402 Cultivation of Arable Land. Farms-~Hiring and Stocking of. 



ftate. It is a cold foil of little profit, except with peculiar management; but an- 

 fwers beft when dry laid down to faintfoin.&quot; 



It is concluded, that &quot; it mould be laid down in general as a maxim, that ftrong 

 harm tenacious clay, though it will yield great crops of wheat, is yet managed at 

 fo heavy an expenfe, that it is ufually let for more than it is worth. Much money is 

 not often made on fuch land. The very contrary foil, a light, poor, dry fand, is very 

 often in the occupation of men who have made fortunes. Some permanent manure 

 is ufually below the furface, which anfwers well to carry on : and fheep, the com 

 mon flock of fuch foils, is the moft profitable fort he can depend on. All ftiff foils 

 are viewed to moft advantage in winter: the general fault of them is wetnefs, which 

 is in the greateft excefs at that feafon of the year. If the fields are level, and the 

 water ftands in the land, notwithftanding the furrows are well ploughed and open, 

 it is a fign that the clay is very ftiff, and of foadhelive a nature as to contain the 

 water like a difh. It is likewife probable, that draining may prove inefficient to 

 cure the natural evil of fuch land. This kind of foil likewife fhows itfelf in the 

 breaking up of ftubbles for a fallow; a very ftrong draught of cattle is then 

 neceflary to work it. It breaks up in vaft pieces almoft as hard as iron. When it 

 is worked fine it will run like mortar, with a heavy fpring or fummer fhower. Thefe 

 foils will yield very great crops of beans and wheat, &c. They muft, like others, 

 be cultivated by fomebody ; but he would advife every friend of his to have no 

 thing to do with them ; never to be captivated with feeing large crops upon the 

 land ; for he does not fee at the fame time the expenfes at which they are raifed. * 



It is ftated that &quot; peat, bog, moor and fen in many variations are very profita 

 ble ; but the expenfes of improvement demand a calculating head. The vicinity 

 of lime or marl is then of great importance.&quot; 



He fays that, in refpect to grafs lands, the marks for judgment are different. 

 Thefe are beft examined by attending, firft, to the circumftances in which they are 

 moft deficient ; and then to fuch as are in their favour. The more feafons grafs 

 fields are viewed in the better ; though any one is fufficient for a tolerable judg 

 ment. One evil attending thefe lands is, that of being too wet ; the figns of which 

 can never be miftaken or overlooked in any feafon of the year. In winter, it is at 

 once perceived by walking on it; at all times of the year by the herbage which 

 generally abounds on it ; fuch as rufhes, flags, and a great quantity of mofs : and 

 alfo by the colour of the grafs, which is moftly blue at the points, fometimes 

 of a dirty yellow hue, and always coarfe. If the foil is the firft defcribed, ftiff clay, 

 and the furface level, the evil will be very difficult of cure; if of the other fort of 

 clay, or ftiff loams, draining will have great effects. Grafs fields on gravelly foils 



