84 VEGETABLES. 



letting them steam away, or wasli off from about our 

 dwellings, polluting the air we breathe, and perhaps 

 sooner or later the water we drink ; if we let no giant 

 weeds filch the food in our fields ; we shall draw more 

 largely from the common stock ; for we make our 

 plants more vigorous and far-reaching and successful 

 in their efforts to draw from the great store-house of 

 vegetable food above and around us. 



141. This is one of the ways in which Divine Pro- 

 vidence rewards the diligent and punishes the slothful. 

 The thorough farmer, by high cultivation, gets a great 

 deal more out of the common stock, than the mere 

 ordinary farmer. Not all the corn comes from the soil ; 

 not all, from the soil and manure together; half of it 

 comes from sources, which cost nothing, as free as the 

 breezes of heaven ; one acre well tilled draws more from 

 the common stock of corn-making materials, than two 

 acres half tilled ; and the net profit on one acre highly 

 cultivated is more than on five, that are barely run 

 over. 



142. We have all heard of the dish being right side 

 lip. When the farmer's field is mellowed to a depth 

 of 8, 10, or 12 inches ; when the crops are running 

 their roots deep and their tops high ; when every leaf 

 and every inch of surface soil are sucking in the rains, 

 and dews, and nutritious gases ; then is his dish right 

 side up ; and he will catch enough^, not only to pay liim 

 for his labor, but to give him a handsome profit. 



