Natural History of Nova Scotia. 657 



try seems to prove that the Japanese render the earth far 

 more productive than any people in Europe. It appears to 

 me to be the most economical method of applying manure, 

 and that those skilful agricultural writers (certainly the ma- 

 jority) who disapprove of it have founded their opinion rather 

 on theory than practice. But the fact, that earth does not 

 confine aerial fluids, was for a long time nearly overlooked, 

 nor was much attention paid to the portion of nourishment 

 which plants receive through their leaves. When manure 

 is ploughed into the ground, a part of it is changed, by pu- 

 trefying, into an aerial state, and dissipated in the air before 

 there are any leaves to arrest it. I have covered a small piece of 

 ground with manure in December, and dug a part of it. The 

 following spring the whole was sown with parsneps ; the part 

 which had been covered with manure through the winter pro- 

 duced a good crop; that which was dug in the fall was so 

 poor, that the manure appeared to be thrown away. It may 

 be useful to the agriculturist to reflect upon the haste with 

 which nature covers every portion of naked ground with 

 some kind of vegetables, which, by excluding the air and 

 light, may prevent the decomposition and dissipation of the 

 fertile principles of the soil. In those barren districts where 

 the vegetation is exposed to be frequently destroyed by fire, 

 the seeds are either furnished with a covering so firm that it 

 can preserve the kernel uninjured for ages [p. 392.], or else 

 fitted, by their minuteness, or their wing-like appendages, to 

 be borne by winds to a considerable distance. We often find 

 it very difficult to cultivate these vegetables, but cannot fail to 

 observe that, in the ie gardens of nature," seeds long buried in 

 the soil, or annually strewed by winds over the surface for 

 many years, without producing a single plant, will suddenly 

 spring up [p. 392, 393.] and flourish, when, by one of those 

 vicissitudes to which barren districts are exposed, a proper soil 

 is prepared for them, and they are needed to cover the surface. 

 When, by a long period of cultivation, the seeds of those plants 

 which were the natural tenants of the soil have been destroyed, 

 it is probable that this process could not be speedily renewed. 

 Thus we find that, in those regions (once the site of flourishing 

 nations) that have been depopulated by the necessary con- 

 sequences of those vices that have hitherto always been in- 

 troduced by the luxury that follows an immense accumulation 

 of wealth, the fertility of the soil has disappeared with the 

 cultivators. Ancient Syria and the neighbouring countries, 

 we are informed by modern travellers, present such an ap- 

 pearance of sterility, that, were it not for the magnificent ruins 

 that remain, it would be almost impossible to credit the ac- 

 Vol. VIII. — No. 56. 3 a 



