FARMING AND ROTATION OF CROPS. 73 



I liavo lieavd — I never saw tliem — of wonder- 

 ful crops of corn being produced by circulating 

 liquid manures about their roots ; but it has 

 never been stated by any audacious narrator, in 

 my hearing, that these scientific inventions have 

 made the fortunes of any agriculturist who used 

 them, although they might line the pockets of 

 l)ipe and pottery men to very considerable 

 extent. 



It is possible, as we all know, to lay out more 

 money on favourite maxims, methods, and pur- 

 suits than can ever be returned again to our 

 emptied coffers, by those favourite mythical 

 speculations. The double fructifying hen's nest 

 at one time suggested to the farmers' wives has 

 for a long time become addled ; but as it is my 

 desire to treat of nothing but what all who run 

 may read and comprehend, the following is a de- 

 scrijDtion of the once boasted nest. 



The nest for the hen to lay in was made on a 

 curiously contrived and adjusted •sjDring, so nicely 

 balanced that a new-laid egg laid to the lighter 

 nest-egg, induced the nest to slide obliquely be- 

 neath tlie superincumbent fowl. The nest-egg itself 

 was an artificial one, and fixed to its intended place. 



