516 



KEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



from the experience and observation of the 

 present season. 



Let us notice some of the facts that present 

 themselves to our observation. Here is afield 

 under high culture. It is under-drained, was 

 well ploughed, and the plough was followed 

 by the subsoil plough, making a tilth of four- 

 teen or fifteen inches deep. It was amply 

 manured, and the manure thoroughly mixed 

 with the soil. The seed was put in early, as 

 in a soil so treated it may always be. Some 

 stimulant was applied in the hill to give the 

 seed an early start. The phnts started at 

 once, and grew vigorously from the first, and 

 under the continued heat they have made a 

 marvellous growth. The large stalks and 

 broad leaves, with open pores, have imbibed 

 the nightly dews, which have aided the sap 

 to flow freely in the succulent vessels. The 

 cultivator and the hoe have been diligently 

 employed to enable the air to penetrate the 

 soil and keep up the decomposition by which 

 the roots are supplied with food. The roots 

 penetrated deeply and found the food and 

 moisture needed. The plants pushed on to 

 perfection with precocious energy. The ker- 

 nel formed and filled. The potato acquired 

 its normal size long ago. Such land, under 

 the stimulus of the buriiing sun. rapidly ac- 

 complishes its work, doing as much in five or 

 six weeks as it does in a cooler season in eight 

 or ten, so that however great the drought of 

 the summer, if there was a good supply of 

 water in the spring, there is almost a certainty 

 of a good crop. A good crop of grass and 

 grain is produced on such soil before the 

 drought comes. Just these results may be 

 seen in many instances during the present dis- 

 astrous drought. 



On the other hand, where the soil is poor, 

 and was poorly prepared for the seed, and the 

 seed was put in rather late, the crops started 

 slowly. The plough and the hoe were not 

 diligently used, the ground became baked, the 

 air did not penetrate to kt ep up decomposi- 

 tion in the soil, and by the time the plants 

 were ready to begin to form their fruit, they 

 were parched and wilted. Their curled leaves 

 did not expand their pores to drink in the 

 sweet dews. They struggled on for a time, 

 and finally succumbed to the adverse circtfm- 

 stances with little or no result. Such instances 

 and the almost entire failure of the labor of 

 the year are common to a melancholy extent. 



Is there any remedy for this state of things ? 

 Can we guard against the effects of such a 

 drought as we have passed through? The 

 farmer, like every ofner man, wishes to invest 

 his money and labor where there is a reason- 

 able prospect of a good result. Can he do 

 this with as much certainty as attends other 

 human enterprises? It will be said the re- 

 sults of the husbandman's labors depend 

 greatly upon the elements, which are beyond 

 his control or influence. But is it not so with 

 all the labors of man? The winds and the 

 waves may defeat all the shrewdness and far- 

 reaching calculations of the merchant. The 

 cost of the material worked by the manufac- 

 turer often depends essentially upon the sea- 

 son. His buildings and machinery are subject 

 to destruction by fire and flood. 



These classes do all that human skill can do 

 to guard against the influence of the elements, 

 as well as to avail themselves of their aid, and 

 why should not the farmer ? If the merchant 

 committed his cargoes to unseaworthy vessels, 

 or the manufacturer erected combustible build- 

 ings upon the sand, would they have or de- 

 serve success ? They heed the lessons of ex- 

 perience, and so, although calamities some- 

 times befall them, upon the whole they are 

 successful. They have the sagacity and cour- 

 age to ava 1 themselves of the means which in- 

 creating knowledge and science put into their 

 hands. The merchant who should confine 

 himself to the customs and the navigation of 

 the past, and the manufacturer who should 

 use the machinery of the last century, would 

 find themselves swallowed up in the waves of 

 modern competition. 



In like manner the agriculturist must avail 

 himself of the. results of science and experi- 

 ence. He must so prepare his soil that what- 

 ever may be the season, his labors and hopes 

 shall meet with a reasonable reward. He 

 must have the courage to apply the knowledge 

 which experience teaches him. 



The great difficulty is that we do not do as 

 well as we know. We know that only high 

 farming is uniformly and permanently success- 

 ful. We know that shallow and negligent 

 cultivation rapidly exhausts the soil, and that 

 with such cultivation, in an unpropitious sea- 

 son, the crops always fail. We know that 

 with a thorough preparation of the soil, and 

 skilful cultivation, the crops are always good, 

 — better indeed in propitious seasons, — but 



