72 SOIL COVERING 
much as possible, yet the system of farming mostly in 
vogtie in America is to strip the ground of every ves- 
tige of matter, expose it to the heat of the sun and the 
washing of rains. 
Soil covering is an important lesson we American 
farmers must learn. 
If, after our fields of corn were laid by we would 
sow them in rye or vetch, and when corn is harvested 
roll down the stalks, all to be covered with the snows of 
winter, and no stock allowed to pasture upon them, what 
a wealth of fertility would be gathered under this cov- 
ering during the leaching season. 
What a mass of rich material to be plowed under to 
mix with the fertility produced by the covering during 
the season of rest. 
But how does the average American farmer treat his 
cornfields? They are laid by without any green crop 
planted, the corn is gathered and then his herds of 
cattle and horses turned into them; and the fields are 
stripped of their precious coat of organic matter, the soil 
is ruined by the tramping, puddling and exposure to 
washing rains and baking sun. 
The only exception is when corn is followed by 
wheat, and then too often the fields are pastured to 
their great injury. If a farmer has a stack of straw, 
he will either burn it or sell it, instead of spreading it 
on his soil, which would bring him more money than the 
few dollars he gets for it, and if he burns it he has 
gained nothing. 
I wish I could burn it into every American farmer, 
that he must cover his soil if he would keep up or in- 
crease its fertility. 
