in our American agriculture, our people have been to a great
extent pioneers; they have been compelled to win what they could in
the cheapest possible way and with the rudest implements, and without
much regard to the future of those who were in subsequent generations
to occupy the fields which they were conquering from the wilderness
and the savages. The danger is now that this reckless tillage, in a
way justified of old, may be continued and become habitual with our
people. It is, indeed, already a fixed habit in many parts of the
country, particularly in the South, where a small farmer expects to
wear out two or three plantations in the course of his natural life.
Many of them manage to ruin from one to two hundred acres of land in
the course of half a century of uninterrupted labour. This system
deserves the reprobation of all good citizens; it would be well,
indeed, if it were possible to do so, to stamp it out by the law. The
same principle which makes it illegal for a man to burn his own
dwelling house may fairly be applied in restraining him from
destroying the land which he tills.

There are a few simple principles which, if properly applied, may
serve to correct this misuse of our American soil. The careful tiller
should note that all soils whatever which lie on declivities having a
slope of more than one foot in thirty inevitably and rapidly waste
when subject to plough tillage. This instrument tends to smear and
consolidate the layer of earth over which its heel runs, so that at a
depth of a few inches below the surface a layer tolerably impervious
to water is formed. The result is that the porous portion of the
deposit becomes excessively charged with water in times of heavy rain,
and moves down the hillside in a rapid manner. All such steep slopes
should be left in their wooded state, or, if brought into use, should
be retained as pasture lands.

Where, as is often the case with the farms in hilly countries, all the
fields are steeply inclined, it is an excellent precaution to leave
the upper part of the slope with a forest covering. In this condition
not only is the excessive flow of surface water diminished, but the
moisture which creeps down the slope from the wooded area tends to
keep the lower-lying fields in a better state for tillage, and
promotes the decay of the underlying rocks, and thus adds to the body
and richness of the earth.

On those soils which must be tilled, even where they tend to