ch will ascend to heaven.
Without nitrogen albumen cannot be formed, and without albumen the
formation of vegetable and animal tissue is impossible.

Wholesome soil may, then, be defined thus: It is such ground as contains
a sufficient supply of humus and nitrogen and all of the essential
mineral components of organic tissue. The problem of fertilization,
therefore, consists of supplying any or all of these elements in which
the soil is deficient. The aim of fertilization, as a rule, is merely to
increase crop production. But this may prove to be not merely
shortsighted, it may turn out to be a social crime. It is criminal,
indeed, as a great many diseases are directly traceable to incomplete
and improper fertilization.

Let us face the effect of attempting to fertilize our fields with
nothing more than stable manure, which, it is true, supplies phosphoric
acid, potash and nitrogen. We know that phosphorus forms the foundation
of nerves, and too much of it provokes nerve irritation in exact ratio
to the deficiency of sulphur. There should be twice as many sulphuric
salts as phosphoric salts in the blood, if it is to be normal and the
nerves are to be steady. Foodstuffs from fields that have been
fertilized in this manner must, of course, contain a superabundance of
phosphoric salts and be deficient in sulphuric salts. Is it strange,
then, that the present age presents a picture of restless, irritated
nervous activity and thoughtless action?

We must return to the primitive rock and humbly learn the lesson it has
for us, and upon this rock we must rear our science of fertilization and
nutrition. This rock consisted of granite, porphyry, gneiss and basalt,
and these are still found upon the earth in immense quantities in
practically the same condition they were thousands of years ago. Both
Justus von Liebig and Julius Hensel, as a matter of fact, advocated that
this rock should be finely pulverized and used as a compost to assist in
restoring and maintaining the original fertility of the soil and thus
aid the development of healthy plant and animal life.

Indeed the instincts of both animals and human beings lead them under
certain conditions right back to the rock and its lesson. Note the
avidity with which hens confined in arid runs devoid of vegetation,
worms, insects and small stones devour a compound of lime and ground
bones and oyster shells. Observe a child whose ration is deficient in
mineral elements eating e