104 ILDINOrS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



THE FERTILITY OF THE DAIRY FARM. 



HON. JOSKPH E. MILLER, OF BELLEVILLE. 



A Divine Proyidence Las generously supplied our earth 

 with an endless variety and profusion of plant-life, not alone 

 to beautify the landscapes, but also for the support and the 

 comfort of man and animals. These plants contain in their 

 different parts certain substances that are also found in the 

 air and the soil and are therefrom extracted by the plant for 

 its support, growth and maintainence. The different parts 

 of the same plant often containing different chemical sub- 

 stances or these in different proportions. At the same time 

 the different members of the vegetable kingdom are so varied 

 as to adapt themselves to the endless variety of conditions, 

 soils, temperature, climate and degrees of moisture. 



Now, it may readily be imagined that the longer and the 

 heavier the land has been cropped, the more of the substance 

 called plant-food has been extracted from it, and in the 

 course of time, if nothing is added to the natural supply, 

 the land must become unable to support plant-life in sufficient 

 quantities so as to repay the husbandman for his time and toil 

 expended upon it. 



Hence, it remains for the genius of man to support nature 

 in this matter, and this may be called the science of agricul- 

 ture, and is one of the most uncertain questions, owing to 

 the great variety of soils, seasons and conditions involved, that 

 the agriculturist has to contend with, and the question arises, 

 ^^How to supply that fertility so as to leave a profit to the 

 farmer over and above the cost of labor and materials in- 

 curred?" Therefore, a farmer should be ,well-versed with the 

 best methods of plant-nourishment, for in nothing else is every 

 well-established principle of agricultural science more daily 

 violated. 



The process often varies in different localities, arising 

 from causes already stated; therefore, it might have been 

 better to have had the subject-matter of this paper in the 

 hands of one conversant with home soils and methods, than 

 in the hands of one from a remote locality, as in the case 

 with the present writer. 



