50G I'EAXSACTIOy^S OF THU AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



dry or a damp soil ? To me it appears that equal moisture is the 

 very best condition to insure the most favorable success to our crops. 

 Now if we find after careful examination that equal moisture is the 

 most favorable condition to promote the growth of plants, then the 

 second consideration is, how shall we proceed to secure that condition 

 for our growing crops ? First, let us observe the operations of nature, 

 our great teacher. Let us see what it is that restores the parched-up 

 grass on hill-tops and their sides after a long drouth. Let us see what 

 it is that restores our sun-browned meadows and our withering corn 

 to life after a long drouth in summer. Does not the first passing 

 shower which saturates the parched earth, gives drink to the thirsty 

 plants, alter their appearance as quick as if done by a magic hand. 

 Thus it is seen that water is the food that sustains and restores all 

 vegetation, and if properly supplied to plants, produces the most 

 favorable and satisfactory results ; water, without which all animals as 

 well as vegetation dies. Water is therefore the great agent of produc- 

 tion, as well as destruction, excess of water being quite as fatal to our 

 crops as the want of it. I*^ow, to get rid of water when in excess for 

 the use of plants, and to secure a supply of moisture for plants when 

 there is a deficiency of falling rains, and thus secure equal moisture, is 

 the gist of the question before us to-day. Close observers notice that 

 hard packed earth, like our roads, dry out quicker and deeper than 

 the cultivated lands beside them. It is also a fact that frequent stir- 

 ring of the soil in times of drouth causes it to retain as well as to 

 attract the moisture from the air, and thereby keep it in a damp and 

 more suitable condition to promote the growth of jilants. On all our 

 cultivated lands there is annually applied about the same average 

 (quantity of manure. But if the season is diy, the crops will be 

 deficient in proportion to the lack of rain. While in seasons of mod- 

 erate and frequent rains we never fail to have good crops, even with- 

 out manure, and so it is when we have an excess of Avet, the crops 

 are drowned out. That is, on all grounds not trenched, subsoiled, or 

 underdrained to absorb or carj-y ofl' the excess of water, except on 

 sandy lands (like those, in Ocean and Salem counties, '^. J.), where 

 the excess of rain passes down without any artificial aid. The advan- 

 tage of deep tillage, therefore, not only keeps the ground in prime 

 condition as regards moisture, Init it renders it fine and friable, which 

 is highly favorable for the fibrous rootlets to ramble through in search 

 of food and drink. It is a demonstrated fact that all grounds stirred 

 deep aid the moisture from below to rise more readily toward the sur- . 



