tains sixteen times the quantity of alkalies, nearly four times more lime, and three times more phosphoric acid than the rush. Hence it may be inferred that the far greater abundance of mineral, substances possessed by the former plant is the cause of its greater manuring power. What obtains here of these two plants is certainly valid with straw also. Nitrogenous matters exist in such trifling quantity in straw, and decompose, like the straw itself, so slowly, that their operation on the soil cannot be perceptible.

By this statement the superiority of the old time-honoured straw as an excellent material for litter, for the absorption and distribution of manure, and likewise as a means of improving tenacious soils, &c., is in no respect to be considered as impugned; I have only sought to show that it has not, as an actual manure, so high a value as that which, in conformity with tradition, is very frequently attributed to it; that a farmer may obtain great crops more cheaply and quickly by powerful composts than by buying straw; and that a tenant does not ruin the fields entrusted to him, but rather improves them, when he sells straw for £15, and in its stead buys £7 10s. worth of guano, bone-dust, or oil-cake.

Leaf-litter has far less value as a manure than straw; first, because it is much less capable of absorbing urine, inasmuch as it has not the tubular structure of straw; next, because it is poorer in manuring ingredients; and, lastly, because it is far more difficult and slower of decomposition. In respect of its mineral constituents, the following difference was exhibited in the chemical examination of the litter formed within twenty years in a plantation of vigorous firs, twenty years old*. There were contained,

*Though the dry leaves of the Scotch Fir contain less then 2 per cent., it is stated by Johnston that those of the Oak contain 5 per cent., and of the Larch 5 or 6 per cent. of saline matter.-A. H.

Leaf-litter is, accordingly, very poor in soluble substances, especially potash and soda; hence a rapid operation cannot be expected from it. Nevertheless, the fallen leaves and plants of the forest, of which leaf-litter is composed, contain in a fresh state much more potash and other soluble matters; but these are washed away in the course of time, and are again absorbed by the soil on which they lie. For the forest this is a fortunate circumstance, since without it the removal of the litter would be far more prejudicial to the growth of its trees than, beyond all doubt, it generally is. In this lixiviated state leaf-litter contains little more than the same insoluble constituents which are found in the solid excrements of cows, but lacks exactly that which is deficient in the latter (potash and nitrogenous substances readily decaying); it cannot, like straw, absorb these missing elements in considerable quantity from the urine, since it takes up but little of this secretion. Hence it is clear that, for these reasons, the manure obtained from leaf-litter must be considered very imperfect.

If the forest-soil is not exceedingly vigorous, the farmer acts very foolishly who deprives his trees of nourishment, and the ground on which they grow, of its cover and natural means of protection, in order to provide his grain with a miserable food. The harm thus accruing is, generally speaking, far more considerable, and the benefit much less, than he imagines. A poor, sandy soil, that is left entirely untouched, obtains with difficulty in fifty or sixty years a layer of humus from half an inch to an inch in depth,—a weak upper covering; by once raking off this litter, therefore, the farmer abstracts, perhaps, from this poor soil, the tedious accumulations of half a century, which form the indispensable groundwork for a second and more vigorous generation and for a progressive enrichment of the ground. If he introduces a judicious rotation of crops, and buys artificial manures for a few years, in addition, he will soon be in a position, as many instances in Saxony have shown, to dispense altogether with leaf-litter. And by this means his wood, his field, and his purse will each be in a better condition*.

* See Chap. XIX.

VII, IMPORTANCE AND VALUATION OF

ARTIFICIAL MANURES.

THERE are probably few farms on which natural manure is produced in such plentiful quantity as to suffice for perfectly manuring their surface, that is, for manuring so richly that no further increase of their fertility can be imagined possible. It may, perhaps, be objected,- Are there not many farms, do not most farms, indeed, belong to the class of those that are restricted to natural manures, and nevertheless yield abundant, very abundant crops? To this I reply, abundant, very abundant crops, are probably, nay even certainly, not the most abundant that are absolutely possible. Were as much again manure as he himself produces placed at the disposal of an intelligent farmer, who has brought his land. into the best condition attainable by the usual mode of farming, I believe that he would still know how to use it to advantage. Let it even be assumed that his land already yields the largest harvest-produce that, with the ordinary rotation of crops, is in general possible: would he not with a su perabundance of manure have it in his power to increase essentially the money-produce, by being able so to change the alternation of his harvests, as to reject from their turn in the succession such crops as need less manuring, and are, as a general rule, less profitable, and to introduce in their place those which require a more vigorous manuring, but bring in a higher compensation? A farm will not have reached its highest point of cultivation, till the land is brought into such a state of vigour as to bear not merely the first and second crops (say rape and wheat), but also the after-crop (oats, &c.) in the greatest perfection; nor till the farmer manures in general for every crop that requires manure, and as strongly as may be necessary for attaining the maximum of result.

