And Improvement of Soils. 189 
PN Noh SMG” he aC RRR ONCE eI IENres en ae 
then carted, and spread regularly over the field, and in 
every instance it gave a return of clover, equal to ten 
load of stable manure to the acre. The idea of mixing 
the lime and earth, was suggested from spreading the re- 
fuse mortar of lime and sand gathered from about build- 
ingsand laid upon the field, the effect of which I observed 
was more immediate than any equal quantity of lime : 
though mixtures of lime and earth, were equally so,—in 
both cases, the lime was completely pulverized, and 
the sand and earth, broke up the communication of 
lime with lime, and the succeeding rains carried the 
fertilizing principle of the lime, as from a sieve, into 
the soil where it was spread,—it completely divided 
the soil, rendering that open and warm, which before 
was compact, and too cold for the roots of the grain to 
live in. 
The whole soil which before: felt dead under foot, 
became so elastic that persons of observation by walk- 
ing over the field in the night, distinctly told how far 
the lime and earth compost extended. The colour of 
the soil was likewise changed into that of chocolate. 
These effects presented several ideas, which had not 
occurred to me before: viz. That any thing which would 
separate the particles of the soil, and admit the air, would 
render these cold and heavy clays, warm and fertile ; 
—that the free intercourse of air, would carry off the 
acid; to meet this, ploughing in the fall was adopted, 
and found successful; one half of a field six years ago 
was ploughed in the winter, the other half ploughed in 
the spring, that part which was ploughed in the spring, 
has never brought grains or grass, equal to the other. 
It should have been observed, that the field had not 
