RULES AND SUGGESTIONS IN HUSBANDRY. 45 



gestion ; and the organic matter in the soil to the 

 food itself, which feeds and nourishes the animal 

 system. 



8. If the crops grown upon a soil are permitted to 

 rot upon and return to it again, its fertility is not 

 impaired, but improved. Nothing is lost, but some- 

 thing gained, from the fertilizing influence of the at- 

 mosphere. But when all the crop is carried off and 

 nothing returned, deterioration must take place : the 

 vegetable food must undergo a continued diminution. 

 This is a plain exposition of the cause of lands wear- 

 ing out ; and, at the same time, it explains the neces- 

 sity of applying manures to keep up their fertility. 



9. All the elements of a good soil being present, 

 its fertility and consequent profit will in a measure 

 depend upon its exemption from an excess of water, 

 which, like fire, is a good servant, but a bad master. 

 This excess may arise from spouts and springs burst- 

 ing up from below, or from surface waters, where 

 the ground is level or nearly so, settling and repo- 

 sing upon a tenacious subsoil, or from waters flow 

 ing from higher grounds. Hence the importance ot 

 draining. We do not know of any farm crop which 

 thrives well upon a soil that is habitually wet, either 

 upon its surface or within the natural range of its 

 roots. Water-meadows and rice profit by periodical 

 floodings ; but even these are injured by habitual 

 wetness. 



10. Fertility depends much, also, upon the quality 

 and properties of the subsoil. If this be defective 

 or come too near the surface, its faults may be cor- 

 rected, and the tilth deepened, by bringing it up, in 

 small portions at a time, with the plough, to the meli- 

 orating influence of the atmosphere, and by blending 

 it with the upper stratum. 



11. If a soil, under proper management, does not 

 return good crops, or if the crops are found annually 

 to diminish, it is a sure indication that there is a de- 

 ficiency in one of the primary elements of a good 



