10 



ESSAY. 



is the first subject that occupies attention. If the 

 water level reaches during the growing season so near 

 to the surface as to interfere with the downward exten- 

 sion of the roots, then draining 'is demanded. If the 

 crop be a perennial, or biennial, then there should never, 

 at any season of the year, be standing water found so 

 near to the surface as to submerge roots liable to be 

 frozen. The object in plowing is to kill vegetation, if 

 the land be in sward, and to lighten and pulverize the 

 soil, that tender roots and rootlets may readily penetrate 

 it in search of nutriment for the growing plant. In the 

 application of various manures, the expectation of the 

 cultivator is that they will furnish food in addition to 

 what previously existed in the soil, and he looks for an 

 increased product in consequence. The subsequent 

 operations of hoeing and cultivating are for the purpose 

 of keeping down the growth of vegetation other than 

 that for which the husbandman is laboring, in order that 

 this extraneous vegetation may not deprive the planted 

 crop of that nutriment provided and designed for its 

 especial use and benefit. 



We may now inquire what are the conditions of 

 success in the highest degree, in the production of results 

 flowing from each of these divisions or operations, as 

 applied to the cultivation of a crop on a given piece of 

 land. If the surplus water has been removed by 

 draining, and the plowing in its depth and character 

 promises to be the best for the proposed crop, then all 

 is done that can be in that direction. This however 

 may not be the best, looking beyond the present. The 

 highest success is only attained when the extreme pro- 

 ductive capabilities of the soil are profitably reached. 



