196 RULES AND SUGGESTIONS IN FARMING. 



borhood, imbibing or neutralizing, like chlorine, the im- 

 purities of the atmosphere. Organic matter, that is, vege- 

 table or animal, is indispensable in a soil. It is the food of 

 plants. Yet even this is often found in excess, as in peat, 

 and in too highly manured grounds, and is often insoluble, 

 or infertile, till mixed with larger portions of earthy mat- 

 ters, or brought in contact with fermenting materials. 



5. When there is perceived to be a deficiency of sand, 

 of clay, or lime in a soil, ibe defect may be remedied, 

 and permanent improvement effected, by an admixture of 

 the deficient element or elements. When there is an ex- 

 cess of either, it can only be remedied by a similar but 

 more tedious process. Thus a load of clay, properly 

 blended with an arid sand, — or a load of sand mixed with 

 a stubborn clay, or a few bushels of mild lime, or marl, or 

 ashes, upon a soil deficient in calcareous earth, often prove 

 of more ultimate service than a load of barn-yard manure. 

 But, 



6. Both lime and dung, the latter in far the greatest 

 proportion, are taken up and consumed by the growing 

 crop ; and if the crops are not consumed upon the field, 

 so that their principal elements return again directly to 

 the soil, the land must be periodically replenished w^ith 

 thejji, or it will soon become deficient in these elements of 

 fertility. 



7. The sand and clay of the soil may be likened, in 

 their offices, to the stomach of the animal — the recipient 

 of food ; the lime and salts to the gastric juices, which 

 facilitate the digestive process in the animal stomach, and 

 to the condiments, as salt, &c., which we employ to stim- 

 ulate the digestive organs and promote health ; and the 

 organic matters in the soil to the food which feeds and 

 fattens the animal. 



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

 cay upon, and return again to it, its fertility will not be 

 diminished, but rather improved. It is upon this princi- 

 ple that the Flemings have converted sterile lands into fer- 

 tile ones. They plant the larch, and in a few years the 

 soil becomes so enriched by the foliage of the trees, as to 

 afford, after the w'ood is cleared off, tolerable crops, and 



