gain, Deacon," I replied, "but we are supposed to have cleaned
the land while it was in corn the previous year. I say supposed, because
in point of fact, many of our farmers do not half clean their land while
it is in corn. It is the weak spot in our agriculture. If our land was
as clean as it should be to start with, there is no rotation so
convenient in this section, as corn the first year, barley, peas, or
oats the second year, followed by winter-wheat seeded down. But to carry
out this rotation to the best advantage we need artificial manures."

"But will they pay?" asks the Deacon.

"They will pay well, provided we can get them at a fair price and get
fair prices for our produce. If we could get a good superphosphate made
from Charleston phosphates for 1-1/2 cent per lb., and nitrate of soda
for 3-1/2 or 4 cents per lb., and the German potash-salts for 3/4 cent
per lb., and could get on the average $1.25 per bushel for barley, and
$1.75 for good white wheat, we could use these manures to great
advantage."

"Nothing like barn-yard manure," says the Deacon.

No doubt on that point, provided it is good manure. Barn-yard manure,
whether rich or poor, contains all the elements of plant-food, but there
is a great difference between rich and poor manure. The rich manure
contains twice or three times as much nitrogen and phosphoric acid as
ordinary or poor manure. And this is the reason why artificial manures
are valuable in proportion to the nitrogen and phosphoric acid that they
contain in an available condition. When we use two or three hundred
pounds per acre of a good artificial manure we in effect, directly or
indirectly, convert poor manure into rich manure. There is manure in our
soil, but it is poor. There is manure in our barn-yard, but it is poor
also. Nitrogen and phosphoric acid will make these manures rich. This is
the reason why a few pounds of a good artificial manure will produce as
great an effect as tons of common manure. Depend upon it, the coming
farmer will avail himself of the discoveries of science, and will use
more artificial fertilizers.

But whether we use artificial fertilizers or farm-yard manure, we shall
not get the full effect of the manures unless we adopt a judicious
rotation of crops.

When we sow wheat after wheat, or barley after barley, or oats after
oats, we certainly do not get the full effect of the manures used. Mr.
Lawes' experiments afford conclusive evidence on this point