342 AGEICULTUKAL REPORT. 



eveutuully render it productive, if the requisite cai'e can be exercised iu crop 

 ping aud mauuring. 



"VS'lieu the upper stratum is tbiu and reposing on a poor subsoil, a speedy 

 cbauge may be effected in tbc following manner, altbougb, on account of the 

 great cost of labor in tbis country, it may not be advisable to attempt it except 

 on a limited scale : Along the margin of the piece to be improved throw the 

 soil, subsoil, sods and all, into a winrow on one side to the depth desired, say 

 twelve or twenty-four inches. Then commence on the side in the direction 

 the improvement is to proceed, and deposit all the mould and sods taken from 

 the top in the bottom of the first trench, throwing that taken from the bottom 

 of the second trench over on the top of the first, aud in this manner proceed 

 till the work is done Then cart on old, well-decomposed compost, mixed with 

 an equal volume of green, unfermented stable manure, and work the whole: 

 thoroughly into the yellow earth until the virgin soil is approached. A liberal 

 allowance of manure is required in order to hasten the decomposition of the 

 soluble silicates contained in the fresh earth, as well as to insure the more 

 ready absorption of the fertilizing gases from the atmosphere, which are neces- 

 sary to impart vigor and activity to its latent powers. A small quantity of 

 fresh manure, sprinkled in as the filling goes on, will be of great service ; and, 

 indeed, any kind of vegetable matter, such as straw, forest leaves, or chip 

 manure, will materially assist the process of enriching the land, and will 

 furnish food for the plants. Lands treated in tbis manner stand the di'ought 

 much better than uutrenched grounds, aud are always found to be more pro- 

 ductive, with the same amount of manure, than the deepest soils in their 

 natural aud unw^orked state. 



In gardens I have seen this tried repeatedly. It is well known that sand 

 and coarse gravel taken from wells and cellars will, when exposed to atmos- 

 pheric influences, imbibe principles of fertility rapidly, where no manure is 

 used, and become in a short time covered with verdure. I have known the 

 common yellow sandy loam taken from the pit and spread on upland mowing 

 fields with the best results. This loam is full of fertilizing salts, which, upon 

 being brought to the surface, under the influence of the air and rains, are 

 imparted to the roots of grasses wdth surprising effect. 



Plaster aud charcoal, each, are powerful absorbents of enriching principles 

 from the air, and in all experiments like the one I have suggested they can be 

 profitably employed. The second year after digging a very marked improve- 

 ment will be apparent, and a single operation will have a decided influence for 

 many years. 



Those who have but little land should attend to this suggestion if they wish 

 to make a g;irden productive. I have done it on garden lands, accompanied with 

 thorough draining, aud think I have doubled the crop, using no more manure 

 than I did before the trenching. 



When a soil is brought into the genial and healthful condition I have at- 

 tempted to describe, it has a vital action energizing every portion of it, and as 

 really breathes as animals do. An ingenious and philosophical writer says : 



"A few years since if one had asserted that trees had lungs and breathed, he would have 

 been held to an argument to prove itj just as a few years earlier nobody would have believed 

 that the gills of a fish, the leaves of a tree, and the lungs of an animal, all performed the 

 ?ame office — tliat of aerating or airing the blood or sap. The soil breathes. How does it 

 breathe ? Its circulating fluid (the blood of the soil) is water. This comes from the nir, an*? 

 is already aferated — that is, filled with air. It soon loses its gases by contact with the soil. 

 just as the arterial blood fresh from the lungs loses its ox^-gen when passing its circuit in 

 all parts of the body. The blood comes baick to the lungs for more oxygen; but the blood 

 of the soil cannot do this, so we must let the air in, to come in contact with it." 



From this exposition of nature's workings the gardener will see the neces- 

 sity for " stirring the soil as deeply as practicable during drought, without in- 

 terfering with the roots of growing plants, so that a deep and light soil shall 



