CHAPTER XI. 
RE-SOILING. 
HERE 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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