SECRETARY'S REPORT. 219 



part of the field on wliicli the mud was applied, came in more 

 quickly and luxuriantly than the rest. This field was a light, 

 gravelly soil, which had not been under very high cultivation. 

 Many of our soils are composed of gravel with a mixture of 

 sand. These soils need the constituents of marl and meadow 

 mud. Marl and mud contain the carbonate, or in some cases 

 the sulphate of lime, or plaster of Paris, They contain a mix- 

 ture of clay, which sandy or gravelly soils need. And on these 

 soils clay mud has been found to do the best. Peat mud is a 

 rich vegetable food, and if a small proportion' of potash, or 

 ashes, be added, it is valuable as a manure. Light soils are 

 always improved by any substances which make them firmer 

 and more compact. Stiff clay soils, on the other hand, are 

 benefited by applications Avhich make them lighter and more 

 permeable. No one of the three kinds of earth, sand, clay and 

 lime, when unmixed with the other varieties, would be capable 

 of supporting vegetation. The mixture of them, when any one 

 predominates, will correct and improve them. For the fertility 

 of soils depends upon the proportion of their constituents. In 

 some marls the clay predominates. These should be used on 

 the light sandy soils. In others the sand predominates. These 

 are adapted to stiffer lands. The practice of mixing soils has 

 always been attended with success when judiciously managed. 



Nor is this application of mud and clay any new fact to the 

 practical agriculturist. The county of Norfolk, in England, is 

 said to owe much of its great fertility to this source. The 

 greatest European improvements in sandy soils, have been 

 made by these means, in Belgium. As intimated in the experi- 

 ment alluded to, it has always been found best to expose the 

 mud or clay to the action of the frost. It becomes mellowed 

 so that it may be spread evenly upon this ground. Peat mud is 

 composed of vegetable matter Avhich has been accumulating for 

 ages. When taken fresh it is found to contain an amount of 

 acid which would make it improper for immediate use. Expos- 

 ure to the frost, wind and rain, entirely neutralizes the acid 

 properties. Ashes, or potash, would have the same effect. 



These substances may be said rather to ameliorate and im- 

 prove the texture of soils than to furnish immediate sustenance 

 to tlie plant. And in this view they cannot be too strongly 

 recommended, for we have never known them to fail of having 



