DEEP TILLAGE. Ill 



polled from the garden to " till the ground." While this word 

 "till" may lie applied to general husbandry, it is susceptible 

 in the Hebrew, as wc learn from good authority, of a more 

 special and profound signification, equivalent to deep culture, 

 digging, labor, producing the " sweat of the face," as we often 

 see in trenching. 



Judging from the recorded characters of this first farmer, 

 and his oldest son, who was also bred a farmer, we may infer 

 that they refused to till as commanded, and consequently gath- 

 ered a meagre harvest. Hence, at the first agricultural exhi- 

 bition, when the latter presented the " fruits of the ground," 

 these did not even command " respect." Nor has the occupa- 

 tion itself been respectable since in the minds of many. Thus 

 disappointed and mortified, the son at once, like most of the 

 sons of farmers, turned his attention to city life ; and, as is 

 too often the case, he did not appreciate the worthy daughters 

 around him, but married his wife in a foreign land, and even 

 named his first born after his favorite city. If, therefore, the 

 agriculturist would gain the respect and approval of man and 

 his Maker, please his wife with tempting fruits, keep his sons 

 at home, and marry his daughters, he must raise, decidedly, his 

 standard of excellence, of cultivation, and of refinement. 



This first attempt to extend garden culture to the field 

 failed ; nor has it obtained to the present time to any great 

 extent. The modern horticulturist gives to his vines and choice 

 trees that thorough culture which every product of the earth 

 requires for its most bountiful yield. His few rods, well 

 drained and trenched, are more profitable than as many acres 

 of the farmer's unprepared land. Another class, as yet quite 

 too limited, can count their varieties of pears and apples by 

 hundreds, all under high keeping. Their taste and refinement 

 arc apparent by the order, neatness, and thrift of every thing 

 about their beautiful mansions, ornamental grounds, and gar- 

 dens, as well as their extensive fields and herds. We cannot 

 refrain from calling these the hortico-agriculturists of the coun- 

 try, connecting links between the two extremes, to whom the 

 mere routine agriculturist may well look for pecuniary, orna- 

 mental, and scientific improvement in his department. 



To many farmers, mulching and irrigation are mysterious 



