VALUE OF RICH SOIL 63 



deprived of most of its original store of plant food. 

 If any element of plant nutriment can be purchased 

 at a cheaper rate than in rich soil, at ordinary prices, 

 I have yet to learn of it. 



Suppose this rich land is bought at $300 an acre. 

 The money is safely invested, and well secured. 

 Heavy interest is paid from the very beginning. 

 Success begins with the first crop It will take little 

 effort and comparatively slight expense to keep 

 good soil permanently in a fine state of fertility, 

 and the owner on the road to prosperity. 



The tiller of the poor soil on the other hand starts 

 in with an annual loss, and only good management, 

 and liberal use of plant foods enables him to reduce 

 this loss from year to year, and continuing thus, 

 turn it to profit after many years' efforts. If he be 

 not a good manager, the loss will be permanent, and 

 the land not any better at the end than at the begin- 

 ning of his period of management. 



Some of the old market gardens, near the cities, 

 have been turned into manure themselves by the 

 abundant dressings of composts they have been 

 given year after year. The plant foods contained 

 in one acre of such soil, if they were to be purchased 

 in the form of commercial manures, would be worth 

 more than $3,000. Of course, these old market gar- 

 dens can not be bought for a song; but their value 

 is not alone in the plant foods they contain, but 

 also in their proximity to the market. A good mar- 

 ket alone may add $2,000 or more to the value of an 

 acre of land in the near vicinity. 



All this, however, is a little foreign to my subject. 

 My aim was to call attention to the great advantages 

 found in fertile soil, and to warn against the pur- 

 chase of worn-out land. The latter, even if worth 



