19 



An able writer, in the Cultivator, in 1843, says: 

 "I h- n spots where cattle had been penned at 



i tor a month or two ; for $/j>; j/rars afterwards, 

 the vegetation was double on that spot to any part of 

 the field, although all the manure had been carefully 

 removed and scattered about ; now nothing but the 

 liquid could have gone into the earth, and yet the 

 rains of six years never washed away the beneficial 

 effects/' 



Now, if the valuable material of the barnyard, 

 will not suffer waste when spread upon the open 

 fields, and is better there than anywhere else, then 

 the green crop, whatever it may be, that is raised to 

 improve the land, should be mown down, in Summer, 

 and in Autumn, and should be left upon the surface, 

 as long as possible to prevent evaporation to dis- 

 integrate the soil, to retain moisture, to be leached 

 by rains and dews, and finally to enrich the ground 

 by its total decomposition. 



CHAPTER IV. 



WATER AS A SOLVENT. 



The mineral constituents of the bones of man and 

 animals are but the ashes of our daily food. 



Every year, from the rocks and soil these ashes 

 come, decomposed and dissolved by water, carbonic 

 i and oxygen. 



Green manures, by their ability to collect and pre- 

 serve moisture, on the surface, and in the soil, when 

 cut down or plowed in, render an immense assistance 

 in the growth of the organic world. Water is the 



