RENOVATING GRASS LANDS. 253 



To begin your improvement, take the old field, about half a mile from the house, and 

 which is now covered with thin yellow grass, and a mellow soil about one or two inches deep, 

 produced by many years of exposure to the weather. 



It has never been plowed since you knew it. And, I beg you, do not plow it now at the 

 beginning of your efforts to make it better. Let me show you what a coating of fine mellow 

 earth is worth upon the surface. 



In Egypt the annual overflow of the Nile deposits on the land a thin stratum of very 

 fine soil, which amounts to only four or five inches in a century. This yearly settling, which 

 is only the twentieth of an inch in thickness, of almost impalpable dust, keeps the farms for 

 ever rich and productive. The Egyptians do not plow this precious coat under, but sow the 

 seed on the moist ground as the waters subside, and then, if possible, they drive sheep and 

 hogs or goats over it, to press the seed into the soil. 



We should all learn a useful lesson from their example and experience. We should not 

 plow down the only part which the air has enriched, by mingling and uniting with it for so 

 many years, but early in the spring we should harrow as many acres of the old field as we can 

 sow with clover seed, at one peck to the acre. After the seed is sown, we should roll the 

 ground and sow one or two bushels of plaster per acre. 



The principal roots of all plants must be near the surface, that they may feel the life-giv 

 ing influence of air and moisture, or the soil must be loosened By nature or by tillage, that 

 the atmosphere may penetrate even to the deepest fibers of vegetation. Hence the reason that 

 plant-food acts so well upon the surface, and that all seeds germinate more quickly, more nat 

 urally, when covered by only one or two inches of soil. But these great truths must not be 

 misunderstood. Though the soil must be loose, the finer the seed, the greater the necessity 

 when planting or sowing of pressing, with the hand or foot or roller, the earth into close con 

 tact with the grain. 



I remember a little incident which will illustrate this subject and fix it in the mind. An 

 old-sea captain who lived in our neighborhood tried every year to raise for himself a little 

 tobacco. He prepared a little patch of ground with the greatest care. The surface was as 

 fine and rich and mellow as he could make it. Then he sowed the seed and raked it over 

 once more very gently. 



Yet, much to his surprise and vexation, only a few stalks grew each year. But, one 

 spring, after the little bed had been sown with all the usual care, some fellow, to worry the 

 old captain, went secretly on it and tramped and tramped, and danced and tramped it, till it 

 was, to all appearance, as hard and solid as the most frequented public road. The poor old 

 man gave &quot;him a seaman s blessing, whoever he might be, and left it to its fate. But on his 

 next visit to it he was astounded to see the whole bed covered with vigorous plants of tobacco. 

 It seemed that every seed had grown. He had a grand crop. After that he could always 

 raise tobacco. He tramped the ground himself after the seed was sown. 



Well, to return to our old field. If the clover should grow five or six inches high by the 

 middle of August, give it a half or a whole bushel more of plaster per acre. The second year 

 you must treat it in the same way, and if the clover is thin on the ground, sow more seed, 

 and again roll it well. Do all this the third and fourth year, if necessary. After this, it will 

 re-seed itself, provided you continue the plaster each year. 



Here is a practical illustration of this plan, which I know to be a fact. 



A person bought a very poor farm near the southern boundary of Pennsylvania, and 

 tried to raise grain upon it in the usual way. But nothing grew large or strong enough to 

 produce seed. Fortunately, he did not sacrifice the property by selling it at a very low figure, 

 as many would have done. He sowed every acre of it with clover seed, and plastered it every 

 year. For a living he followed the profession of an auctioneer. 



About seven or eight, or more years, the clover grew upon his farm, undisturbed by 



