Soil

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. The rural industries have taken on a new and quickened life in consequence of the recent teachings and applications of science. Agriculture is no longer a mere empiricism, not a congeries of detached experiences, but it rests upon an irrevocable foundation of laws. These fundamental laws or principles are numerous and often abstruse, and they are interwoven into a most complex fabric; but we are now able to understand their general purport, and we can often trace precisely the course of certain minor principles in problems which, a few years ago, seemed to be hopelessly obscure, and which, perhaps, were considered to lie outside the sphere of investigation. Agriculture has developed into a system of clear and correct thinking; and inasmuch as every mans habit of thought is determined greatly by the accuracy of his knowledge, it follows that the successful prosecution of rural pursuits is largely a subjective matter. It is therefore fundamentally important that every rural occupation should be contemplated from the point of view of its underlying reasons. It should be approached in a philosophic spirit.