326 Wisconsin State Agricultural Society. 
The anomaly I spoke of consists in this: The gentleman says cul¬ 
tivate your land, loosen it up, make it porous. This agrees with 
my experience. Then, again, we are told by others, roll } r our land, 
pack it, make it hard. I have noticed that when land has been 
thus porous, loose, by thorough cultivation, and is exposed to the di¬ 
rect rays of the sun, the surface very readily becomes dry dust; 
pass the roller over, press it together, and the next morning the 
moisture will be on the surface as though there had been a little 
shower. What I want to know is, how are you going to reconcile 
this apparent anomaly? 
Mr. Boy^ce: I apprehend that the same conditions are arrived at 
by using the roller, the cultivator, and the plow, simply pulver¬ 
izing the particles of earth. When the particles are very dry and 
cloddy, passing over a roller would comminute them, make them 
fine, and in both cases the same result would be obtained. 
Mr. Allen : That is the idea, perfect pulverization of the surface 
of the ground. 
Mr. Benton: The conclusions from this paper warrant this pro¬ 
position, that the deeper the soil is stirred—I do not mean to turn 
it over, but that the deeper we stir the soil in that'proportion we 
increase our crops. 
Professor Murrish: Yes, sir. 
Mr. Benton: Some soils are deeper than others. Deep cultiva¬ 
tion, stirring the soil to the depth of twenty inches, but not turn¬ 
ing it over, makes it more permanent and productive without any 
application of manure whatever. 
Professor Murrish : I would like to add one or two words to the pa¬ 
per unless the gentleman wants a direct answer to that question. 
I think it is well known to us all, at least every farmer ought to 
know this much, that a large portion, perhaps ninety per cent, of the 
material entering into the plant’s formation, is obtained either di¬ 
rectly or indirectly from the atmosphere. That is, it consisted 
before it entered into the plant-formation, as carbonic acid, water, 
ammonia, or some form of nitrogen. The question is, how does the 
the plant obtain this? Now, it has been stated here this morning 
that the plant absorbs such gaseous material through the leaves. 
Now, I must confess that I doubt it. I have no question about it, 
because it has been demonstrated by experiment, that plants would 
absorb carbonic acid through the leaves, but all the experiments 
