FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE SOIL. 15 



lands must become enriched, for the rains, dews and 

 snow are replete with nitre, and by placing this coat 

 of grass upon your land during the Fall and Winter, 

 you not only keep your land warm, but you retain 

 the nitre which would otherwise have left the frozen 

 earth. The affinity between the moist grass and the 

 nitre would retain it until the following day, when it 

 would melt and fall back upon the soil, enriching and 

 improving it. For the nitre never leaves the soil in 

 a frosted state, but becomes so when exposed so to 

 the atmosphere. 



Take for example, to elucidate the above, a plank 

 ten or twelve feet long and twelve inches wide; lay 

 it on the naked surface of the ground when frozen; 

 turn it over next morning, and you will find the under 

 part of the plank white as snow. This result is pro- 

 duced every night, and a constant evaporation and 

 exhaustion is carried on through the winter. Whence 

 arises this frost ? I answer, frona the soil ; and it 

 is this which impoverishes, exhausts, and weakens 

 the soil, just as the rising of cream on new milk leaves 

 the milk destitute of its original strength. 



The proper mode, then, is to put all your land in 

 timothy and clover, except that portion you retain for 

 the production of Indian corn, wheat, oats or tobac- 

 co, and by this mode, simple as it is, you not only pro- 

 tect your land from the heat of Summer and the cold 

 of Winter you not only preserve its inherent heat 

 and fertility, but in the course of a few years your 



