120 
Annual Beport of the 
the decomposition to take place within the soil. The last beneficial 
effect of manure upon the soil of which I shall speak,is the effect which 
it produces upon the absorbent power of soils. As already stated, 
all soils have the power of absorbing water, atmospheric gases and 
fertilizing material brought in contact with them in solution. But 
all soils do not possess this power in the same degree. 
Sand absorbs and retains these substances but slightly. The 
water is easily drained from such a soil, and fertilizing material 
placed upon it is quickly washed away. The farmer calls it a 
u leachy 71 soil, because it will not retain manure. Clay soils are 
retentive in a high degree, but peaty soils that contain a very 
large per cent, of organic matter, possess the power of absorption 
and retention in the highest degree. Manure by its decomposition 
within the soil, furnishes the organic matter, and so adds to the ab¬ 
sorbent power of both clay and sandy soils. To the sandy soil it is 
of the greatest importance that this power of seizing and holding 
all fertilizing material brought in contact with it be greatly in¬ 
creased by applying manure before it is decomposed, or by plowing 
under green sward or a growing crop. 
That land may derive all these benefits from manure in the high¬ 
est degree, it is essential that they be well and thoroughly incor¬ 
porated with the soil, and this can only be done by thorough 
tilling. Then, though manuring the soil is one means of cultiva¬ 
tion, the greatest good from its application can only be obtained 
when it is accompanied by that cultivation that consists in mixing 
and pulverizing the soil by mechanical means. 
It has been my aim to call attention to some of the mechanical effects 
of cultivation that are essential to high fertility; effects, the measure 
of whose aid is in proportion to the thoroughness with which the 
cultivation is performed, that I might plead for better and wiser 
culture; better and wiser, because it will return more abundant 
harvests and greater gains for the labor bestowed. An average crop 
of wheat in Wisconsin is about twelve bushels per acre. In Eng¬ 
land it is twenty-eight bushels. Yet a recent writer says, in regard 
to English agriculture, that without doubt the annual yield under a 
better system of cultivation would be increased by an amount equal 
to the entire rental of lands in the kingdom, or about $20,000,000 
of our currency. 
I have often thought that he spoke more truly than we thiuk, 
