24 



spend much time in devising means to remedy the 

 evil. But what are the facts. 



The Cultivator says : " Seasons of drouth of more 

 or less severity are of frequent occurrence in our 

 climate. Weeks and even months pass with little or 

 no rain ; the scorching glare of the sun drinks up 

 our sufhmer brooks and turns the fields to dust or 

 brick-like clods beneath its influence. The growing 

 crops are. shrivelled and dwarfed by the heat." 



This strong picture received an alarming confirma- 

 tion of its truth only a few years ago in the new 

 State of Kansas. No rain fell during all the Spring,, 

 nor in the first month of Summer, and there was a 

 total failure in the crops of wheat. Dr. Armor, an 

 able farmer in that State, who called on me the same 

 year, said he made no attempt to gather the few 

 grains of wheat which grew on little stems only three 

 inches high, but gave an order, when he left home in 

 July, to plow up the fields for re-seeding in Autumn. 



Indeed, water is so indispensable in the process of 

 vegetable nutrition, that only a fortnight of dry 

 weather apparently checks the^vigor and freshness of 

 the green world around us. 



CHAPTER V. 



TILLAGE A MANURE. 



In estimating the expense of raising green crops 

 for manure we must not deduct the cost of plowing 

 and harrowing from the value of the green dressing,, 

 because tillage is manure, and often the very best 

 manure, which we can apply to many fields, particu- 

 larly to heavy clays. 



