70 SOIL COVERING 
wealth to the sea, is keeping our soil, when not occupied 
by growing crops, covered as much as possible with the 
herbage and root-producing plants of rye, vetch, etc. 
Covering the soils with these crops prevents puddling 
of the soil. The growing and decaying of the roots aids 
in depositing the minerals and in bringing about the 
changes characteristic of new soils. 
The open, mellow texture of the soil is produced by 
covering. 
Naked, clayey soils, subjected to excessive rains, ‘fol- 
lowed by drying winds and rapid water evaporation, 
forces them to crack open and their texture is thus in- 
jured. If such soils are covered, they are not subject 
to this process. 
It has been observed that when soil is covered with 
any kind of close material for any length of time, it is 
so enriched that one would think manure had been ap- 
plied to it. Even snow lying on the soil for months en- 
riches it. 
I have already shown that the reason virgin soil was 
so rich was on account of the ages of covering Nature 
gave it. 
In the humid region it is noticeable that, if a fence 
row is neglected, it will first grow weeds, then grass, 
then the different species of trees native to the neighbor- 
hood. That, if after the course of only a few years 
the fence row is cleaned out and again brought into 
cultivation, it will be found that the soil is rich and 
that it will again produce abundantly. 
Some will argue that the reason of this is that the 
land has had a period of rest, forgetting the fact that 
