124 TALKS ABOUT "HE SOIL. 



there ; and the blundering cellar-digger destroys it all 

 in a day, and thinks he has done no harm. People 

 who pass the house years after it is built, and see the 

 dusty yard, the half-starved grass, the sickly plants, 

 know better, and may justly think him a fool and a 

 dunce. 



It often happens that a field has a soil containing 

 too much sand. It would produce more if richer in 

 organic remains. Green-manuring will help ; but if a 

 soil rich in organic matter is near, it may be worth 

 while to bring some of this soil to the sandy field. 

 The best material for making an artificial soil in this 

 way is to get peat from a bog or meadow, pile it up 

 one winter that it may be broken up by the frost, and 

 then scatter it over the sandy field, and plough it in. 

 This use of muck for improving soils is quite common 

 in some parts of the country, and one or more good 

 books have already been written showing how it should 

 be done. Purely artificial soils are also to be found 

 in New England and New Jersey, wherever cranberries 

 are cultivated. The peaty soil of the meadows is 

 covered with sand, and on this compound soil the 

 cranberry flourishes wonderfully. 



Finally, we can change the character of some soils 

 by artificial means, without adding any thing to them. 

 In many parts of the country, there are meadows, 

 particularly near small streams, where none of our 

 useful plants seem to flourish. The soil is rich, deep, 

 and black, and to all appearance it is very good soil. 

 It is good soil, for it is covered with many kinds of 



