r way into the minute crevices, he felt
certain they would of themselves convert the whole surface into a soil
sufficiently rich to nourish the plants he wished to produce there.
Under such circumstances he did not desire the assistance of the hogs.
As yet, however, the animals had done good, rather than harm to the
garden, by stirring the soil up, and mixing the sea-weed and decayed
fish with it; but among the grass they threatened to be more
destructive; than useful. In most places the crust of the plain was just
thick enough to bear the weight of a man, and Mark, no geologist, by the
way, came to the conclusion that it existed at all more through the
agency of the salt deposited in ancient floods, than from any other
cause. According to the great general law of the earth, soil should have
been formed from rock, and not rock from soil: though there certainly
are cases in which the earths indurate, as well as become disintegrated.
As we are not professing to give a scientific account of these matters,
we shall simply state the facts, leaving better scholars than ourselves
to account for their existence.

Mark made his gate out of the fife-rail, at the foot of the mainmast,
sawing off the stanchions for that purpose. With a little alteration it
answered perfectly, being made to swing from a post that was wedged into
the arch, by cutting it to the proper length. As this was the first
attack upon the Rancocus that had yet been made, by axe or saw, it made
the young man melancholy; and it was only with great reluctance that he
could prevail on himself to begin what appeared like the commencement of
breaking up the good craft. It was done, however, and the gate was hung,
thereby saving the rest of the crop. It was high time; the hogs and
poultry, to say nothing of Kitty, having already got their full share.
The inroads of the first, however, were of use in more ways than one,
since they taught our young cultivator a process by which he could get
his garden turned up at a cheap rate. They also suggested to him an idea
that he subsequently turned to good account. Having dug his roots so
early, it occurred to Mark that, in so low a climate, and with such a
store of manure, he might raise two crops in a year, those which came in
the cooler months varying a little in their properties from those which
came in the warmer. On this hint he endeavoured to improve, commencing
anew beds that, without it, would probably have lain fallow