AND RURAL ECONOMIST. 315 



mile below its formation by the junction of two streams, one 

 from a large pond of several hundred acres in Rindge, and 

 the other a mountain stream, formed by innumerable springs 

 issuing from the skirts of the Monadnock. 



From the foregoing premises may we not conclude, that 

 water performs a more important office in the growth and 

 formation of plants than has generally been supposed, and 

 that it not only serves to convey nourishment, but that it is 

 itself elaborated into nourishment, and thereby constitutes 

 the solid substance ? and we may farther conclude, that every 

 farmer should survey his premises, and turn those streams 

 which now are often useless or hurtful on to lands where 

 they are capable of diffusing fertility, abundance, and wealth. 



It appears, farther, that the immense fertility of Egypt is 

 not so much owing to the alluvial deposit brought down by 

 the annual inundation, as to the canals and reservoirs in 

 which the waters are retained, to be spread over the lands 

 during the succeeding drought, at the will of the cultivator. 



If, according to the experiments of Boyle and Van Hel- 

 mont, almost the whole food of plants is deriv^ed from water, 

 then the principal use of the various manures is to attract 

 moisture and stimulate the roots of plants to absorb and 

 * borate it ; and we have also reason to think that lands are 

 n.'uch more injured and impoverished by naked exposure to 

 heat and wind, and washing by water that runs off and is 

 lost, than it is by producing abundant crops. 



In the present state of population, nothing more could be 

 expected or desired, than that every farmer should make use 

 of such means as the small streams in his vicinity may 

 afford ; but in a densely peopled country, like Egypt in 

 former ages, or China at present, it should doubtless be one 

 of the first enterprises of a good government to take our 

 large rivers above their falls and turn them off into canals 



for the benefit of agriculture. 



Jeremiah Spofford. 



WOOD-LAND, ground covered with wood or trees. 

 They are mostly designed for fuel and timber. In felling 

 them care should be taken to injure the young growth as 

 little as possible. Firewood, as well as timber, should be 

 felled when the sap is down ; otherwise it will hiss and fry 

 upon the fire, and not burn freely, although it should be ever 



