44 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



not produce good crops, no matter how much fertihzer may be 

 apphed. 



Any clay soil may be so injured by one season's injudicious 

 management as to render it comparatively worthless for several 

 succeeding years ; and there is very little doubt that a large propor- 

 tion of the "worn-out" farms of Xew England are unproductive 

 simply because not in proper physical condition. As already 

 stated, the average New England hillside contains a sufficient 

 amount of food material to produce good crops; tillage, by improv- 

 ing the texture of the soil, is the key to unlock this store. On 

 those lands devoted to the hay crop, the practice, at long intervals, 

 of turning over the soil after haying and, after two or three super- 

 ficial workings, re-seeding, cannot be too strongly condemned. 

 The value of tillage in aiding chemical processes is readily seen. 

 By warming the soil and admitting oxygen, the decomposition 

 of organic matter is hastened, plant food is set free, and nitrifi- 

 cation is promoted. The latter is, perhaps, the most important 

 of the effects of cultivation. Nitrogen is abundant, being an 

 important element of every plant and animal, and forming four- 

 fifths of the atmosphere; yet this is the element which is most 

 difficult to secure and most expensive to buy. The good farmer 

 provides his supply of available nitrogen from year to year, largely, 

 by stirring the soil. 



What of the Future? 



Thus far in this discussion an attempt has been made to bring 

 to mind, as concisely as may be, some of the possible reasons for 

 the unproductive farms and portions of farms which have been, or 

 apparently should be, abandoned. Having ascertained the reason 

 for the condition existing in a given instance, the application 

 of specific remedies is not a difficult problem. 



Deficiency in plant food may be met by the use of concentrated 

 fertilizers. Lack of humus, as already indicated, one of the most 

 common troubles, may be corrected by the use of green manure, 

 as clover, in those cases where stable manure is riot available. 

 In cases of acidity of the soil, when leguminous crops cannot be 

 grown for the supply of humus, an application of lime at the rate 



