SUMMING UP. 317 



the water thus obtained will prove a source of fer- 

 tility as well as refreshment, enriching the soil by 

 the minerals which it holds in solution, and insuring 

 bounteous crops from wide stretches of now barren 

 and worthless desert. Immigration will yet thickly 

 dot the great Sahara with oases of verdure and plenty ; 

 but it will, long ere that, have covered the valleys 

 of our Great Basin and those which skirt the af- 

 fluents of the savage and desolate Colorado with a 

 beauty and thrift surpassing the dreams of poets. 

 And yet, its easiest and readiest triumphs are to be 

 won right here in the valleys of the Connecticut, 

 the Hudson, the Susquehanna, and the Potomac. 



10. As to Commercial Fertilizers, I think I hare 

 been well paid for the application of Gypsum (Plaster 

 of Paris) to my upland grass at the rate of one bushel 

 per acre per annum, while my tillage has been sup- 

 plied with it by dusting my stables with it after each 

 cleaning, and so applying it mingled with barn-yard 

 manures. Lime (unslaked) from burned oyster-shells, 

 costing me from 25 to 30 cents per bushel delivered, 

 I have applied liberally, and I judge, with profit. 

 Bones, ground, (the finer the better) I have largely 

 and I think advantageously used ; but my lar.d had 

 been mainly pastured for nearly two centuries before 

 I bought it, 'and thus continually drained of Phos- 

 phates, yet never replenished : so my experience does 

 not prove that the farmers of newer lands ought to 

 buy bones, though I advise them to apply all they 

 can save or pick up at small cost. Pound them very 



