206 



deep, will strike root still deeper, and draw up moisture from the earth 

 by capillary attraction, which will support the health and vigor of the 

 stem and leaves. 



Well pulverized soil wiU resist heat much better than coai-se, lumpy 

 eaiih. In guarding against the withering effects of heat, the roller is 

 an excellent implement, as it pulverizes and compresses the earth so tliat 

 it completely protects the roots of plants. 



For all root crops, the land ought to be deeply tilled, and highly 

 manured. In Belgium, the land intended for potatoes, is generally 

 trenched with the spade, nearly two feet deep, the richest and best ma- 

 aure added, and waterings of liquid manure given occasionally, during 

 the growth of the plants, all weeds being completely extirpated ; it is 

 thus that the Dutch and Belgians have been going on for ages, raising 

 excellent crops in rotation, whilst the inhabitants of the older States 

 of America, have been w^earing out their land by repeated crops of 

 wheat or tobacco, without rotation or manure ; and when the natural 

 effect of such a course appeared, in the exhaustion of the soil — they 

 have fled, or are flying to the West, in search of new laud, that they 

 may pursue the same system. 



Boussingault, the eminent French Chemist and Agricvdtm'ist, has 

 even said, that " at first sight one may judge of the industry and de- 

 gree of intelligence possessed by a fanner, in the care he takes of his 

 manure heap ;" and when it is known that well managed manure is a 

 mine of wealth to the farmer, and that old neglected dung-heaps lose 

 aU their valuable properties, and become nurseries of weeds and wire- 

 worms, it is surprising that men can be found, who permit a blessing 

 to turn into a curse ; but farmers are now becoming more enlightened, 

 and ttiore alive to their interest. 



The tuber of the potato has been called a fleshy under-ground stem; 

 but in that state it is a fibrous as well as a tuberous rooted plant — its 

 numerous slender roots penetrating the earth to a depth of four or five 

 feet, and extending to the same distance around the stem ; from this, 

 the necessity for deep tillage is e\ident ; and when we see that each 

 little root is, at its*end, provided with a smaU porous mouth, called a 

 spongiole, from its absorbing water like a sponge, and over this spong- 

 iole, a fine gauzy membrane, which strains, or filters the water before 

 it is allowed to enter into the sap-vessels, the necessity for applying 



