Lnuarv 23, 1904. 
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Views and Reviews. 
Philosophy of Manuring. 
Some of our readers are' acquainted with 
Dr. Griffiths’s larger book, and others have 
bis cheaper work, on “ Special Manures for 
Garden Crops.” The third edition of the 
larger book, now on our table, is a useful and 
instructive work now running to 453 pages, 
including a good index. As in the case of 
most books dealing with any particular sub¬ 
ject, it devotes a chapter to the earliest 
records of the use of manures to indicate the 
beiginnino-s of science. The cultivation of 
the soil for the production of food for man 
and beast extends back to prehistoric times, 
as we have some evidence in archaeology, in 
the pyramids of Egypt and in China, in 
which latter country we have evidence that 
certain plants were cultivated 3,000 years 
B.C. 
The Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks, and 
Romans all cultivated the soil, and some of 
their poets and other great writers have left 
records of the methods of practical cultiva¬ 
tion as then understood and carried out. We 
have evidence in the writings of Virgil, 
Pliny, Columella, Homer, Theophrastus, and 
Cato that manures in some form or other 
were used by these early cultivators. Animal 
manures were those chiefly employed by the 
Romans, and all these are named with even 
more precision as to their nature than some 
of the most recent patent manures. The 
Romans also employed mineral manures in 
the form of .ashes of weeds, bushes 1 , and wood, 
as we a,re informed by Dr. Griffiths. Those 
who read the “ Georgies ” of Virgil will also 
find for themselves that the farmers and cul¬ 
tivators of those days knew some of the 
facts, concerning which many modern or 
recent scientists speak of having made won¬ 
derful discoveries. The extent of the 
science may be judged from, the fact that 
Columella wrote a book in twelve large 
volumes concerning the business of agricul¬ 
ture. This writer lived about the time of 
Christ. 
Notwithstanding the progress of cultiva¬ 
tion in those early times, man lias not ad¬ 
vanced in proportion to the years that have 
*■ A Treatise on Manures, or the 1 hi'osophy of Manuring. 
A Practical Hand-oook for the Agriculturist, Manufacuirer, 
and Student. By A. B. Griffiths, Ph. D., niemner of the 
Chemical Societies of Paris, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Milan, 
etc. Third Edition, revised and enlarged. London : 
Whittaker & Co., 2 White Hart Street, Paternoster Square, 
E.C., anil New Yolk. 1903. Price 7s. Gd. 
elapsed since then. There succeeded the 
dark ages, in which learning and philosophy 
were put down with great rigour. Tlie 
earliest English work of any importance on 
the subject was written, by Sir Anthony Fitz- 
herbert, and dated 1534. This writer was 
strong on the use of marl, which, we may 
state, is a, fat kind of earth, consisting of lime 
and other matters in combination. Even 
after the revival of education in Europe it 
-was impossible for the farmers to benefit by 
the teaching of learned men, because they 
were too ignorant to understand it. It was 
not till the beginning of the nineteenth cen- 
tury that any real progress, was made in the 
cultivation of the soil. Among the earlier 
writers of those days was the notable Liebig, 
a German, who strove to make himself ac¬ 
quainted with the true facts underlying the 
science by availing himself of information 
to be obtained both in this, and his own 
country. 
Turning to the instruction and facts re¬ 
corded in this book concerning the science of 
agriculture and manuring, it will be impos¬ 
sible! in the space at command to indicate a 
tithe of the subjects discussed, as the facts 
are exceedingly numerous, and the book 
would take the whole of the leisure time of a 
gardener to study during the evenings of a 
winter. Although they chiefly deal with the 
subject from an agricultural point of view, 
many of the facts apply with equal pro¬ 
priety to gardening. Those who have not 
hitherto studied the subject might have a 
little difficulty in following out the reasoning 
in many cases and putting it into practice. 
For such readers bis smaller book would no 
doubt prove the most serviceable, as it takes 
up certain plants which are benefited by cer¬ 
tain manures. In. this instance the author 
goes more deeply into the subject, and lays 
down the philosophy of manuring for dif¬ 
ferent things in such a way as to clear up 
many questions which to the ordinary reader 
are often obscure enough. 
When dealing with the chemistry of the 
subject, it is necessary to have some know¬ 
ledge of chemistry in order to understand 
the technicalities ; but when the author 
comes to deal with natural manures there is 
no gardener worthy of the name but should 
be able to understand the meaning and pur¬ 
port of the writings and be able to put the 
instructions into actual practice. For in¬ 
stance, in chapters 3 and 4 the author deals 
with natural manures, and discusses sheep- 
fold manure, which gardeners often, employ 
and find of great service in the cultivation 
of certain classes of plants. The value of 
