 over it would have sweetened the soil, and he would have 

 had a garden, rich in vegetable mould, all the three or four 

 years. So, it may be seen, the soil is a great laboratory, in 

 which constant chemical changes are taking place. Will 

 we aid in those changes and hasten the result to our ad- 

 vantage, or wait the slow process of nature? 



I have already alluded to the great benefit resulting from 

 a union of theoretic and practical farming. In no branch 

 of agriculture are the good effects better seen than ' when we 

 begin to analyze the soil, and supply whatever deficiencies 

 may be required. It will be interesting to know how the ele- 



