9 



attention of the farmer, therefore, must be directed to the 

 production of such vegetables as contribute to the support 

 of man and such animals as he has selected for his use. In 

 the production of vegetables, the same law of nature pre- 

 vails-death is necessary to life. You must, therefore, seek 

 that dark, loamy soil, which has been formed by the decay 

 of vegetables for a series of years, and as you exhaust it by 

 repeated crops, add either animal or vegetable decomposi- 

 tion, and like the fabled Phenix, one crop will arise from 

 the ashes of another. Excepting a fe^v tender and delicate 

 plants, manures are most efficacious when applied in a state 

 of fermentation. They communicate a slight degree of 

 warmth and action U, the adjacent soil, salutary and even 

 necessary to vegetation. Any animal or vegetable substan- 

 ces, compacted in a mass and imbibing a moderate de^^ree 

 of moisture, will soon pass into a state of fermentation,'' by 

 which they are decomposed, and fitted to produce another 

 crop. Hence every farmer may manufacture compost to 

 almost any extent. The value of manure is different on 

 different soils. It is productive on all, and on some indis- 

 pensable. Land, once brought into a state of high cultiva- 

 tion, by returning the proceeds of its crops, will not degen- 

 erate. Sterile lands, and such as have been exhausted or 

 neglected, may be made productive in a few years by com- 

 post and the plough. 



Where different and opposite soils lie contiguous, much 

 benefit may be derived by admixtion. A sandy or gravelly 

 soil may be greatly improved by a covering of loam, mud, 

 or clay. On the contrary, cold, wet, muddy land will be 

 greatly mehorated by a coat of sand or gravel. A soil warm 

 and dry, especially if sloping, may be made highly produc- 

 tive by irrigation. If accompanied by an occasional top 

 dressing of barn manure, the farmer will be well repaid. In 

 a mountainous region, like some parts of the territory within 

 the Hmits of your society, where precipitous streams abound, 



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