Limits
In Wendell Berry's 1967 novel, A Place on Earth, Mat Feltner recounts the story of the first time his son Virgil planted a crop. In the hilly country around Port William, farmers must be very careful in how they go about breaking land and planting crops. If not done with a great deal of skill and care, one runs the risk of using up a great deal of top soil and permanently damaging the land. Mat's father had done a great deal of damage to their farm in the early days, and Mat had made his fair share of mistakes along the way as well, but now, it was Virgil's turn to learn. Mat gave Virgil a great deal of space to farm the way he best saw fit, but he also quietly prayed that Virgil would be spared the consequences of his mistakes. One night, after Virgil had planted his first crop - a small piece, no bigger than 2 acres - Mat heard it start to rain, and rain hard. He knew exactly what was going to happen to the field that Virgil had failed to prepare adequately. In the mornin