As long as a farm has not reached the highest point of cultivation, every means must be pronounced acceptable, which puts the farmer in a position to provide his fields with more liberal dressing than he is able to give them from his own supply of home-produced natural manure. Whoever seeks to arrive quickly at this state of cultivation, must make ex

tensive use of those auxiliary or artificial manures now offered to him by commerce.

As long as these powerful agents for increasing the productiveness of land were unknown, an advantageous alternation of crops was of course the only means of ensuring a large yield from the farm,-and this leads slowly yet surely to the result; now, on the contrary, it is in the farmer's power, by buying additional manures, to attain his object with far greater rapidity. A Saxon agriculturist, who has made many practical experiments in relation to this point, expresses himself in the following terms:-"The more extended employment of artificial manures is a step in farming which has already opened up a new era. By this means the business of a farmer is becoming more closely approximated than formerly to that of a manufacturer. For whilst formerly our farming arrangements were conducted in the manner which the quality of manure produced on the farm itself prescribed, we are now free to cultivate, as may seem most profitable, every plant which is suited to the soil. Nay, still more; we can produce, as it were with a single effort, fine harvests from worn-out and poorly manured land; we can in such a case secure in two or three years the same results for which formerly ten or twelve years were required." The farmer should avail himself of artificial manures,

1. To render poor new land speedily productive;

2. To restore quickly the condition of land much exhausted;

3. To raise fertile land to the maximum of productiveness absolutely attainable, or, what is the same thing, to carry the farming to as high a point as possible;

4. To be able to command uninterruptedly the rotation of crops most profitable in a pecuniary point of view;

5. To strengthen and reinvigorate poor and backward sowings, or such as have been hurt by the severity of winter; 6. To obtain in the shortest possible time a more abundant production of natural manure.

The last observation will more especially comfort those farmers who have hitherto imagined that artificial are about to supplant natural manures; a supposition which will of course be seen to be untenable, when it is considered that the former, when they have rendered proper service, will

rather themselves be displaced and render their own employment superfluous. For if by the agency of artificial manures, fields are speedily brought into a state of greater productiveness, more straw and fodder will also be produced; and by their assistance the stock can be so increased, and the supply of natural manure so enlarged, that the importation of artificial manures will subsequently become unnecessary.

Whoever is now contented with the harvest which a halfexhausted or but partially manured field produces, resigns of his own free will a portion of the full income obtainable from his land, and acts not much unlike a man, who, to spare half his fuel, keeps his distillery but partially supplied with heat. The farmer, it is true, requires a larger capital to carry on his business than in the usual mode of farming, but if the money which he invests in the land is soon and surely returned to him with abundant interest, it is then indeed most advantageously employed. And this capital is more safe in the land, than when locked up in exchequer-bills or in the public funds, or even than when placed in a pot and buried in the earth, and yields a far higher interest. If more decisive testimony still is needed to the very great advantages which the intelligent farmer may derive from subsidiary manures, I would direct attention to the practical experience of thousands of farmers, within a period of little more than ten years, in Saxony. Saxon agriculture now annually consumes some 30,000 cwt. of guano, more than 100,000 cwt. of bone-dust, and in still more recent days very considerable quantities of oil-cake also; and the increased produce obtained by the use of these agents, going hand in hand with the improved condition of the soil as respects its cultivation, has already effected a reduction in the importation of grain to the extent of one half the quantity which would otherwise be necessary. Consequently, it is not merely probable, but absolutely certain, that the importation of foreign corn will entirely cease, if an equal advance is made during the next few years; and Saxony, a country with between 300 and 400 inhabitants to the square mile, and with a soil and climate for the most part very unfavourable to agriculture, will herself produce a sufficient supply of the necessaries of life to satisfy her wants. And yet, in opposition to such facts, people complain of over