452 
Agricultural Chemistry. 
ture of wheat.'' since sucli inaniires cau only produce a favourable result if 
certain ■prdiminary conditums, which Mr. Imivcs has evfirdy disregarded, 
ho fulfilled. There could hardly be made au assertion better calculated to 
mislead the practical farmer." — lb., p. 79. 
To meet these g;ratuitous statements from such a quarter, it is 
necessary to repeat, then, that the whole of our recommendations 
to the farmer in this matter, have been repeatedly and elaborately 
defined, to apply to agriculture as generally practised in this 
country, that is to say, agricultui'e as it is — the " preliminary con- 
ditions " which Ave have supposed being, a cultivated soil, and a 
rotation of crops. And what, then, does a rotation of crops in this 
country involve ? It involves the growth of root and other fallow 
crops ; the growth of these involves the feeding of animals on the 
farm ; the feeding of animals on the farm involves the production 
of home manure ; and the production of home manure involves 
the " prclimiriari/ condition", of a periodical return from the re- 
sources loithin the farm itself, of a large proportion of the mineral 
constituents which have been removed from the land in the crops. 
Into all this we have gone with considerable detail, again, and 
again ; — as well on the assumption of there being, as of there 
not being, a certain amount of imported constituents to be further 
taken into the calculation. With this explanation we will again 
apply to Baron Liebig his own words : " It is not difficult 
to refute the opinions of another if we ascribe to him assertions 
which he has never made." ! 
But now for the assertion that fcrtilitij is almost exclusively 
referable to the mineral richness of the soil. True, there can 
be no fertility ivithout a liberal provision of minerals ; but 
■what, we Avould ask, is the use to the practical farmer of main- 
taining his land in a condition of so-called fcrtilifij," which, 
2cithoiit the addition of somethinr/ else, will yield him no increase 
of produce whatever ? What, we would ask, is the use to the 
farmer, of a merely latent or reserved capability of production, 
if this latent capability be not brought out into activity and me ? 
And it is undoubtedly true, that in agriculture generally, with 
rotation, there is a considerable accumulation of this latent or re- 
served capability of production, which cannot be brought into 
activity and use for the increased growth of the main saleable pro- 
ducts of the farm — the cereal grains — without the accumulation, 
tcithin the soil itself, oi available nitrogen. Again, experience shows, 
that by the production of grain, the stores of available nitrof/enwithiii 
the soil are far sooner exhausted or brought down to an annual 
minimum, than those of the minerals. How much more strongly, 
then, to be consistent, should the argument be applied against 
the exhaustion of the land of its available nitrogen ! And should 
not Baron Liebig, in obedience to his own principle of non- 
