140 THE TIM BUNKER PAPERS. 



have laid there unimproved to this day, if he had kept it. 

 A part of it I have in sugar beets and mangolds, and 

 though I have seen some beets in my day, I must say 

 these are the beaters of all that tribe of plants. You see 

 I fell in with a lot of old lime plaster from a house they 

 took down in the village this spring, and carted on per 

 haps a dozen loads. The lime was just what the soil need 

 ed to decompose its excess of vegetable matter, and, judg 

 ing from the growth of these beets, they have had about 

 as much plant-food as they could take care of. They have 

 three months to grow yet, and they already cover the 

 ground, though they are planted two feet apart. The crop 

 will not be short of two thousand bushels to the acre. 



But the larger part of the lot has been in grass, and ac 

 cording to the estimate of my neighbors, the yield was 

 four tuns to the acre, though I guess they overstate the 

 matter a little. It was tall herds-grass and lodged in 

 spots, but it takes a great deal of hay to make four tuns 

 to the acre. But good as it was, I am not quite satisfied 

 with it. You know it is not in human nature to let well 

 enough alone, or to think that we are on top of the ladder, 

 while there is a single round above us. 



I was just laying out the ground for watering it, when 

 my neighbors gave me a call yesterday. You see, the land 

 slopes away from the road, and water can be run all over 

 it by making shallow channels upon the surface with a 

 plow, and mending them a little with the hoe and spade. 

 I have a first-rate chance to turn water on-, and as the 

 ground is now all drained, I claim that the more water on 

 top, the better, as long as it can get out at the bottom. 



Almost all water has more or less sediment in it, even 

 when it seems to be clear, and the land is just like a 

 strainer to take all this floating matter out. There is a 

 good deal of nourishment for plants in this sediment. 

 The soup is rather thin, I admit, but I suppose some things 

 may suit plants that would be rather spare diet for man 



