152 THE ART OF CULTURE. 



produces neither wheat nor tobacco. From every 

 acre of this land there were removed in the space 

 of one hundred years 13,200 lbs. of alkalies in 

 leaves, grain, and straw ; it became unfruitful, there- 

 fore, because it was deprived of every particle of 

 alkali, which had been reduced to a soluble state, 

 and because that which was rendered soluble again 

 in the space of one year was not sufficient to satisfy 

 the demands of the plants. Almost all the culti- 

 vated land in Europe is in this condition; fallow is 

 the term applied to land left at rest for further 

 disintegration. It is the greatest possible mistake 

 to suppose that the temporary diminution of fertility 

 in a soil is owing to the loss of humus ; it is the 

 mere consequence of the exhaustion of the alkalies. 



Let us consider the condition of the country 

 around Naples, which is famed for its fruitful corn- 

 land ; the farms and villages are situated from 

 eighteen to twenty-four miles distant from one an- 

 other, and between them there are no roads, and 

 consequently no transportation of manure. Now 

 corn has been cultivated on this land for thousands 

 of years, without any part of that which is annually 

 removed from the soil being artificially restored to 

 it. How can any influence be ascribed to humus 

 under such circumstances, when it is not even known 

 w^hether humus was ever contained in the soil? 



The method of culture in that district completely 

 explains the permanent fertility. It appears very 

 bad in the eyes of our agriculturists, but there it is 

 the best plan which could be adopted. A field is 

 cultivated once every three years and is in the 

 intervals allowed to serve as a sparing pasture for 

 cattle. The soil experiences no change in the two 

 years during which it there lies fallow, further than 

 that it is exposed to the influence of the weather, 

 by which a fresh portion of the alkalies contained 

 in it are again set free or rendered soluble. The 

 animals fed on these fields yield nothing to these 

 soils which they did not formerly possess. The 



