force of water the richer portions of those above, as well as the
leaves of trees, and the fallen trees themselves, all of which have
from time immemorial rotted and become incorporated with the earth,
and thus have been produced soils fitted to yield the largest returns
to labour; yet for this reason are they inaccessible. Their character
exhibits itself in the enormous trees with which they are covered, and
in their power of retaining the water necessary to aid the process of
decomposition, but the poor settler wants the power either to clear
them of their timber, or to drain them of the superfluous moisture. He
begins on the hillside, but by degrees he obtains better machinery of
cultivation, and with each step in this direction we find him
descending the hill and obtaining larger return to labour. He has more
food for himself, and he has now the means of feeding a horse or an
ox. Aided by the manure that is thus yielded to him by the better
lands, we see him next retracing his steps, improving the hillside,
and compelling it to yield a return double that which he at first
obtained. With each step down the hill, he obtains still larger reward
for his labour, and at each he returns, with increased power, to the
cultivation of the original poor soil. He has now horses and oxen, and
while by their aid he extracts from the new soils the manure that had
accumulated for ages, he has also carts and wagons to carry it up the
hill; and at each step his reward is increased, while his labours are
lessened. He goes back to the sand and raises the marl, with which he
covers the surface; or he returns to the clay and sinks into the
limestone, by aid of which he doubles its product. He is all the time
making a machine which feeds him while he makes it, and which
increases in its powers the more he takes from it. At first it was
worthless. Having now fed and clothed him for years, it has acquired a
large value, and those who might desire to use it would pay him a
large rent for permission so to do.