hoeing. No wonder
these idolatrous people voted him a god. They thought there would be no
more old-fashioned manuring; no more hoeing.

"Of course they were mistaken," continued the Doctor, "our arable land
will always need plowing and cultivating to kill weeds. Manure, in the
sense in which we now use the term, is only a partial substitute for
tillage, and tillage is only a partial substitute for manure; but it is
well to bear in mind that the words mean the same thing, and the effects
of both are, to a certain extent, identical. Tillage is manure, and
manure is tillage."

CHAPTER VIII.

SUMMER-FALLOWING.

This is not the place to discuss the merits, or demerits, of fallowing.
But an intelligent Ohio farmer writes me:-- "I see that you recommend
fallow plowing, what are your reasons? Granting that the _immediate_
result is an increased crop, is not the land impoverished? Will not the
thorough cultivation of corn, or potatoes, answer as well?" And a
distinguished farmer, of this State, in a recent communication expressed
the same idea--that summer-fallowing would soon impoverish the land. But
if this is the case, the fault is not in the practice of
summer-fallowing, but in growing too many grain crops, and selling them,
instead of consuming them on the farm. Take two fields; summer-fallow
one, and sow it to wheat. Plant the other to corn, and sow wheat after
it in the fall. You get, say 35 bushels of wheat per acre from the
summer-fallow. From the other field you get, say, 30 bushels of shelled
corn per acre, and 10 bushels of wheat afterwards. Now, where a farmer
is in the habit of selling all his wheat, and consuming all his corn on
the farm, it is evident that the practice of summer-fallowing will
impoverish the soil more rapidly than the system of growing corn
followed by wheat--and for the simple reason that more wheat is sold
from the farm. If no more grain is sold in one case than in the other,
the summer-fallowing will not impoverish the soil any more than corn
growing.

My idea of fallowing is this:--The soil and the atmosphere furnish, on
good, well cultivated land, plant-food sufficient, say, for 15 bushels
of wheat per acre, _every year_. It will be sometimes more, and
sometimes less, according to the season and the character of the soil,
but on good, strong limestone land this may be taken as about the
average. To grow wheat every year in crops of 15 bushels per acre, would
impoverish the so