156 
principles of science, because they have never passed under his observa¬ 
tion, nor disbelieve an agricultural fact because its birth-place was the 
laboratory of the chemist. 
It will be my object in the following paper to discuss the subject of 
Manures, and their adaptation—to show that as the chemical constituents 
of plants vary, there must be a corresponding variation in suitable ma¬ 
nures. To be abstruse I shall not attempt, nor to speak in the conven¬ 
tional language of chemical science, but I shall endeavor to place plainly 
before the reader, facts which will not prove mere theories, but facts based 
upon the immediate laws of the material world. There are fixed and 
fundamental principles that lie at the basis of the adaptation of manures 
to soils and grains, which are universal because fundamental; and to 
bring out more fully these principles, and show the adaptation of the one 
to the other, we will first consider : 
1. The Nature of Plants. 
2. The Inorganic Elements of Soil. 
3. Manures in general. 
It will at once be seen that if we show that plants vary in their inor¬ 
ganic elements, and soils also vary, that manures to be perfectly adapted 
must also vary, and our point is gained. 
On the Nature of Plants .—A plant is organized matter deriving its 
nourishment and support from inorganic substances. In this lies the 
great difference between the support of plants and animals—the latter, 
derive their nourishment from organic—the former, from inorganic 
matter. ^ 
I • , ' - 
Chemical analysis shows the basis of vegetable tissue to be Carbon, 
Oxygen, Hydrogen and Nitrogen.* In the seed, especially of the cereals 
* Boussingault gives tlie following analysis of Wheat: 
Carbon. 46.6 
Hydrogen. 5.8 
Nitrogen. 3.45 
Oxygen. 44.15 
lOO.'.'O 
Of course this analysis does not include the phosphates, <fcc. 
