VEGETABLES. 145 



benefit of the agricultural community. The experiment is 

 worth trying, and we believe it would pay its own expenses. 



So many conditions are to be observed for the growth of veg- 

 etables, that the subject demands the most careful research. 

 Climate, soil, planting and cultivating, are the requisites for 

 growth. We are all aware that much of our island soil is very 

 light and sandy, with but little depth. Constant crops in 

 former years have nearly exhausted hundreds of acres of up- 

 land. Cultivating without manures has been the ruinous pol- 

 icy. This spoliation system has to a serious extent impaired the 

 productiveness of our common and undivided lands. The prac- 

 tice of seeking the greatest possible production at the least pos- 

 sible cost, has impoverished the soil on thousands of acres of 

 the more fertile lands of other States. Where cultivation has 

 been easy, past generations have taken ever from the soil, giving 

 little in return, leaving to their successors the almost hopeless 

 task of restoring what their ignorance or stupidity had de- 

 stroyed ; and many of the present generation are too faithful 

 imitators of the practice of their ancestors. Men buy land too 

 often for the same use as they do cattle — to wear out. Meas- 

 uring the result by the money received, they consider the busi- 

 ness profitable. Were all to adopt this system, the earth would 

 soon become a barren waste. 



We have a number of mineral chemicals which are being 

 tested for fertilizers by the scientific agricultural world. Guano 

 is thought by some to be excellent for grain or vegetable 

 crops. Potash is said to be the most valuable mineral alkaline 

 substance that can be used, as it decomposes the mineral sub- 

 stances in the earth. This may be returned to the soil in wood- 

 ashes ; they contain nearly all the mineral elements necessary 

 to vegetation. Common salt may be safely used with manures, 

 as it decomposes vegetable and mineral matter. Lime is a pow- 

 erful agent, and will in many ways benefit the soil and hasten 

 vegetation. It is said that two hundred pounds of lime and 

 two bushels of salt, mixed together, dry-slack under cover. 

 Sow the mixture on the surface in the fall ; cultivate in, if sowa 

 in the spring, to incorporate with the soil. If for potatoes, use 

 a little in the hill ; from four to five hundred pounds of lime to 

 the acre is a fair dressing. Bones are of great value ; they 

 contain one-third organic and two-thirds mineral. Many other 



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