HIGH FARMING. 239 



which he might just as well have thrown into the Bay of 

 Biscay. 



Our great agricultural authority rivals Cato in his advo- 

 cacy of water-meadows, but this with a limitation which 

 will at once exclude half England, for he insists that the 

 water shall be soft. We shall be obliged to him if he will 

 reconcile the following statements, which we find at pp. 10 

 and 33 of his pamphlet : " If you pour a solution of am- 

 monia on loamy soil, the water, when it escapes below, will 

 be freq from ammonia." " Putrid urine, sewer-water, pass- 

 ing through loam, as Mr. Huxtable found, become pure 

 as well as clear" (p. 10). " Our own pure and warm 

 springs, issuing from the depths of the earth, fertilize our 

 meadows by bringing with them ammonia, the result, per- 

 haps, partly of ancient volcanic action, partly acquired by 

 filtration through the upper soil, for in soil, too, even un- 

 cultivated soil, modern chemistry has recently detected 

 ammonia" (p. 33). How is this ? You pass water charged 

 with ammonia through soil, in order that it may leave its 

 ammonia ; and it does leave it it comes out free. You 

 take other water which has passed through soil, because it 

 has picked up ammonia in its passage, and you pass it 

 through other soil, in order that it may leave this ammonia 

 behind. Why should it leave on its second passage that 

 which it has picked up on its first ? There is some con- 

 fusion here. 



On the subject of farm-buildings Mr. Pusey speaks with 

 his usual good sense and moderation. He is of opinion 

 that the farmer should be as well lodged as the parson. 

 But of the buildings he says, " A man with 3000Z. set 

 apart for the purpose might well be uncertain what plan to 

 adopt. Notwithstanding the really excellent plans of farm- 

 buildings we have recently published, for one I should cer- 

 tainly be puzzled ; because farm steadings, like certain 

 countries, are really in a state of revolution ;" and always 

 will be. We are about to erect buildings on an arable 

 farm, and with a sparing use of bricks (now, however, 



