404 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



acter, and say what kind of element predominates. By sight 

 and feeling, however, practical men are able to form an opinion 

 of a soil upon which it may be safe to act. Besides the principal 

 elements, to which I have referred, there is often found some 

 mineral ingredient, which may seriously affect the character of 

 the soil, and the degree of the presence of which can only be 

 determined by scientific examination. Iron, copper, or mineral 

 coal, is in general sufficiently indicated to the eye, or shows 

 itself in the water which percolates the soil. The different 

 forms, too, in which lime presents itself in the soil, whether 

 as chalk, or gypsum, or magnesian limestone, are all to be con 

 sidered in determining the character of a soil. 



LXIX. PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE SOIL. 



In addition to the characteristics of a soil of which I have 

 spoken, there are other circumstances, usually denominated the 

 physical properties of a soil, by which its fertility, or the kind 

 of cultivation to which it may be proper to subject it, are to be 

 in a great degree determined. These are its wetness or dryness, 

 its power to absorb or retain moisture, its consistency or friability, 

 and its temperature. All these matters are essentially connected 

 with the fertility of a soil, and the kind of crops to which it is 

 to be applied. 



1. WETNESS or A SOIL. Wet soils, or soils a considerable 

 part of the time under water, produce a coarse herbage of little 

 value to stock in many cases scarcely sufficient to support life, 

 and rendering scarcely any nourishment. The manure of 

 animals fed upon the produce of such soils is comparatively 

 worthless. It has been found, likewise, by repeated experiments, 

 that water allowed to remain upon land for any length of time 

 is injurious to vegetation, when the rapid transition of water 

 over the land might be highly beneficial. An exception, of 

 course, is to be made where the passage of a turbid stream or 

 flood is arrested long enough to afford opportunity for the depo- 



