LIGHT SOILS— HOW THEY CAN BE WORKED. 65 



out of doors on the south side of a bnildiug with a protection of mulch. In 

 the spring plant them and they should all live. Give them some culture. 

 Always plant the smallest leaved and prettiest plants near the residence. 

 Pines are too coarse for the immediate vicinity of the house. Their proper 

 place is in a windbreak, or rather distant screen. 



Much of our territory is wasted between highway fences. We are over 

 generous with our roads. Their sides are bare, weedy, unsightly, useless. 

 In most places highways two rods wide are preferable to those which are 

 four; we could then have better and pleasanter roads. We need to concen- 

 trate our efforts. Still we pride ourselves on our highAvays. AVe have mis- 

 taken land for roads. We have sacrificed comfort to boast of generosity. 

 " In thy rags we see thy vanity," they said to Diogenes. But we possess the 

 means of making our extremity a blessing. The judicious planting of trees 

 and shrubs would render our highways attractive. Trees in rows along the 

 sides of straight and level highways are not out of taste, teaching to the 

 contrary notwithstanding. But we need variety. With a change of surface 

 we should have a change of verdure. Bushes in irregular and natural 

 clumps are pre-eminently in keeping in low places and especially along water 

 courses. Our native bushes should not be lost to common knowledge. 

 Here is an opportunity to rescue nature along our roadsides. Clumps of 

 tall trees appear to best advantage on eminences. They exaggerate the 

 unevenness of the surface. Here is a subject which demands a lecture, 

 provided the lecture would arouse energy. 



The whole subject of rural ornamentation is one which demands study and 

 attention, rather than lavish expenditures. It is not beyond the farmer's 

 grasp. Successful farming must combine with itself enough style to render 

 it attractive. Like all style it may fall into errors of gaudiuess, impropriety 

 or even ridiculousness; nevertheless, to ignore all ornament is to strip our 

 agriculture of every pleasing garment. Agriculture cannot make much 

 advancement so long as it is characterized by bareness. The boys and girls 

 will leave us for more attractive pursuits. We must grapple with the 

 problem. The first requisite is to screw our courage up to the sticking 

 point. 



LIGHT SOILS— HOW THEY CAN BE WORKED TO THE BEST 



ADVANTAGE. 



BY DAVID GEDDES, OF SWAN CREEK. 

 [Read before the Farmers' Institute in East Saginaw, February 13, 1886.] 



Agriculture has for its chief aim profitably to avail itself of the powerful 

 forces which nature places at our disposal for the increase of animal and 

 vegetable life, and that increase is based upon the employment of certain 

 agents wliich are essential to these forms of life. It will not be amiss, then, 

 to state briefly what these agents are, and to this end it is necessary to 

 analyze the products of our soils, and the simplest way to do this is to burn 

 them, and we find a portion of the plant goes off in the shape of gases, 

 and the remainder is left in the shape of ashes. It will then be seen that our 



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