Retrospective Criticism. 703 



Mississippi ; and vast masses, too, of drift wood are carried into the 

 ocean every flood. Does all this timber grow and die to no purpose ? 

 What is the man's religion who says it does ? 



The second extract from Cruickshank is by no means a correct state- 

 ment. If woodlands were kept clean, and all the leaves and dead branches 

 carried off, the trees grubbed up root and branch, again replanted, and so 

 on, the soil would eventually become as barren as any cotton or tobacco 

 plantation in the southern states ; and that is poverty with a vengeance. 

 The cause of this is very obvious, but not to the planters ; they say it is 

 the tariff. Oh, for the schoolmaster ! The fact is, when woodland is cleared 

 in this country, the crops are often very moderate until the progress of 

 decay has brought the roots into action. I will illustrate this farther. 

 The general system of farming in this state is, — Indian corn, often very foul ; 

 oats (a wretched crop in this hot climate), or barley ; then a very moderate 

 dressing of manure and a boimtiful crop of weeds are ploughed in, pro- 

 ducing a very fair crop of wheat, much better than the skill of the farmer 

 deserves (the crops obtained are not at all warranted by the quantity of 

 manure applied) ; clover and Timothy for two or more years, and often as 

 long as it will mow and pasture ; then Indian corn again ; and so on. The 

 old sod is usually ploughed in the spring ; then corn planted in May. For 

 some time it exhibits a very sickly, yellow, and poverty-struck appearance, 

 until the green roots and weeds begin to decay : it then grows with great 

 luxuriance and beauty. If, after wheat, the land is ploughed before the 

 weed can grow, and sown with buck-wheat in July, which is a very clean 

 crop, the succeeding crop of Indian corn is very poor. 



Further, Cruickshank says, " Trees cb-aw their nourishment from a 

 much greater depth than any of the grasses, roots, or different kinds of 

 grain." I doubt this very much, as taking place to any extent. He 

 would infer that trees fertilise the soil, not by adding any thing to it 

 (except leaves, &c.), but by not taking any thing from it. The great 

 bulk, nearly the whole, of all the tree roots I have ever seen, and I have seen 

 many, is within two feet of the surface. It is theii* decay which enriches 

 the soil : they exhaust, and then enrich. I lay no claim to the original 

 discovery of this principle : it has been loosely hinted at and described by 

 various writers ; but I think I may venture to say that I am the first farmer 

 who has employed it in his rotation of crops ; and I will venture to say 

 that at no distant day it will entirely change the present results in the best 

 system of agriculture, especially in hot climates. I have had, and have, 

 several pupils, young men of talent and capital, well convinced of the truth 

 of what they have learned, and competent to practise it. As with all im- 

 provers, a due proportion of sneers, scorn, derision, and ill will has fallen 

 to my share ; and, as usual, those who know, observe, and ask the least, 

 talk the wisest and most learnedly. To the want of vegetable food I 

 entii'ely attribute the frequent failure of grass, clover, turnips, saintfoin, 

 &c., in England, under the improved system of farming ; and the cleaner 

 the land is kept, I suspect, the more they fail. To say the land is tired, 

 proves something is wrong, but explains nothing. I am quite satisfied that 

 the crops under the old wretched system of farming were much better than 

 under the new, in proportion to the manures, skill, management, &c., 

 applied in both instances. Weeds, misplaced except in summer fallows, 

 were the old farmer's salvation, but he did not know it. Weeds do not 

 rob the soil ; they either enable the farmer to do so or prevent him, as the 

 case may be ; they keep up the fertility of it ; they rob the crops, but not the 

 soil. I see it often mentioned in your Magazine, as a great advantage, to 

 leave fruit borders uncropped : this is not Nature's way of proceeding ; 

 and those who do not follow her laws make sad work of it sooner or later. 

 I should greatly prefer sowing them with clover, grass seeds, turnips, lupines, 

 borage, marigolds, or even weeds, — yes, weeds, the vile things! — &c. &c., 



