PRACTICAL PAPERS—MIXED HUSBANDRY. 
143 
earth are in the form of barn-yard manure; plowing under 
green crops ; pasturing the land ; as well as by applying to it 
those minerals in which it is deficient, such as plaster, lime, 
salt, ashes, etc. 
That, of all the above methods, pasturing must be the least 
expensive and the most profitable ; since the farmer’s animals 
are made to perform the work of enriching his land while 
accumulating valuable products in flesh, milk or wool at the 
same time. 
From the above we are led to enquire: which are the 
plants that derive their growth most largely from the atmos¬ 
phere ? If we succeed in discovering them, we can make the 
surrounding air contribute to the maintenance, and even to 
the increase of the fertility of our land in the largest possible 
degree, by fixing in the soil, through fermentation and decom¬ 
position, a large portion of volatile elements which have 
become incorporated in the plant, through atmospheric absorp¬ 
tion, during its growth. 
Turnips are perhaps, among roots, the plant by means of 
which the soil may be most enriched ; but one of the peculiar¬ 
ities of our climate-a climate otherwise healthy, delightful and 
having many more days of sunshine during the year than 
western Europe—is that they cannot be raised here with the 
same certainty as there. It may be said that turnip culture 
has created in the agricultural systems of England, during 
the last fifty years, a revolution as complete as it has been bene¬ 
ficial. But here, on account of our dry and hot summers, they 
are seldom successful, except on newly cleared timber-land, 
for want of moisture at the time of germination, and because 
of the attacks of myriads of insects. Therefore, this valuable 
product, by means of which such great results have been 
achieved in the naturally thin soils of England, must be 
omitted in our regular system of rotation, as unreliable. Car¬ 
rots and beets are more reliable, as well as intrinsically more 
valuable. Both are full of sugar. Carrots are especially ac¬ 
ceptable as food for horses and cows. These roots are best 
