264 
I^Ae Survival in Farmimj. 
itself," aiad his only de^Darture from that pi-inciple consisted in 
the purchase of a moderate quantity of cake. He adhered to 
the four-course rotation, and he grew excellent crops. His 
farm was well horsed, so that he was always forward with his 
autumn cleaning of stubbles, and with the ploughing of his 
land for spring corn and roots before winter set in, also with 
the cultivation of land on which tares had been mown or fed. 
Thus his land was always clean, as well as in good heart, and but 
little hand cleaning of his crops was necessary. His expenditure 
was not heavy ; but he was, in my opinion, unquestionably a 
high farmer. He saved money even after the period of de- 
pression was well on its way, and the condition of his farm was 
improved in a marked degree during his tenancy. 
Before the discovery of what was until recently the missing 
link in the theory of the conservation or increase of fertility in 
farmed land, English chemists would hardly have admitted, 
without direct proof, that my old neighbour could have been 
improving the condition of his farm : because, they would have 
said, the cake brought ou to the land was not sufficient to restore 
the elements of fertility sold off in corn, meat, and wool. But 
now that it is admitted that the growth of clover, tares, and 
other leguminous crops increases the fertility of the soil, at least 
as far as the supply of nitrogen is concerned, there is no 
difficulty in explaining why the farm was improved in condition. 
It is desirable to point out, however, that the system pursued 
would not have been high farming on light land, as it would 
not have kept up the fertility of any soil which did not possess a 
practically inexhaustible supply of potash and other minerals. 
On some equally good land near the farm just mentioned, 
there were two or three farmers who kept scarcely any stock, 
and purchased no cake worth mentioning, and no manure. 
They kept their land fairly clean, and grew good crops of corn 
in hot seasons, but frequently had very poor crops, and they 
did not survive many years of agricultural depression. This 
reminds me of an advantage which low farmers have in such 
seasons as the last two, when all the heaviest of the corn crops 
are badly laid, while their crops may be just too light to go 
down, though fairly good. The tendency of heavy corn crops 
to lodge is the greatest of all the disadvantages of the high corn 
land farmer. At present, chemists have not succeeded in dis- 
covering any remedy, or even palliative, to this evil, and all that 
can be done to prevent it is to be careful not to sow too thickly 
or too early on land in high condition, and to grow stifF-strawed 
varieties of corn. 
There are low farmers who are also clean fanners, and when 
