00) 
Ist. One year’s rent of the land is lost. 2d. The cost of seed and labor would pro- 
cure and apply compost-manure enough to insure a better crop the present season, and 
benefit the land for a longer time than any crop raised on the ground without manure, 
and plowed in, will insure the next season. It is a fact that compost-manures will get 
their reward one year sooner than a turned-under green crop. For an illustration : 
Farmer D’s land is naturally good, but it has run out by poor management; he adopts 
the green-crop fertilizing principle and expends, in seed, labor, &c., $200, and puts his 
whole crop under the soil, and the income is nil: thus the farm stands Dr. to tash 
and interest, $230. Now, Farmer K expends on his land $200, in compost and labor, 
and the result is, he obtains a crop worth $230, and the following spring his account 
will stand thus: Farm, Dr. to cash and interest, $230. Farm, Cr. by crops, $230. 
Considerable underdraining and subsoiling are reported in some lo- 
calities. In York County, Maine, underdraining is confined mostly to 
clay lands, and is not gaining favor. Farmers here contend that it is 
not necessary in hill lands. The genial effects of improved cultivation 
are especially remarkable in many counties. In some localities a feel- 
ing is gaining ground in favor of more systematic rotation. Im Kent 
County, Rhode Island, it appears to be demonstrated, ‘* whether from 
upwards of two hundred years of successive croppings or original lack 
of organic properties in the soil,” ‘“‘that no amount of manuring will 
keep the soil in profitable tilth beyond the seventh year.” 
In the Middle States farming is more an exclusive pursuit than in New 
England,and is pursued in many counties with intelligent reference to soil- 
improvement. This, however, is not always observable in those counties 
in which rotation of crops is most generally observed. Fertilization as 
well as cultivation are too often directed to immediate and superficial 
results, regardless of subsequent impoverishment of the soil. Domestic 
fertilizers are used by all farmers, and in general are economically 
treated. The towns and cities supply a very large fund for the supply 
of market-gardeners and-truck farmers, but the chief resource of the 
general farmer is in the accumulations of his own farm. Stock-raising 
and sheep-husbandry add very considerably to the amount of organic 
matter returned to the soil for plant-food. In New Jersey extensive 
deposits of marl are found in accessible positions, and are freely used as 
fertilizers. Lime, also, is a favorite in counties where it is readily ob- 
tainable, especially in those regions of Pennsylvania which are under- 
laid by extensive coal and lime-stone strata. Fish manure, sea-weed, 
and other marine organic matter are largely used near the coast, and 
night-soil, well composted, is in demand among market-gardeners. 
Commercial fertilizers are growing in favor in some counties, while in 
others their value is seriously questioned. Clovering and green-soiling 
are, in many counties, the mainstay of recuperative farming. The green 
crops, heavily top-dressed with either barn-yard manure or plaster, are 
often inverted in full and luxuriant growth; even buckwheat is treated 
in this way, though the practice is sometimes sharply criticised by in- 
telligent farmers. The high prices of hay tempt the farmer either to 
mow or pasture his grass crops too closely, thus limiting the benefit 
that might be derived from this process. Lawrence County, Pennsyl- 
vania, especially relies on clover as a fertilizer and raises unusual quan- 
tities of clover-seed for market. Underdraining, subsoiling, and im- 
proved tillage are cited as effective agencies in soil-improvement. The 
results of systematic efforts in this direction are especially seen in Mon- 
mouth County, New Jersey. the soil of which, though remarkably poor 
forty-four years ago, bas become very rich and productive. The same 
might be said of many other counties in the Middle States, but marked 
examples of a contrary character are not wanting. 
Of the South Atlantic coast States, Maryland and Virginia practice 
an agriculture more assimilated to northern than southern systems. In 
