416 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



LXXIII. PECULIARITIES OF SOIL. 



There are some characteristics of different soils which seem 

 to be generally admitted by practical men, but not very well 

 denned. Thus some soils are deemed much better than others 

 for the production of beef, others for that of butter, others for 

 that of cheese ; and I found farmers, in some of the dairy districts, 

 going so far as to assert that cheese could not be made on some 

 soils, or rather, as I inferred from their remarks, could not be 

 made to so much advantage as on others. But this, it seemed to 

 me, could only be an indirect inference. That these products, 

 both in quality and quantity, depend much upon the nature of 

 the plants upon which the animals are fed, is an obvious fact ; 

 and that some soils may be more favorable than others to the 

 production of such kinds of plants as are particularly suited to 

 particular uses or objects, I could easily understand ; but any 

 other connection of the products with the nature of the soil 

 seemed to me far from being established. To speak, therefore, 

 of a cheesy soil, as I heard in some dairy districts, seemed to 

 me of questionable propriety, as, under an intelligent agriculture. 

 I could hardly doubt that a different species of herbage might bo 

 cultivated upon the same soil which now produced that which 

 was unfavorable. 



I have given these brief notices of the general character of 

 soils in England, of which the counterparts may be found in the 

 United States. I have given them in terms which will, I think, 

 be understood by the commonest farmer. I could without any 

 difficulty have borrowed learning enough for the occasion, and 

 have talked philosophically in the case ; but in all I have read on 

 the subject, I have as yet discovered no practical advantage to the 

 general mass of readers, from so viewing it, beyond what is 

 secured by more simple statements. The importance of the 

 nature of the soil to the husbandman, who spends his labor upon 

 it, is very great. Some of the mineral ingredients, which arc 

 found in the soil, are indispensable to vegetation. Those which 

 are found in the plants can only be received from the soil ; but 

 it is a singular fact that, in case of a deficiency, one may some 

 times be substituted for another. &quot; Potash is not the only sub- 



