61 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE EARTH. 



ALTHOUGH the earth appears capable of af- 

 fording a spontaneous produce in vegetables and 

 fruit, her powers of production or principles of 

 fertility, are found to be limited, and to exist in 

 different degrees, in different portions ; and it has 

 also been clearly proved, that where those powers 

 and principles abound in the greatest force, they 

 are sooner or later decreased and exhausted 

 by the growth of vegetables, according to the 

 constitution, situation, and circumstances of the 

 soil. It, therefore, is an object essential to the 

 art of agriculture, to ascertain the causes or 

 principles of fertility and sterility, as the only 

 means of acquiring the power to remedy defects, 

 remove opposing matter, make good deficiencies, 

 and, generally, to preserve and continue the land 

 in its most productive state. Every husband- 

 man or agriculturist may be supposed capable 

 of judging, what stock of animals his land is 

 peculiarly calculated to support, in its immediate 

 state ; and this, from a knowledge of the quantity 

 and kind of food such animals require, and the 

 influence of lodging and climate on them. But 

 a knowledge of the nature and application of 



