DOCTRINE or "ARATOR." 43 



was silently understood by the author of < Aratorf as qualifying his 

 exhortations to improve our lands; and if no such exception were 

 intended to be made, then will his directions for enriching soils and 

 his promises of reward be found equally fallacious, for the greater 

 portion of the country which his work was especially intended to 

 benefit. The omission of any such exception, by the writers of the 

 United States, is the more remarkable, as the land has been so 

 recently brought under cultivation, that the original degree of 

 fertility of almost every farm may be known to its owner, and com- 

 pared with the after progress of exhaustion or improvement. 



Many authorities might be adduced to prove that I have correctly 

 stated what is the fair and only inference to be drawn from agricul- 

 tural books, respecting the capacity of poor soils to receive improve- 

 ment. But a few of the most strongly marked passages in ' Arator' 

 will be fully sufficient for this purpose. The venerated author of that 

 work was too well acquainted with the writings of European agricul- 

 turists, to have mistaken their doctrines in this important particular. 

 A large portion of his useful life was devoted to the successful 

 improvement of exhausted, but originally fertile lands. His instruc- 

 tions for producing similar improvements are expressly addressed 

 to the cultivators of the eastern parts of Virginia and North Caro- 

 lina, and are given as applicable to all our soils, without exception. 

 Considering all these circumstances, the conclusions which are 

 evidently and unavoidably deduced from his work, may be fairly 

 considered, not only as supported by his own experience, but as 

 concurring with the general doctrine of improving poor soils, main- 

 tained by previous writers. 



At page 54, third edition of ' Arator/ "enclosing" (i. e. leaving 

 fields to receive their own vegetable cover, for their improvement, 

 during the years of rest) "is said to be " the most powerful means 

 of fertilizing the earth" and the process is declared to be rapid, 

 the returns near, and the gain great. 



At page 61 are the following passages : " If these few means of 

 fertilizing the country (corn-stalks, straw, and animal dung) were 

 skilfully used, they would of themselves suffice to change its state 

 from sterility to fruitfulness." " By the litter of Indian corn, and 

 of small grain, and of penning cattle, managed with only an inferior 

 degree of skill, in union with enclosing, I will venture to affirm that 

 a farm may in ten years be made to double its produce^ and iu 

 twenty to quadruple it." 



No opinions could be more strongly or unconditionally expressed 

 than these. No reservation or exception is made. I may safely 

 appeal to each of the many hundreds who have attempted to obey 

 these instructions, to declare whether any one considered his own 

 naturally poor soils excluded from the benefit of these promises or 



