20 MR. gage's address. 



opportunity to spread ; weeds be destroyed and con- 

 verted into manure. An eminent writer on agricul- 

 ture tells us, that on certain lots, cultivated entirely 

 by the spade, in France, the products were double 

 those in its immediate neighborhood, on lots cultiva- 

 ted in a different manner. Such a mode of cultiva- 

 tion is applicable only where labor is abundant. 

 • In some countries, fire is used to improve the soil. 

 The process suitable to every cohesive, clayey soil, is 

 thus described : "A layer of from two to four inches 

 in thickness, is removed from the soil in clods ; little 

 heaps of combustibles are formed, — thistles, fern, 

 and shrubs, that grow upon the spot. These are cov- 

 ered with the clods, and, in a few days, are set on 

 fire. When the whole has become cool, the heaps 

 of ashes are spread over the surface, and thus mixed 

 with the soil. By this operation, the parts of the soil 

 are made less compact and cohesive ; the inactive 

 vegetable matter is converted into manure ; insects 

 and the seeds of weeds are destroyed." The burn- 

 ing of stubble on the field — practiced by some farm- 

 ers — is recommended by an eminent chemist, for 

 two reasons : — it purifies the soil from insects and 

 from the seeds of noxious plants ; and it forms a thin 

 layer of carbon, which, by its extreme division, is ca- 

 pable of being absorbed by the plants. 



We are told, that notwithstanding the examples 

 and the writings of enlightened theoretical farmers, 

 in France, agriculture has not arisen above medioc- 

 rity, mainly because the farmers have been ambitious 

 of having too large a portion of land under cultiva- 

 tion. Experience has proved, abundantly, that the 



