A WOED ABOUT MANURES. 297 



These free alkalies produced, as has just been stated, not 

 only benefit plants directly, but they also act upon the 

 mould, and will cause its decay. Or, more properly speak- 

 ing, these alkaline earths will act on vegetable fibre, and 

 change it into geine, which is synonymous with vegetable 

 mould. But one strange thing is that this change in the 

 soil is not apparent until a living body is applied. It is 

 the great and mysterious effect of the vital principle, with- 

 out which but few changes are noted. 



Were all the matters soluble, and constantly in a condi- 

 tion to be washed out, the soil would soon, by the effects of 

 water, be washed away and be deposited in the bed of the 

 ocean. As it is, it is a great storehouse of food, that none 

 unlock except those who have the " open sesame." 



It is on this principle that plaster acts on clover. The 

 plaster is, or should be, scattered on the plant while wet 

 with dews. It adheres to it and is quickly absorbed into its 

 vessels and carried to the roots where it, in the remote pene- 

 tration of the rootlets, comes in contact with the elements 

 of the soil. Through the action of the plant, the sulphur 

 is separated from the lime, and then both are prepared to 

 act promptly. The result is a wonderful stimulation to 

 the clover, for a great store of food is at once placed at its 

 command. In the same manner, common salt acts. There 

 is certainly no manure in salt, no plant food, yet sprinkle 

 a -small quantity on plants, and by them it is decomposed^ 

 and thejnuriatic acid and soda act in dissociating other ele- 

 ments, and the result is great benefit to the plant. 



If there were no salts nor mould in the soil, there would 

 be no growth of plants. Mould is essential to plants, and 

 without salts it is inert. So that when salts are active, 

 mould is rendered active, and this will continue until 

 one or the other is exhausted. Long before exhaustion 

 takes place, however, the plants will languish and fail, so 

 that the intelligent farmer must add, here a salt, there 

 mould, and then by prudent management forever keep up his 



