Farming and Gardening for Health or Disease

A simple method of estimating the success of any method of farming is to observe how it is affected by disease. If the soil is found to escape the two common ailments -- erosion and the formation of alkali salts -- which afflict cultivated land; if the crops raised are found to resist the various insect, fungous, and virus diseases; if the livestock breed normally and remain in good fettle; if the people who feed on such crops and livestock are vigorous, prolific, and more or less free from the many diseases from which mankind suffers; then the method of farming adopted is supported by the one unanswerable argument -- success. It has passed the stiffest examination it can be made to undergo -- it has yielded results comparable with those to be seen in the wayside hedges of this country of Great Britain. These strips closely resemble in their agriculture the primeval forest.

In our roadside hedges hardly a trace of the common diseases of the soil are to be seen; the wildings come into flower regularly every spring and early summer; there is no running out of the variety and no necessity to supply new and improved strains of seeds; one generation follows another century after century; the vegetable life of the hedgerow is to all intents and purposes eternal; there is very little plant disease. A similar story can be told of the birds and other animal life. The wayside hedge is, therefore, an example of successful soil management for all to see and study. It has stood the test of time.