APPLICATION TO THE SOIL. 153 



To us both these rules ''smell " more of the study 

 than of the stercoraceous pile. Believe not every tale. 

 If one farmer happens to obtain a good crop from sur- 

 face manuring in a wet season, we should not deduce 

 from this a general rule. 



We have sometimes thought we could not lose much 

 by ploughing in deep, under the grass sod, fresh or 

 long manures, as we are persuaded that, generally, the 

 valuable salts do not descend out of the reach of the 

 plant. It is true, there are instances in which liquids, 

 in cow-yards, descend so deep as to impregnate and 

 injure the water in wells by their side ; but all these 

 are cases where the strong puddle has stood, occasion- 

 ally, for years : the whole subsoil has become porous, 

 and the waters of the yard and of the well naturally 

 mingled together and became similar. 



We once had a well in porous loam, within sixteen 

 feet of the cow-yard fence : the water stood in the 

 yard more than half the year, but the well at first was 

 not injured. In a few years, however, the water in 

 the well was affected by the puddle. We removed 

 the fence of the yard so as to keep the cattle four rods 

 from it, and the water of the well again became good. 



Now we are far from thinking this good proof that 

 we lose by the descent of the salts where there is 

 vegetable life to absorb or to partake of them, or to be 

 stimulated by them. If we fill a barrel half full of 

 loam, and turn on this gradually a pailful of liquid 

 from the barn-yard, the liquor leaking out at the bot- 

 tom of the barrel will be pure and limpid. 



Were it not for this wise provision in nature, most 

 of our wells would be worthless. The rain-water from 

 the surface is usually well strained before it arrives at 

 the bottom of the well. Now if you put eight or ten 

 pails of water into the barrel of loam, the last pailful 

 will not come out pure. It will resemble the water 

 that spoiled our well. 



Apply these experiments to our fields : we have, on 

 14 



