74 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. {1 Jury, 1901. 
All plants derive the several materials from which they are built up directly from 
the several minerals of the earth and from the gases of the atmosphere, and all animal 
creation indirectly through the vegetable creation. , 
Chemistry has clearly demonstrated that the lime, potash, and phosphates of the 
soil, and the nitrogen of the air, by a wonderful dispensation of Providence, become 
good for the life of plants, and ultimately build up the structures and bodies of 
animal life. 
Nor are these materials, which nature has provided in the earth, squandered. A 
wonderful economy has been displayed in every part of creation. The several matters 
which are taken in as food and make blood, flesh, and solid bone, are not allowed even 
then to remain inactive. They have no sooner performed the office assigned to them, 
than they are discharged from the body; and in the liquid and solid excrement of 
both man and animals, if properly utilised, there exist material aids for reproducing 
seeds and plants. 
It has been proved by chemical analyses that the various crops require the 
ccnstituents of the soil in different proportions for their proper growth, which will 
account for the advantage derived from a rotation of crops, and will also partly 
explain why some experiments have failed when made indiscrimimately with either 
lime, bones, guano, or salt. They have each been expected by some unthinking 
advocates to produce great results on every variety of soil for every description of 
crop. Land already charged heavily with saline matter will derive no benefit from a 
dressing of salt. Neither will land well supplied with lime or its compounds be 
improved by a lime dressing. But with a moderate amount of experiment and know- 
ledge it will be found there is no land which may not be improved in some manner, 
and the means of improvement are at the command of every cultivator, be he small or 
great. 
The laws of nature and science teach us that every plant requires light, heat, 
air, water, and a fertile soil in order to grow to the best advantage. The laws 
governing the amount of sunshine are beyond the control of the farmer. Recognising 
this fact it should be his chief object to prepare his soil in the very best way, to select 
that best adapted to the crop to be grown, and to manure correctly, so that his fields 
will become more fertile, and consequently, upon a given area, yield a larger and more 
profitable crop. 
Potash, phosphoric acid, and lime are taken from the soil in large quantities, and 
nitrogen from soil and air, and after continuous cropping even the very best of soiis 
will fail in these substances. 
The products of the farm, such as grain, roots, hay, milk, &c., contain large quanti- 
ties of potash, phosphorus, and nitrogen. The large amount continually taken out 
with no return soon decreases the fertility of the land, and it is only natural that by 
such a system the farmer finds his farm decreasing in productive capacity, and blames 
first one thing and then another, but never himself. 
The farmer has three or four different means of manuring his land, but he must 
find out what his land requires or he may manure without avail, and to assist him to 
this knowledge there might be established an agricultural analytical department on a. 
cheap seale. I shall, however, speak of this a little later on. 
Farmyard manure is one of the easiest procurable in most cases on a farm, and 
consists properly of the liquid and solid excrement of domestic animals—horses, cows, 
pigs, sheep, or fowls—as well as litter, old grass, and refuse of all sorts. These 
contain all the nutrients required for plants; but, according to the scientists, these 
nutritious elements are not in the right proportions, and are sparingly present com- 
pared with the bulk of the material. This manure is very important, however, on 
account of the beneficial influence it exerts on the physical condition of the soil, as, by 
its judicious use, a heavy cold soil is rendered lighter and warmer, while a light, dry 
soil is rendered more cohesive and moist, and with the addition of a potash manure it 
is very valuable. 
Another system of improving and manuring land is to Hee h in green crops, 
such as cow pea, velvet bean, snake bean, green corn, &c. The ploughing under of 
these leguminous crops is of very great advantage from the fact that they gather from 
the atmosphere a great amount of nitrogen and a certain amount of phosphoric acid 
and potash from the lower strata of soil, and also leave the land in a much lighter 
and more friable condition, thus saving more expensive manure and labour. 
Generally, the fertilising ingredients found in farmyard manure and in green 
manuring do not exist in those proportions required by many crops, and should, there- 
fore, be supplied by the addition of artificial fertilisers. In these last we have the 
power of supplementing our farmyard and green manures by whatever is required for 
the crop to be grown. 
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