VEGETABLES. 331 



WORCESTER NORTH. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



No branch of agriculture when successfully prosecuted, pays 

 so large a profit as the cultivation of vegetables ; we propose, 

 therefore, in this report, to offer a few thoughts and suggestions 

 connected with their cultivation ; and first. 



Ploughing. — The object of ploughing is not alone to kill the 

 weeds and grass, nor even to furnish a seed bed of fresh turned 

 soil for planting or sowing, nor any thing that looks merely to 

 the inversion of the sod, but the chief value of ploughing is 

 the preparation it gives the soil for producing vegetation, for 

 giving to the various plants the elements of growth and fruit- 

 fulness. Hence the object of the plough is to thoroughly 

 pulverize and loosen the soil, and. thus admit a free circula- 

 tion of air and moisture, which by chemical action, breaks 

 down the strong or mineral portions of the soil, so that 

 they may be the more readily dissolved, and taken up by the 

 roots. In a soil thus ploughed and prepared for yielding its 

 support to vegetable life, plants can appropriate both far and 

 near the nutriment needed for their growth. It is in this way 

 dissolved and ready for their use ; not hidden in unbroken 

 clods, or slumbering in an undisturbed subsoil, but awaiting 

 the action of the roots in a friable and penetrable state, when 

 every hungry rootlet sent out to gather nourishment for its 

 parent plant, may find food to satisfy its own hunger, and a 

 ready surplus to gratify its worthy sire. Fineness and depth 

 of soil are requisite also in order to receive the full benefit of 

 the manures applied. It is not fertilizing food in its crude 

 state which assists vegetation, but it must become intimately 

 mixed with, or more properly become a part of the soil in order 

 to produce the best results. 



Barnyard manure, especially, seems of little worth, while 

 forming visible layers between the clods of a half ploughed field. 

 It being often dry and coarse it will rather be shunned than 

 sought by the roots and fibres sent out in search of suitable 

 food. If a well prepared soil has any strength or virtue, it will 

 yield readily, and poor land even, when properly prepared, is 

 often more productive than richer soil less perfectly prepared. 



