36 MODERN HIGH FARMING. 



iii the conditions of success in high farming which we shall do well 

 never to lose sight of. We refer to the necessity of maintaining the 

 land in a fine workable condition by continually and thoroughly dis- 

 integrating, aerating, pulverizing and turning it over. 



We have lengthily dwelt upon the oxidation and combustion of 

 1 he organic matters, and the beneficial action of lime and other ele- 

 ments connected with their decomposition. We have shown how 

 clayey soils may be made porous, and suggested means of rendering 

 more tenacious and retentive those composed of sand. But in all 

 these cases, unless the necessary means are adapted for breaking up 

 the atoms and so finely dividing them as to make them accessible to 

 the action of air and water in other words, pulverizing the soil 

 what we have written would be deprived of more than half its value. 



Now it stands to reason that certain portions of a good soil, and 

 those most valuable because of their tenacity, will by the action of 

 the rainfall become clodded; while others the sandy and least 

 retentive portions only will remain in a state of separation or 

 division. If, under such conditions as these, we introduce into 

 the soil a costly manure containing either nitrates or ammoniacal 

 salts, we shall find that those lumpy, hard and clodded portions, 

 whose express mission it is to keep together and hold these elements 

 in store at the disposal of the tender young rootlets, will not even 

 receive them, and that with the very first application of water 

 they will be washed away. 



We have all seen we see every day if we keep our eyes open 

 not only in our own fields, but in the fields of our neighbors, cer- 

 tain small delightful patches of a luxuriant vegetation, scattered 

 here and there without any regard to order or regularity. The 

 stalks are higher and stronger ; the ears fuller ; the grains larger and 

 more plentiful ; and the whole aspect of these " fairy rings" offer 

 such a marked contrast to the other portion of the surrounding crop, 

 as to irresistibly chain our attention and excite our wonder. 



But no great genius is needed to discern the cause of this mar- 

 velous effect, which is simply a practical demonstration of two 

 important facts : 



