66 IMPROVEMENT OF THE SOIL BY 



to return them compound interest. They should hus- 

 band it as they would their cents, or shillings, which they 

 mean to increase to dollars. They should economize 

 every animal and vegetable substance upon the farm, and 

 when it has subserved other useful puposes, apply it, by 

 mixing it properly with the soil, to the increase of the 

 coming harvest — put it to interest, that it may return the 

 owner its per centage of profit, in grain, roots, and for- 

 age, and ultimately in the increase of meat, and in the 

 products of the fleece and the dairy. Every load of 

 manure, well applied to the farm, will increase its prod- 

 ucts to the value of one dollar. The farmer, therefore, 

 who wastes a load of manure, is as reckless and improvi- 

 dent, as he who throws away a bushel of corn. Not 

 only what is denominated dung, as the contents of the 

 cattle and hog yards, and the clearings of the stable, — 

 the amount of which may be greatly increased, by stalks, 

 weeds, vines, and other vegetable matters, — may be trans- 

 formed into farm produce — but the rich earth of swamps, 

 ditches, and ponds, the leaves of the forest, urine, soap- 

 suds, &c., are all convertible to a like use. He that will 

 not feed his crops with manure, should not complain if 

 . his crops fail to feed him with bread. 



CHAPTER IX. 



IMPROVEMENT OF THE SOIL BY ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE 

 MANURES. 



The great sources of fertility to the farm, are the ref- 

 use of the crops which they bear, modified by the farm- 

 stock, and preserved and judiciously applied by the hus- 

 bandman. There is not a vegetable matter grown upon 

 the farm, be it considered ever so useless or noxious, but 

 will, after it has served ordinary useful purposes, impart 

 fertility to the soil, and contribute to the growth of a 

 new generation of plants, if it is judiciously husbanded 

 and applied. There is not an animal substance, be it 



