CHAPTER XI. 



RE-SOILING. 



THERE is a good deal of talk these days 

 about re-soiling, but the word is mis- 

 leading. We cannot re-soil this earth or 

 any part of it. The soil is there for keeps. It 

 was here before us, and will remain after we are 

 gone. All we can do is to put back into the 

 soil some of the vegetable matter of which we 

 have robbed it; and this is really what we have 

 in mind when we speak of re-soiling. People 

 have the habit of coining almost meaningless 

 words, and then wondering why everybody 

 does not know at once what they meant to say. 



What we are after is, to put humus, which is 

 really decayed vegetable matter, back into the 

 soil. Then that natural fertility, of which we 

 have been talking, will have a chance to get to 

 work. 



Now, decayed vegetable matter is part of 

 what makes up stable and barnyard manure, 

 street and stable sweepings; but, in practice, 

 this does not afford enough humus: that 

 is one reason why crops of clover, cowpeas, 

 velvet-bean, buckwheat, etc., are often grown 

 only to be plowed into the ground in the fall. 

 These are the green manures which decay and 



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