CHAPTER XXIX 



THE OLD, WORN-OUT SOILS: WHAT MAY WE DO FOR 



THEM 



Maybe some of your tillable land is unproductive; it 

 does not give you good crops : it often fails in rewarding 

 you with returns commensurate with the labor and ex- 

 pense you have bestowed upon it. You may be dejected 

 and despondent over the outlook. You wonder does it 

 pay, and the question comes, the same one again and 

 again, What may I do to change this state of affairs? 

 How may I restore these lands, now so unresponsive and 

 so unattractive, to their old positions for doing things of 

 raising crops that shall be worth the effort, the labor, and 

 the expense? 



Just take comfort in this : you are not alone in your 

 troubles ; your difficulties are not visited upon you only ; 

 your lands are not the sole examples of their kind, requir- 

 ing much and returning little. All over the country their 

 like exists worn out, depleted, exhausted, almost dead. 



But here is the comfort: These soils possess possibili- 

 ties and may be restored to high productive power, pro- 

 vided you do a few simple things. You will be rewarded 

 most richly if you do these : 



1. Improve the physical life of the soil. 



2. Call tillage into service. 



3. Get humus into the soil. 



4. Keep live stock from tramping and injuring wet 

 lands. 



5. Come into close contact with every sort of manure. 



6. Grow legumes constantly. 



