I have succeeded in making the larger part of my farm much more productive than it ever was before, since it was cleared from the original forest. But it is far from being as rich as I want it. The truth is, God sent us into this world to work, and He has given us plenty to do, if we will only do it. At any rate, this is true of farming. He has not given us land ready to our hand. The man who first cleared up my farm, had no easy task. He fairly earned all the good crops he ever got from it. I have never begrudged him one particle of the “natural manure” he took out of the land, in the form of wheat, corn, oats, and hay. On the dry, sandy knolls, he probably got out a good portion of this natural manure, but on the wetter and heavier portions of the farm, he probably did not get out one-hundredth part of the natural manure which the land contained.
Now, when such a farm came into my possession, what was I to do with it?
“Tell us what you did,” said the Doctor, “and then, perhaps, we can tell you what you ought to have done, and what you ought to have left undone.”
“I made many mistakes.”
“Amen,” said the Deacon; “I am glad to hear you acknowledge it.”
“Well,” said the Doctor, “it is better to make mistakes in trying to do something, than to hug our self-esteem, and fold our hands in indolence. It has been said that critics are men who have failed in their undertakings. But I rather think the most disagreeable, and self-satisfied critics, are men who have never done anything, or tried to do anything, themselves.”
The Deacon, who, though something of an old fogy, is a good deal of a man, and possessed of good common sense, and much experience, took these remarks kindly. “Well,” said he to me, “I must say that your farm has certainly improved, but you did things so differently from what we expected, that we could not see what you were driving at.”
“I can tell you what I have been aiming at all along. 1st. To drain the wet portions of the arable land. 2d. To kill weeds, and make the soil mellow and clean. 3d. To make more manure.”
“You have also bought some bone-dust, superphosphate, and other artificial manures.”
“True; and if I had had more money I would have bought more manure. It would have paid well. I could have made my land as rich as it is now in half the time.”