in, or using only in the hill — for this is a vexed ques- 

 tion, and the practice of good farmers variers in respect 

 of it. But how few the farmers who devote the care 

 they ought to enlarge the manure heap. How seldom 

 are barn-yards contrived in the manner best adapted to 

 save the strength of all that goes into it; and how rare- 

 ly are they supplied with the material at the proper 

 times and in sufficient amount, to produce the greatest 

 result. What waste, too, is committed by the summer's 

 sun, and the rain and winds of spring and autumn, in 

 dissipating the virtues of that which is to constitute the 

 food of the coming crops. We might borrow a useful 

 lesson from the English farmers, by making manure in- 

 to what they term "pies," instead of carting it in the fall 

 to the open field', to be strown over a large surface, ex- 

 posed to the ravages of the weather. This may be 

 done by placing it in alternate layers with meadow-mud 

 or with soil, and enveloping the whole with a side and 

 top crust of the same material. 



Again, I would ask, if labor is as well directed, if 

 foresight and judgment are as often exercised, as they 

 should be, upon our farms in order to bring them into 

 the best condition? In many places there are yet mead- 

 ows to be reclaimed; wet lands to be drained; clayey 

 soils to be mellowed by the admixture of sand and 

 sandy soils, to be strengthened in texture by clay. Are 

 these and similar improvements made as often and as 

 effectually as they might be made, if undertaken in good 

 earnest? Do you say there is not time? There may 

 always be found intervals of time for such work, if reso- 

 lutely determined upon. But the magnitude of the 

 undertaking appals many a faint-hearted man, simply 

 because he looks at the execution of the whole, instead 

 of setting about it at once, and accomplishing it as he is 

 able. He will commend the improvement, wish it was 

 made, is persuaded of its benefit, and will freely intend 

 one of these years to undertake it, but he never does. 



Such an one is a going-to-do farmer; and is it any won- 

 der that he makes little or no progress? 



Look now at his neighbor, who is alwavs doing. He 



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