MASS. BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 513 



^ion, which your committee have carefully observed for several 

 years past. Cleared lands may be converted into woodlands, 

 by the '-'let alone" process, or what the politicians call a "mas- 

 terly inactivity ;" in other words, by the unaided operations of i 

 nature ; or it may be done by planting or sowing the seed, or' 

 by transplanting. 



The second growth will consist of some other species of our 

 native forest trees, and is an example of that succession of 

 growths, or in other words, of that rotation of crops established 

 by the laws of nature. This is the method which nature 

 adopts, to restore fertility to exhausted lands, and is an instance 

 of that wonderful economy of the Creator, which keeps up a 

 continual succession of vegetation on the surface of the earth. 

 The growth and decay of one species, but affords the means for 

 another and different species. Hence, we have but to discover 

 and apply the laws of nature to the cultivation of the earth by 

 the hands of man. This is the business of the science of 

 agriculture. This shows also the restorative powers of nature, 

 evincing her ceaseless efforts to renovate the exhausted soil, and 

 to preserve it in a condition capable of production. 



Contrary to the practice of man, nature is constantly strug- 

 gling to renovate the soil. Decay is not stamped on the soil, 

 as it is on the works of human hands, but so far as our obser* 

 vation extends, eternal activity and reproduction are its charac- 

 teristics. When left entirely to itself, v/e see the efforts of 

 nature to restore a soil exhausted and impoverished by the ava- 

 rice and imprudence of man to its original and natural fertility. 

 By this admirable provision of Providence, the efforts of nature 

 are continually aiding man in preserving or restoring the pro- 

 ductiveness of the earth. Where fertility is not totally abstract- 

 ed from the soil, we see a constant tendency to a growth of 

 some form of vegetation. Throw up earth from a depth of 

 thirty feet beneath the surface, and in a brief season it will be 

 clothed with vegetation. 



The woodlands in the southern and eastern counties of the 



State, are insufficient to supply the present population with 



fuel. This species of land has been gradually diminishing till 



a recent period, when farmers became convinced they were 



65 



