36 THE COMPLETE FARMER 



' But there is another mode, and it is one which I have 

 never heard suggested, by which I apprehend the stirring of 

 the surface, and making it hght and poious, is beneficial in 

 great droughts. It is this : Hght porous bodies are bad con- 

 ductors of heat : perhaps because they have more air be- 

 tween their interstices. The facts are familiar to us. Me- 

 tallic bodies acquire an intense heat under the rays of the 

 sun ; so do stones in proportion to their density. The earth, 

 when very compact, will become exceedingly hot, but garden 

 loam, which is very porous, remains cool at noon day two 

 inches below the surface. I believe, therefore, that mo^dng 

 the surface, and keeping it in a light and porous state ena- 

 bles it to resist the heat of the sun's rays; that the air between 

 the particles of earth communicates the heat more slowly 

 than the particles themselves do when in close contact. 



'Such is my theory, but I am an enemy to theories. I 

 always distrust them ; I look only to facts ; and having ob- 

 served that a slight covering of half an inch of sea weed 

 would preserve my strawberries from drought, which can 

 only arise from its lying so loose on the surface, I have been 

 led to infer that the undoubted fact, that soil in a loose pul- 

 verized state resists drought, is owing to the same cause, to 

 wit, the slowness Avith which the heat of the solar rays is 

 communicated to the roots. But, be the theory sound or 

 unsound, I am persuaded that every farmer will find that the 

 free use of his plough and hoe, in times of severe drought, will 

 be of more \ alue to him than as much manure as that labor 

 would purchase. I have aL»vays been convinced from my 

 experience as an horticulturist, that the great secret in culti- 

 vation consists in making the soil porous. In raising exctic 

 plants we know it to be true, and our flower-pots are always 

 supplied with soil the most porous which we can obtain. 

 The farmer may borrow light from an occupation which he 

 looks upon with disdain, but which serves to elucidate and 

 explain the secrets of vegetation.' 



Corn is sometimes profitably planted or sown for fodder. 

 In an Add-^ess to the Essex Agricultural Society, by the late 

 colonel Pickering, we find the following remarks : 



' Every farmer knows how eagerly cattle devour the en- 

 tire plant of Indian corn in its green state ; and land in good 

 condition will produce heavy crops of it. Some years ago, 

 just when the ears were in the milk, I cut close to the ground 

 the plants growing on a measured space, equal as I judged 

 to the average product of the whole piece ; and found that, 



