There is no Bad Land 29 



me to find out why. So far, a fairly simple 

 diagnosis, inferring for prescription : plenty of 

 potash, plenty of phosphates, some lime on the 

 most peaty spots, and then, either tilled or 

 pastured, a leguminous growth to put in the re- 

 quired nitrogen from the air instead of paying 

 12 per ton for it. Very much of the most 

 costly manures required I always get out of the 

 air for nothing, but the way of doing it demands 

 intelligence. It is one of the differences between 

 farming with your head and without it. 



Every field I have is more or less hilly, and, in 

 the upper parts, mostly of the make described in 

 the last paragraph ; but every one is skirted at the 

 lower levels with streaks of clay, and, farther out, 

 margins of deep peat, tempered with alluvial iron, 

 nearly level with the water before I lowered it. 

 These lower levels are now by far the most pro- 

 ductive parts of the field, but the prescription 

 must be changed : as before, but with the lime 

 everywhere, and in much increased quantities, not 

 less than 10 cwt. in each of two dressings, with a 

 year between. Apply in October or November, 

 in dry weather, and harrow in. I have a bagful 

 of scientific and other proofs for everything I say 

 here, but I remember a professor who, having 

 edged my appetite for proofs, often refused to 

 quote them, and set me to hunt them up for 

 myself, which gave them something like double 

 effect in my mind when I had found them. 

 Besides, what I say here is enough for the man 

 who wants to know, and nothing is enough for the 



