SOME HINTS ON THE MANURING OF GARDEN CROPS. 347 
As the science of manuring progresses we realize that the inherent 
value of the soil is not of such prime importance as we originally thought, 
and we find that a poor soil may in a few years be improved out of all 
recognition, both in its texture and fertility, by judicious cultivation 
and manuring. 
This can not only be done in private gardens where expense is of 
less object, but it can be done — and fortunately for the country is 
being done — commercially ; that is to say, poor soils are being made 
to produce large crops, and at a good profit to the cultivator. 
It is an undoubted fact that the use of manures is as yet but 
imperfectly understood in this country. In the first place, we as a 
nation do not use them in sufficient quantity. This fact is clearly 
demonstrated in an able and interesting paper recently issued by 
Professor Middleton, of the Board of Agriculture,* who compares very 
unfavourably the average produce of an acre of cultivated land in 
England, with that obtained by Germany and other Continental 
nations, and shows conclusively that the cause is largely the freer 
use of artificial manures in those countries. 
This fault is one that is easily remedied, and already the 
best of our cultivators are aware of it, and are using far heavier 
dressings of fertilizers for their crops than they had been accustomed 
to apply. 
There is, however, another and more serious fault, viz., the im- 
proper use to which the different classes of manures are put, arising 
from a lack of understanding of their ingredients, and of the action 
they are likely to have on the crop. They are frequently wasted, 
and even worse, for, as is to be explained later on, if the wrong manure 
is applied to a crop it may even do harm, and less result may be ob- 
tained than if nothing at all had been used. Correct manuring there- 
fore means economy, and the obtaining of full value in increase of 
crop for the money spent on manures. 
Unfortunately, most pamphlets and many books that have been 
published on this subject confine themselves to bald statements that 
such and such a fertilizer, or a mixture of two or three, is good for 
certain crops ; no reason for the statement is given, so that the student 
never gets any further, and is just as much at sea with the next crop 
as he was with the first. 
The object of this lecture is to show, that s*ome system is necessary ; 
a system by which the grower can reason the subject out for himself, 
and so ensure that the right quantity of the right manure is given 
at the right time. 
The subject of the feeding of crops is a very large one, and touches 
on many sciences ; it is not, however, proposed to go into detail, 
but to explain the system as briefly and as simply as possible. 
* The Recent Development of German Agriculture, Wyman, Cd. 8305. 
