THE ELEMENTS OF SOILS. 71 



dinner every day. If a single thing was left out, he 

 declared he would certainly starve, and would not 

 touch his dinner. For some reason he would never 

 tell which particular dish he preferred ; so the house- 

 keeper, like a wise woman, said nothing, but took 

 pains every day to see that all the fourteen things were 

 on the table. It is the same with plants. They are 

 distressed, and sometimes die, if one of the elements 

 is missing from the soil. They want something, and, 

 being disappointed in not finding it, refuse to grow, 

 and perhaps die, which is a very unsatisfactory business 

 for all concerned. Plainly, our only plan is to follow 

 the sensible housekeeper, and see that the dinner-table 

 spread for our plants contains at all times every thing 

 they want. In actual practice, we shall not be obliged 

 to put in the soil every one of these elements. Many 

 will take care of themselves, the air and the rain and 

 snow will provide others in abundance ; and we shall 

 really be obliged to provide only three or four. This 

 makes the whole matter far more simple and easy than 

 we might at first imagine ; and we can now go on, 

 feeling sure that nothing is as difficult as it appears, 

 if we have the courage to try experiments, and the 

 patience to learn. We will next see what we can do 

 to improve those soils whose history and nature we 

 have learned. We must see what can be done to 

 make our soils give us more fruits, more flowers, more 

 food, and more wealth. 



