THE FARMER'S ERRORS. 355 



that crop required to make such a growth as good land gives. 

 The same fields were mowed year after year ; and many an 

 acre grew little else but Avhite daisies and five-finger vines, or 

 where the land was a little moist, a growth of brakes ; while 

 the white birch and sassafras and whortleberry bushes, were 

 constantly encroaching upon the fields. Old pastures, that once 

 had been good fields, would hardly support one sheep upon ten 

 acres, instead of ten to the acre. And this was the style of 

 farming in Connecticut. They are improving now. There 

 was no regular rotation of crops, in which grass held its place, 

 and by the decay of its roots furnished paljulum for the suc- 

 ceeding crop. 



How far does that system still prevail ? Are there still some 

 fields of sward which in this generation have never felt the 

 plough ? Break them up. Plough them deep. Plant corn and 

 don't hill it, and see if it will grow. Follow with small grain, 

 and with that clover or grass ; and in that never fail. That is, 

 never sow an acre of small grain without stocking the land with 

 clover or grass ; and with good culture your land will never 

 become exhausted. True, if you carry off all the native phos- 

 phates of the soil, in bones and dairy products, you must bring 

 back an equivalent in some form, or your land will grow barren 

 and cease to produce human food. It is just as easy for the 

 agricultural chemist to prepare an artificial soil for the produc- 

 tion of a certain crop as it is for the good housewife to mix the 

 ingredients of a good loaf of bread. It is just as natural for 

 some men to make bad crops as it is for some women to make 

 bad bread. 



I perceive you have followed the custom of some of our agri- 

 cultural societies of late years, in offering a premium for the 

 best loaf of bread. I wonder if it has ever occurred to those 

 who make the offer, how much better it would be to offer a pre- 

 mium for a treatise that would teach every one how to make 

 it, and what are the constituents of bread ; which would natu- 

 rally lead the mind back to inquire what are the necessary con- 

 stituents of a soil to grow wheat ; and then would come the 

 question, does my soil contain those constituents ? and if it 

 does not, cannot I add them, and thus grow the grain for my 

 own bread upon my own land ? In my opinion, there is no 

 reason why a Massachusetts farmer should not grow his own 



