196 THE HOME ACRE. 



on a clay subsoil, they can be abundantly deep- 

 ened and enriched from the start; if of a heavy 

 clay, inclined to be cold and wet in spring, and to 

 bake and crack in summer, skill should aim to 

 lighten it and remove its inertia; finally, as we 

 have shown, a light, porous soil should be treated 

 like a spendthrift. All soils, except the last-named, 

 are much the better for being enriched and deeply 

 ploughed or forked in October or November. 

 This exposes the mould to the sweetening and 

 mechanical action of frost, and the fertilizers in- 

 corporated with it are gradually transformed into 

 just that condition of plant food which the root- 

 lets take up with the greatest ease and rapidity. 

 A light soil, on the contrary, should not be worked 

 in autumn, but be left intact after the crops are 

 taken from it. 



In one respect a light soil and a stiff, heavy one 

 should be treated in the same way, but for different 

 reasons. In the first instance, fertilizers should be 

 applied in moderation to the surface, and rains and 

 the cultivation of the growing crops depended up- 

 on to carry the richness downward to the roots. 

 The porous nature of the earth must ever be borne 

 in mind ; fertilizers pass through it and disappear, 

 and therefore are applied to the surface to delay 

 this process and enable the roots to obtain as much 

 nutriment as possible during the passage. Equal 



