222 The Principles of Fruit-growing. 



catch or cover crops must be used. Following the 

 early tillage, he can sow rye, and plow it under very 

 early in the spring. Now and then he can use a 

 fall crop of sowed corn or oats, or something of 

 the kind. After a time, he may be able to get 

 the land in such condition of tilth as to secure an 

 occasional stand of crimson clover. This practice, 

 continued judiciously for a few years, ought to radi- 

 cally change the character of the land ; but all this 

 will be of little avail unless the plowing and cul- 

 tivation can also be done in a timely and intelli- 

 gent way. All this will take time and patience. He 

 may wish that there were some short-cut and lazy 

 way of improving this land by making some appli- 

 cation of fertilizer to it, but there is not. The 

 most he can do is to slowly bring it into such 

 condition that it will pay to put concentrated fertiliz- 

 ers on it. In short, the first step in the enrichment 

 of unproductive land is to improve its physical con- 

 dition by means of careful and thorough tillage, by 

 the addition of humus, and perhaps by underdrainage. 

 It must first be put in such condition that plants 

 can grow in it. After that, the addition of chemi- 

 cal fertilizers may pay by giving additional or re- 

 dundant growth. All this means that no amount 

 of penance in the way of applications to the land can 

 ever atone for the sins of poor tillage ; or, farm- 

 ing cannot be done by recipe. 



The gist of the whole matter respecting the use 

 of fertilizers is that the grower should experiment 

 with his plantation, adding a little more of this 



