32 OATS. 



of oats. This is not imagination, but fact from expe- 

 rience. 



When you have harvested your oats, you should by 

 no means pasture your oat stubble, inasmuch as your 

 stock will eat down the stubble and expose the earth 

 to the sun, which I have repeatedly said is ruinous to 

 any land, be its quality ever so good. Not only will 

 the land be injured, but the clover and grass will be 

 killed. It is evident to the reason of any man, that 

 the earth should not be exposed to the frosts of Win- 

 ter, any more than to the sun of Summer. The land, 

 I contend, is not exhausted by what grows out of it, 

 but by the evaporation which is constantly going on 

 Winter and Summer. Wet your hand for example, 

 and mark how soon it becomes dry again ; but if you 

 cover your wet hand with putty, it will require hours to 

 dry. Why is this ? Because in the first instance, the 

 hand is exposed to the heat of the atmosphere, 

 which vaporizes the water and causes it to fly off in 

 the form of fine steam. But in the case of the cover- 

 ed hand, the heat of the atmosphere is excluded ; and 

 hence evaporation cannot take place ; or if it does, it 

 is in a very imperfect manner. It is precisely thus 

 with the land when covered or uncovered. To have 

 an idea how rapidly water is evaporated by heat, ex- 

 amine the tea- kettle or the steam engine. In the lat- 

 ter machine, gallons of water are evaporated in a few 

 hours. The quantity which arises from a single acre 

 of ground in twenty-four hours, has been ascertained 

 to be immense. 



