TAKING REINS IN HAND. 69 



compelled to supply them artificially, we diminish the 

 chances of profit. 



My own soil was of a light loamy character, and 

 the farm lay within two miles of a town of forty 

 thousand inhabitants. 



Such being the facts, what should be the general 

 manner of treatment ? 



Grazing, which is in many respects the most invit- 

 ing of all modes of farming, was out of the question, 

 for the reason that the soil did not incline to that firm, 

 close turf-surface, which invites grazing, and renders 

 it profitable. Nor do I mean to admit, what many 

 old-fashioned gentlemen are disposed to aifirm, that 

 all land which does not so incline, is necessarily infe- 

 rior to that which does. If grazing were the chiefest 

 of agricultural interests, it might be true. But it 

 must be observed that strong grass lands have gen- 

 erally a tenacity and a retentiveness of moisture, 

 which forbid that frequent and early tillage, that 

 is essential to other growths ; and upon careful 

 reckoning, I doubt very much, if it would not appear 

 that some of the very light lands in the neighborhood 

 of cities, pay a larger percentage upon the agricultu 

 ral capital invested, than any purely grazing lands in 

 the country. Again, even supposing that the soil 

 were adapted to grazing, it is quite doubtful if the 

 best of grazing lands will prove profitable in the 



