446 



NEW ENG3.AND FARMER. 



Oct. 



hence the necessity for adding to soils suddenly 

 placed in a condition for restoration, such mate- 

 rials as fertilizers, as will furnish all that may be 

 required by the growing crop if to be removed 

 from the surface. Under such circumstances the 

 progressed portion, freed from the particles of 

 soil, are not removed by the crop, while the pro- 

 cess of growth materially hastens the continued 

 development ; the amount of moisture and gases 

 sent coursing from the soil into and through the 

 plants, causes the reception by the earth of new 

 portions from the atmosphere, while the decay 

 and solution of the roots of plants in the soil 

 leave new openings for atmospheric ingress and 

 ensure the deposit of the primaries yielded up by 

 the decay of the roots. Therefore, we say that 

 worn out soils may be restored in degree by 

 continued or frequent disturbance ; the restora- 

 tion will take place to a still greater depth and 

 much more perfectly, as well as in much less 

 time, by under-drains and sub-soil plowing, even 

 with a "bare fallow surface ; still more rapidly if 

 crops be grown upon the surface and plowed into 

 the soil ; more rapidly still, where well chosen 

 fertilizing materials are used to supply the wants 

 of current crops, so that the soil may aggregate 

 quantities of progressed pabulum, as have the 

 soils of the Miami Valley compared with those 

 soils of Massachusetts which are barren, al- 

 though having the same constituents differently 

 conditioned. 



From whence came the soils of the Miami 

 Valley ? Have they not been deposited by water 

 courses, after having been brought from the sur-j 

 face of particles as fast as freed by the processes 

 we have before enumerated ? Has not every 

 particle of this finely divided soil in tm-n been 

 exposed to the atmosphere, to moisture, to car- 

 bonic acid, and to contact with every other con- 

 stituent of soils, so that it has availed of all 

 Nature's laws, chemical or otherwise, and the 

 whole mass may now be viewed not only as a 

 more perfect mechanical debridation of such soils 

 as those as are barren in Massachusetts, but also 

 as the representative of the progressed condition 

 consequent upon all changes which natural law 

 is capable of producing ? 



From what we have said, can it be difficult for 

 any farmer to choose a method for the restora- 

 tion of soils ? If his means are adequate let him 

 under-drain, thoroughly sub-soil and surface- 

 plow to the required depths, and add fertilizing 

 materials chosen from the more progressed sourc- 

 es to supply his crops, while his soil is rapidly 

 augmenting in value. If he is located in a part 

 of the country where the market demands noth- 

 ing but special crops, then let him use less amount 

 of fertilizing material and plow under a variety 

 of quick growing crops, so that all the pabulum 

 elevated from the sub-soil may be deposited in 

 the surface-soil for future use, and continue this 

 treatment for one or more years, until his soil is 

 capable of raising maximum quantities of the 

 special crops his market requires at a minimum 

 cost ; the after culture of such soil will be less 

 expensive than that of a merely ordinary good 

 soil, while for all time his heirs will benefit by 

 his judicious commencement. 



Farmers who have not sufficient capital for such 

 outlay, must be content to benefit in degree, by 

 adopting so much of the truths we have set forth, 



as within their means ; they should first be sure 

 to locate where the requirements of the soil are 

 within their ability to perform all the necessary 

 manipulations, and to supply the necessary con- 

 stituents ; thus a farmer without means for un- 

 der-draining and subsoil plowing, cannot locate 

 on a clay farm with profit, nor can he cultivate a 

 more sandy soil with equal profit, with him who 

 can avail of these appliances. He who plows a 

 clay soil not underdrained, to the depth of only 

 six inches, and who uses no fertilizing materials 

 but those made upon his farm, voluntarily places 

 himself in a position to be the slave of his store- 

 keeper. Let those who would repudiate these 

 doctrines, read our articles on "Underdraining" 

 and "Subsoil Plowing," and they may learn that 

 there are farms where drought is never felt ; 

 where meadows never run out ; where blight and 

 disease are less frequent ; and that in no case 

 where the drains are properly constructed has 

 the investment ever proved unprofitable. — Work- 

 ing Farmer. 



OVEK-EATINGJ-. 



How many people eat to make it even. All 

 the butter is gone, but the bread is not quite 

 eaten, so another piece of butter is taken ; but it 

 was too much, and the bread has given out ! 



How many a time has the reader eaten some 

 remnant on his plate, not because he wanted it, 

 but to prevent its being wasted ! How often have 

 you eaten as much as you wanted, and were about 

 pushing back from the table, when very unex- 

 pectedly a new dish, or splendid-looking puddings 

 dumpling, or pie, is presented, and you immedi- 

 ately "set to," and before you are done, have 

 eaten almost as much bulk as you had done be- 

 fore. 



Many a time have you gone down to the table, 

 not only without an appetite, but with almost a 

 feeling of aversion to food ; and yet you tasted 

 this, and that, and the other, and before you were 

 aware of it, you had "made out" a considerable 

 supper ! 



All these practices are wasteful, hurtful and 

 beastly — no, we recall that ; we are doing Mr. 

 Pig an injustice ; for, like all other respectable 

 animals, when he "is done," he "quits" — a thing 

 which rational man seldom does. — HalVs Jo^inial 

 of Health. 



■' 1 



INVERTED POSTS. 



In the May number of the Farmer appears 

 one of those singular productions — the fruit of 

 imagination — that are sure as the Lake tides, 

 (which I am informed do occur,) to find their 

 way into the publications of the day. "Ashfield 

 Farmer" informs us that he was induced to try 

 the plan of inverted posts and stakes, and that 

 he soon had occasion to inquire why the top end 

 of stakes should rot so much quicker than the 

 butt. There was no difference in favor of or 

 against inverted posts. What made the diff'er- 

 ence in the stakes and none in the posts? 



Now whatever the conclusions deduced by the 

 "Ashfield Farmer" from his experience and ob- 

 servations, my own conclusions, after the careful 

 observations of a long life-time, are decidedly in 

 favor of inverted posts. Let me mention one 

 fact : In ld02, my father, then a resident of Taun- 



