SUCCESSFUL AGRICULTURE. 251 



ESSAY ON SUCCESSFUL AGRICULTURE. 



BY JABEZ FISHER. 



" Muck is the mother of meal." 



By the term successful agriculture, we do not wish to be 

 understood to mean the success of the agriculturist. A 

 successful farmer is supposed to be one, who, by and through 

 the pursuit of his business, amasses wealth, adds to his acres, 

 and prospers in a pecuniary sense. Successful agriculture, on 

 the other hand, has no reference to extent of possessions, nor 

 in any considerable degree to pecuniary results, but applies 

 only to success in the tilling of a given quantity of land. It 

 is proposed at the present time to direct attention mainly to one 

 of the more important, in fact the most important one of the 

 indispensable requisites for a high degree of success. Agricul- 

 ture is the art of tilling the earth for the sake of the product 

 resulting from that tillage. Tillage includes every operation 

 which the farmer performs, from first to last, for the benefit of 

 a growing crop. Preparation of the land, planting the seed, 

 all. of the after cultivation and the harvesting of the product, 

 are covered and expressed by the term tillage. 



Let us consider for a moment the particular motive that 

 governs us in performing each of these operations. In the 

 preparation of land for crops generally, draining is the first 

 subject that occupies attention. If the water level reaches 

 during the growing season so near to the surface as to interfere 

 with the downward extension of the roots, then draining is 

 demanded. If the crop be perennial, or biennial, then there 

 should never, at any season of the year, be standing water 

 found so near to the surface, as to submerge roots liable to be 

 frozen. The object in ploughing is to kill vegetation, if the 

 land be in sward, and to lighten and pulverize the soil, that 

 tender roots and rootlets may readily penetrate it in search of 



