[ 234 ] 



perhaps adverted to the procefs above defcribed, by 

 which it was effected. I have fometimes feen it 

 thus forced out of the ground, on foils of the nature 

 above defcribed, full fix inches j but in mellow cul- 

 tivated fields, it feldom exceeds one or two inches. 



Spungy foils, of the nature above defcribed, are 

 therefore unfit for producing broad clover; and the 

 nearer they approach to the nature of thefe, the 

 more precarious will that crop be upon them : but 

 nothing of this fort happens, when the froft is ac- 

 companied by fnow to a fufficient depth. 



In foils of the nature here defcribed, it is obferv- 

 able, that if the furface be covered with fibrous- 

 rooted graffes, they are not thus thrown out ; for as 

 thefe roots are generally numerous, and clofely in- 

 terwoven v/ith each other, they form fuch a clofe 

 furface, that the tops of the icy columns do not 

 appear divided $ but the whole furface is lifted up 

 with a confiderable ftratum of earth, fo that when 

 the thaw comes, the whole furface fubfides together, 

 and the roots quickly ftrike into the foil below; fo 

 that though the furface might be eafily peeled off 

 immediately after the thaw, in flakes, nearly as if it 

 had been pared off by a fpade, yet in a fhort time 

 the roots (hike into the loofe earth below, and it 

 becomes adhefive to the bottom as ufual. This 



phenomenon, 



