13 



with hope for the future. But if the water supply can be had 

 and labor, to irrigate, that will undoubtedly be the means of 

 saving and increasing the quantity of our crops, and the dol- 

 lars in our pockets ; and I believe that the physical labor on 

 such a farm would be somewhat lessened to the owners, while 

 intelligence would be more in demand. 



Drought is what stops all beneficial effects from a good and 

 pure fertilizer, and puts it under such circumstances on a par 

 with a poor article, because it cannot be absorbed by the plant 

 unless held in solution, and because it must have moisture to 

 hold it in solution. In seasons of drought a good and pure fer- 

 tilizer must fail to meet the needs of farmers, but with irriga- 

 tion or in a favorable season both barnyard manure and fer- 

 tilizer serve us to the extent of their capabilities. Such diffi- 

 culties and uncertainties as these, place doubt in the farmer's 

 mind as to the words of truth received from the chemist, with- 

 out whose knowledge and investigation we could not progress. 



We need water, and to have our work so arranged as to 

 cover the least possible ground; we are too generally spreading 

 our manure and labor too thinly over our land; or have not a 

 sufficient amount of manure for the land under cultivation. With 

 irrigation we could use a large quantity ot pure fertilizers profi- 

 tably, and thus better supplement our manure heap. Would it not 

 be wiser to make one's principles of farming conform more to 

 the general rules applied to market gardening ; so far at least 

 as aiming to increase the amount of the crops per acre by ma- 

 nuring more heavily, planting more thickly and tending more 

 carefully. And let me be understood as including fruit, on 

 tree or bush, under the head of crops. 



The farmers of Arlington and Concord, I understand, were 

 among the first and the most desirous in their respective 



