46 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY 



soil, that the subsoil has a malign influence, or that 

 there is an excess of water. It is the province of 

 the manager to search out the cause of the evil, and 

 to apply the proper remedy, be it lime, manure, 

 deeper drainage, or deeper tilth. 



1-.2. Grain-crops are the greatest exhausters of the 

 fortuity of soils, on account of their narrow system 

 of leaves, and the great quantity of nutriment they 

 extract from it to mature their seeds. The remark 

 extends to the narrow-leaved grasses, converted into 

 hay, when they are permitted to ripen their seeds in 

 the field. 



13. Indian corn, tobacco, and beans may be em- 

 braced in the second class of exhausting crops ; for 

 although they have broad leaves, and are supposed 

 to derive much of their nourishment from the atmo- 

 sphere, they are, nevertheless, gross feeders, and are 

 bulky crops, and leave very little upon the soil to 

 compensate for what they take from it. But great 

 economy in feeding these crops may be effected by 

 applying to them the long manure of the yard and 

 stables, instead of summer-yarding it, as many farm- 

 ers are wont to do. These crops will feed upon what 

 is otherwise lost in the yard, the gaseous matters ; 

 and these afford exactly the food that the crops 

 named want, and at the very time they want it. 



14. Roots come next in the order of exhausting 

 crops ; but they compensate, in a measure, for what 

 they take from the soil, by the meliorating influence 

 they have upon it, in dividing, pulverizing, and free 

 ing it from weeds, by means of their roots and the 

 culture they demand. 



15. Green crops, that is, clover, buckwheat, rye, 

 oats, &c., ploughed under as food for plants, are en- 

 riching crops, and powerful auxiliaries to the fold 

 yard, but they are too seldom resorted to for this 

 purpose. 



16. Depasturing with cattle, and particularly with 

 sheep, enriches a soil. According to Van Thaer, it 



