AMEiiiGAN Agriculture. 
435 
mals that have eaten the clover. And what is true of clover is true 
of all other food. Bran is sometimes used for manure, and so are 
inalt-roots, and a few years ago some of the Connecticut tobacco 
growers used corn meal as manure. Now if a sheep only takes out 
from 5 to 10 per cent, of nitrogen, and a still less proportion of 
phosphoric acid, potash and other valuable elements of manure from 
the food, and if these elements are left in a more available condi¬ 
tion in the manure than in the food itself, I think we shall be able 
to make a profit in feeding the clover and other food to sheep, 
rather than to plow it under merely for manure. I am well aware 
that when we feed a ton of clover, containing: 100 lbs. of nitroo'en. 
to sheep, we do not always get back 90 to 95 lbs. of nitrogen in 
the manure. A careless farmer might lose half the value of the ma¬ 
nure by leaching. But there is no necessity for this. The elements 
are in the manure when it leaves the animal, and we shall learn 
how to preserve them, and I feel sure we shall soon learn how to 
make them more immediately available to our crops. How to get 
out of our soil more of the large amount of dormant elements of 
plant-food which it contains, and then when we have got these ele¬ 
ments, how best to use them and save them, should be the great 
aim of scientific and practical agriculturists. I know of no better 
plan than the one I have suggested: 
1st. Draining and thorough cultivation. These operations, by 
letting in the air and sun, decompose and disintegrate the organic 
and inorganic elements of plant-food. 
2d. To'grow such crops that will take up the largest proportion 
of this plant-food from the soil and subsoil. Clover, on many soils, 
is one of the best plants for this purpose. Peas and beans, in fav¬ 
orable latitudes, are also good. Grass and oats are less valuable 
for the purpose, but still useful, and our grand, national cereal, In¬ 
dian corn, can be used with immense advantage. But "we have 
much to learn in regard to the peculiar requirements and uses of 
this magnificent crop. 
3d. After we have taken up and organized into useful, nutritious 
food the annual supply of plant-food furnished by the soil, w^e have 
to study the best method of extracting this nutriment and turning 
it into meat, and at the same time save the elements of plant-food 
in the shape of manure for future crops. 
Of course, in a paper of this kind, I cannot go into details. The 
