The Texture of the Soil. 473 



ing beans or potatoes, he can sow rye and plow it under very early 

 in the spring (see Bulletin 102). Now and then he can use a fall 

 crop of sowed corn or oats, or something of the kind. After a 

 time, he may be' able to get the land in such a condition of tilth 

 as to secure an occasional stand of crimson clover. This practice, 

 continued judiciously for a few years, ought to radically change 

 the character of the land; but all this will be of little avail unless 

 the plowing and cultivation — which are now so inadequate — can 

 be done in a timely and intelligent way. All this will take time 

 and patience. He wishes that there were some short-cut and 

 lazy way of improving this land by making some application of 

 fertilizer to it, but there is not. The most he can do is to slowly 

 bring it into such condition that it will pay to put concentrated 

 fertilizers on it. In short, the first step in the enrichraent of un- 

 productive land is to improve its physical condition hy means of 

 careful and thorough tillage, hy the addition of humus, and pjer- 

 haps hy under drainage. It must first he put in such condition 

 that plants can grow in it. After that, the addition of chemical 

 fertilizers may pay hy giving additional or redundant growth. 



L. H. BAILEY. 



