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shown, this faculty in excess, and hence reason would select it as the most 
fitting manure in such cases. Again, clay will retain moisture to an ex¬ 
tent that is deleterious, and humus is by no means the appropriate ma¬ 
nure for such soils, except so far as humus is necessary in all soils to 
ensure plentiful vegetation; and reason would dictate the use of those 
which tend to give out their moisture, such as long manures, or par ex¬ 
cellence ashes. But the farmer may not always have these means at 
hand, when he must be guided by his knowledge of the nature of soils, 
and the preference of crops, and act accordingly ; but when these means 
are at hand, the farmers’ greatest hope for lucrative crops must rest al¬ 
most entirely upon a judicious system of manuring. As it has been well 
said by Dr. Lee, “ Productivenees of crops and destructiveness of soil 
are the distinguishing features of American agriculture,” and this must 
be remedied by an increase of elementary knowledge among farmers— 
an increase of observation—an increase of reasoning on facts stored up 
in the memory. 
On Manures .—No soil, however rich it may be in the inorganic elements 
which directly enter into the composition of the living plant, can be pro¬ 
fitably productive if it does not contain vegetable matter, either in a de¬ 
composed state or in the state of decomposition. Some soils, like our 
prairies, are very rich in this humus, but the majority of lands are quite 
deficient, and the fertilizing element must be supplied by art. The at¬ 
mosphere, with the aid of light, heat and moisture, will bring a plant to 
maturity, but the farmer cannot afford to lose time on sterile soil; and 
where Nature has failed to grant him fertile lands, art must remedy the 
defect; and in general terms the rule may be laid down that all organic 
elements of plants are, or can be, derived from the atmosphere, and all 
inorganic from the soil, and upon this rests the science of manuring—to 
furnish the plant those ingredients, both organic and inorganic, which 
the soil or the atmosphere does not furnish in sufficient quantity. 
The analogy of nature would show that the elements which enter into 
the composition of a plant, would be peculiarly fitted to aid in its repro¬ 
duction, when the same elements would again be required in precisely 
the same proportion ; and this is, as we have already said, the province 
of manures to furnish the plant for its assimilation at once those elements 
which otherwise it would not receive, are at best but in insufficient quan- 
