68 SUCCESS WITH SMALL FRULTS. 



which thrives best in abnormal conditions. Sun, air, and 

 purifying frosts mellow and sweeten the damp, heavy mala- 

 rious ground, as the plowshare lifts it out of its low estate. 

 A swamp, or any approach to one, is like a New York tene- 

 ment-house district, and required analogous treatment. 



If, however, we have mellow upland with natural drainage, 

 let us first put that in order that we may have a remunera- 

 tive crop as soon as possible. In suggesting, therefore, the 

 best methods of preparing and enriching the ground, I will 

 begin by considering soils that are already in the most fa- 

 vorable conditions, and that require the least labor and out- 

 lay. Man received his most essential agricultural instruction 

 in the opening chapter of Genesis, wherein he is commanded 

 to " subdue the earth." Even the mellow Western prairie 

 is at first a wild, untamed thing, that must be subdued. This 

 is often a simple process, and in our gardens and the greater 

 part of many farms has already been practically accom- 

 plished. Where the deep, moist loam, just described, ex- 

 ists, the fortunate owner has only to turn it up to the sun 

 and give it a year of ordinary cultivation, taking from it, in 

 the process, some profitable hoed crop, that will effectually 

 kill the grass, and his land is ready for strawberries. If his 

 ground is in condition to give a good crop of com, it will 

 also give a fair crop of berries. If the garden is so far 

 " subdued "as to yield kitchen vegetables, the strawberry 

 may be planted at once, with the prospect of excellent re- 

 turns, unless proper culture is neglected. 



Should the reader be content with mediocrity, there is 

 scarcely anything to be said where the conditions are so 

 favorable. But suppose one is not content with mediocrity. 

 Then this highly favored soil is but the vantage-ground from 

 which skill enters on a course of thorough preparation and 

 high culture. A man may plow, harrow, and set with straw- 



