256 MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



no grass will naturally set there at all, and of the clovers 

 alsike thrives best. If ferns and mosses come up in the 

 field it grows steadily poorer and poorer because the 

 clovers do not thrive, and so there is no nitrogen being 

 stored from the wealth in the air. If one will take pains 

 to examine that soil, one will find it made from material 

 deficient in carbonate of lime and, most likely, deficient 

 also in phosphorus, since lime and phosphorus often go 

 hand in hand. The plain fact is that useful plants, the 

 best in nature, love good soils just as good men choose 

 to live in fertile lands. One can find a wealth of growth 

 in an infertile soil but it will be growth of wild things 

 that are not useful to man. To the intending land-buyer 

 I urge, "Buy a farm in a region of rich soils ; there you 

 will find gathering the best men, the best animals will 

 come from that soil and the best customs will develop 

 there. Poor soils are never sold as cheaply in compari- 

 son with good soils as they deserve." However, one may 

 say to me, "But I own my farm ; it is not very fertile, I 

 admit ; what may I do to make it good ? I also wish good 

 meadows and pastures and fields of grain." 



Importance of Drainage. First, in the natural steps of 

 development I should put drainage. Lead away surplus 

 soil waters. A living soil has moisture through it, but 

 also air in it all the time. Only inferior grasses, and no 

 clovers, grow in saturated soils. Begin then by draining, 

 and the best sort of drainage is underdrainage with 

 tiles. Drainage alone will work wonders in a soil and 

 the class and character of vegetation that covers it. Not 

 only do better grasses grow on drained soils, but ani- 

 mals like them better. There is no doubt more sweet- 



