OXFORD SOCIETY. 95 



face a large ainoimt of frcsli soil, and as nnicli as the atniospliere 

 and vegetation can make use of for a single year. 



The subject of draining is brought before tiie public eye, and 

 when nobody thinks that any thing but moist land should be 

 ditched for that purpose, somebody anxious fur notoriety^ 

 declares that dry land is benefited as much as ivet by the pro- 

 cess. Souie men think that a great farm is the only way to 

 obtain a living. Others seeing the folly of this, agree for small 

 farms in all cases. Now some men are capable of carrying on 

 a large farm and doing it well, while other men will succeed 

 better on a small one. 



Another farmer earnestly advocates the use of green manures, 

 and looks with derision upon his neighbor v.dio makes use of a 

 well coniposted article. Now, here, gentlemen, both may be 

 right, and both may be wrong. Green manures may be, and no 

 doubt are most valuable when the farmer possesses them in 

 abundance, and can plow them into the soil with reference to 

 his future crops of grass. Crops, too, that are gross feeders, 

 like Indian corn, love the nourishment furnished by such manures 

 in the latter part of the season ; but it is a serious question 

 with me, whether all crops in their earliest stages of growth 

 should not have the benefit of well rotted manure. For garden 

 cultivation, we knoAV it to bo almost indispensable. I submit 

 it as an open question, whether the farmer who combines one 

 load of green manure with two of muck, and allows it to remain 

 in the heap one year, is not the man who will have not only an 

 abundance of excellent manure, but abundant harvests. I have 

 seen a farmer do so, whose success v^^as remarkable, and as I 

 ha.ve pledged myself to report to yon what I have seen, I Ica^'e 

 it for your careful consideration. 



The same caution would prevent the man of judgment from 

 planting a moist piece of land with corn on his green manure. 

 Extremes in all these cases would soon meet. Because one 

 has by chance secured a great crop in either case, it should ncft 

 deprive him of his independent judgment, nor lead him to work 

 blind folded to all the exigencies of his calling. 



This tendency to extremes makes you captivated at sight 

 with mon>trous pippins and cathead apples, rohan potatoes; 

 great oats, and Efi'votian wheat. Every few years brings about 



