The underdrain restores the proper equilibrium; the brush-hook and axe
cut away the rank unwholesome growth which thrives best in abnormal
conditions. Sun, air, and purifying frosts mellow and sweeten the
damp, heavy malarious ground, as the plowshare lifts it out of its low
estate. A swamp, or any approach to one, is like a New York tenement-
house district, and requires analogous treatment.

If, however, we have mellow upland with natural drainage, let us first
put that in order that we may have a remunerative crop as soon as
possible. In suggesting, therefore, the best methods of preparing and
enriching the ground, I will begin by considering soils that are
already in the most favorable conditions, and that require the least
labor and outlay. Man received his most essential agricultural
instruction in the opening chapter of Genesis, wherein he is commanded
to "subdue the earth." Even the mellow western prairie is at first a
wild, untamed thing, that must be subdued. This is often a simple
process, and in our gardens and the greater part of many farms has
already been practically accomplished. Where the deep, moist loam,
just described, exists, the fortunate owner has only to turn it up to
the sun and give it a year of ordinary cultivation, taking from it, in
the process, some profitable hoed crop that will effectually kill the
grass, and his land is ready for strawberries. If his ground is in
condition to give a good crop of corn, it will also give a fair crop
of berries. If the garden is so far "subdued" as to yield kitchen
vegetables, the strawberry may be planted at once, with the prospect
of excellent returns, unless proper culture is neglected.

Should the reader be content with mediocrity, there is scarcely
anything to be said where the conditions are so favorable. But suppose