vary. A man can decide what he will build of; Nature has decided forever
what she will build of. She will construct a stalk of corn or wheat with
its grain out of essentially the same materials to the end of time. Now
suppose one or more of these necessary ingredients is limited in the soil,
or has been taken from it by a succession of crops, what rational hope can
we have for a good crop unless we place the absent material in the ground,
and also put it there in a form suitable for the use of the plant?"

"What you say sounds plausible enough," answered the squire, scratching
his head with the worried, perplexed air of a man convinced against his
will. "How was it, then, that Walters made such a mess of it? He had his
soil analyzed by a land doctor, and boasted that he was going to put into
it just what was lacking. His soil may not be lacking now, but his crops
are."

"It is possible that there are quacks among land doctors, as you call
them, as well as among doctors of medicine", remarked Dr. Marvin.

"Or doctors of theology," added the minister.

"I looked into the Walters experiment somewhat carefully," Webb resumed,
"and the causes of his failure were apparent to any one who has given a
little study to the nature of soils and plant food. Some of his land
needs draining. The ground is sour and cold from stagnant water beneath
the surface, and the plant food which Nature originally placed in it is
inert and in no condition to be used. Nearly all of his uplands have been
depleted of organic or vegetable matter. He did not put into the soil all
that the plants needed, and the fact that his crops were poor proves it.
The materials he used may have been adulterated, or not in a form which
the plants could, assimilate at the time. Give Nature a soil in the right