When soils have been robbed through the greed of man, nature is handicapped in her effort to restore fertility by the absence of the best seeds. Man's intelligent assistance is a necessity. Successful farming involves such assistance of nature that the percentage of vegetable matter in the soil shall be made high and kept high. There must be such selection of plants for this purpose that the organic matter will be rich in fertility, and at the same time their growth must fit into a scheme of crop production that can yield profit to the farmer. Soils produce plants primarily for their own needs. It is a provision of nature to maintain and increase their productive power. The land's share of its products is that part which is necessary to this purpose. Skill in farming provides for this demand of the soil while permitting the removal of a large amount of animal food within the crop-rotation. Lack of skill is responsible for the depleted condition of soils on a majority of our farms. The land's share of the vegetation it has produced has been taken from it in large measure, and no other organic matter has been given it in return. Its mineral store is left inert, and the moisture supply is left uncontrolled. Helplessness results. Drainage.--Productive soils are in a condition to admit air freely. The presence of air in the soil is as necessary to the changes producing availability of plant-food as it is to the changes essential to life in the human body. A water-logged soil is a worthless one in respect to the production of most valuable plants. The well-being of soil and plants requires that the level of dead water be a considerable distance below the surface. When a soil has recently grown trees, the rotting stump roots leave cavities in the subsoil that permit the removal of some surplus water, and the rotted wood and leaves that give distinctive character to new land are absorbents of such water. As land becomes older, losing natural means of drainage and the excellent physical condition due to vegetable matter in it, the need of drainage grows greater. The tramping of horses in the bottoms of furrows made by breaking-plows often makes matters worse. The prompt removal of excessive moisture by drains, and preferably by underdrains, is essential to profitable farming in the case of most wet lands. The only exception is the land on which may be grown the grasses that thrive fairly well under moist conditions.