main correct," said I; "but he does not fully
answer the question, 'What is manure?' To say that manure is plant-food,
does not cover the whole ground. All soils on which plants grow, contain
more or less plant-food. A plant can not create an atom of potash. It
can not get it from the atmosphere. We find potash in the plant, and we
know that it got it from the soil and we are certain, therefore, that
the soil contains potash. And so of all the other mineral elements of
plants. A soil that will produce a thistle, or a pig-weed, contains
plant-food. And so the definition of the Doctor is defective, inasmuch
as it makes no distinction between soil and manure. Both contain
plant-food."

"What is your definition of manure?" asked Charley; "it would seem as
though we all knew what manure was. We have got a great heap of it in
the yard, and it is fermenting nicely."

"Yes," I replied, "we are making more manure on the farm this winter
than ever before. Two hundred pigs, 120 large sheep, 8 horses, 11 cows,
and a hundred head of poultry make considerable manure; and it is a good
deal of work to clean out the pens, pile the manure, draw it to the
field, and apply it to the crops. We ought to know something about it;
but we might work among manure all our lives, and not know what manure
is. At any rate, we might not be able to define it accurately. I will,
however, try my hand at a definition.

"Let us assume that we have a field that is free from stagnant water at
all seasons of the year; that the soil is clean, mellow, and well worked
seven inches deep, and in good order for putting in a crop. What the
coming '_season_' will be we know not. It may be what we call a hot, dry
summer, or it may be cool and moist, or it may be partly one and partly
the other. The 'season' is a great element of uncertainty in all our
farming calculations; but we know that we shall have a season of some
kind. We have the promise of seed-time and harvest, and we have never
known the promise to fail us. Crops, however, vary very much, according
to the season; and it is necessary to bear this fact in mind. Let us say
that the sun and heat, and rain and dews, or what we call 'the season,'
is capable of producing 50 bushels of wheat per acre, but that the soil
I have described above, does not produce over 20 bushels per acre. There
is no mechanical defect in the soil. The seed is good, it is put in
properly, and at the right time, and in the best manner.