INTRODUCTION. XV 



to be found a woman for whom all plants will grow 

 if she looks at them. In each instance may be found 

 a person who understands a plant's requirements. 

 It matters not whether this knowledge is innate or 

 acquired ; it is that which makes the plant grow. 



To get the most from the land, at the least pos- 

 sible cost, has been, and is the great object and aim 

 of the agriculturists of our country ; and we wish to 

 emphasize that we confine it to our country, as our 

 methods are but little followed in other countries. 

 "Keep the cultivator going," we are told, is the secret 

 of success with cultivated crops. To keep the pres- 

 ent "imp roved" cultivator going through field crops, 

 as is now generally practiced, is not the secret of 

 success, but, to a great extent, the cause of failure. 

 While to keep a cultivator going, as it should be 

 done, would be the secret of success, as is claimed. 



We set cabbage plants for the heads they pro- 

 duce; tomato plants for the fruits they yield; we 

 plant potatoes for an increase of their kinds. In 

 either case, to get the desired results, we must have 

 vigorous plants. We cannot have a large head of 

 cabbage without a strong stem to support it ; we can- 

 not have a large yield of good, well-developed toma- 

 toes unless we have vigorous vines; neither can we 

 have a large yield of potatoes unless we have strong 

 plants to produce them. This is cause and effect. 

 Now where do the stem of the cabbage and the 

 vines of the tomato and the potato get their strength ? 

 We answer, from the united action of leaf and root, 

 the same as the trunk of the tree is built up in order 

 that it may produce a crop of fruit. There can be 

 no growth unless there is an equal amount of leaf 

 force and root force. In other words, if you take 



