Some Causes of Unproductiveness in Soils. 113 



would have ended tlieir days in the country, working as they 

 were able, their wages, supplemented by such aid as tlieir rela- 

 tions could afford, sufficing to maintain them in comp.arativo 

 comfort ; whereas now, thoy have no alternative but to shrink 

 into a town, where no fitting work is to be found, and where 

 they must of necessity become paupers. 



VVe have thus endeavoured to sketch the history and the 

 fortunes of East Lothian farming during the last ten years, the 

 scene closing upon a tenantry struggling in days of low-priced 

 grain with over-rented arable land. Their position has been to 

 some extent caused by their own imprudence, but probably still 

 more by a combination of circumstances beyond their control. 

 Whilst certainly grave, if not desponding, farmers have not given 

 way to despair, but are endeavouring as far as possible to adapt 

 the agriculture of the county to the altered times ; in proverbial 

 language, ^^ tlicy set a stont heart to a stay hracT 



At the same time, however, many men who now farm because 

 in youth they followed the profession which for generations had 

 been that of their fathers, are resolved that no son of theirs shall 

 be brought up to spend his life in a struggle which offers a 

 poorer prospect of success, and a worse return for thought and 

 capital, than any other trade or profession. 



Camptoion, Drem. 



VIII. — On some Causes of Unproductiveness in Soils. By Dr, 

 Augustus Voelckeu. 



In an uncivilised, thinly populated country, or in a colony where 

 the backwoodman's axe has to clear the ground before anything 

 else can be done, the agricultural settler has little or no opportunity 

 for turning to account the knowledge of agricultural chemistry 

 which he may chance to possess. The case is different in a highly 

 civilized and densely-peopled country like England, where oppor- 

 tunities arise for the useful application of chemical principles, 

 physiology, botany, and other branches of natural science, 

 just in proportion as agriculture is advancing in conjunction with 

 Avealth and population. Therefore we need not wonder that 

 many eminent and successful practical farmers should be anxious 

 to provide a better general education for their sons than they 

 themselves enjoyed, and to afford them instruction in the rudi- 

 ments of the particular sciences which bear upon agriculture. 



Fully admitting that, even in a highly civilised country, 

 scientific attainments confer far less material benefits upon the 

 cultivator of the soil than acquaintance with the practice of suc- 

 cessful farmers and the possession of good business habits, we 



VOL. I. — s. S. I 



