ESSAY. 
SECTION I. 
CLEARING AND BREAKING UP, AND MAKING COMPOST. 
There is one thing settled in farming, stable manure 
never fails. It always tells. There are no two ways 
about it. There is here neither theory, nor specula¬ 
tion, nor doubt, nor misgiving. 11 Muck it well, mas¬ 
ter, and it will come right,” is an old proverb. It is 
considered a fact so well established, that nobody 
thinks of disputing it. There is advantage in asking 
why barnyard manure never fails. The answer is 
easy. It contains all that plants need for their 
growth. If we know then what plants contain, we 
can easily tell what is in manure. The whole doc¬ 
trine of manures, then, falls into two plain principles, 
on which hang all the law and the “ profits” of agri¬ 
culture. 
1st. Plants contain and need certain substances 
which are essential to their growth. 
2d. Manure contains all those substances which 
plants want. If, then, we would find out what it is 
which manure contains, that makes plants grow, we 
must first find out what a grown plant contains. This 
cannot be done without some little, a very little 
knowledge of chemistry. Do not be startled, reader. 
I suppose that you may know nothing of chemistry, 
