134 AMOUNT OF EARTH CHAP. III. 



marl had been strewed several times at un- 

 known dates, holes were dug in 1842 ; and a 

 layer of cinders could be traced at a depth 

 of 3j| inches, beneath which at a depth of 

 9J inches from the surface there was a line 

 of cinders together .with burnt marl. On the 

 sides of one hole there were two layers of 

 cinders, at 2 and 3^ inches beneath the sur- 

 face ; and below them at a depth in parts 

 of 9J, and in other parts of 10 J inches there 

 were fragments of burnt marl. In a fourth 

 field two layers of lime, one above the other, 

 could be distinctly traced, and beneath them 

 a layer of cinders and burnt marl at a depth 

 of from 10 to 12 inches below the surface. 



A piece of waste, swampy land was 

 enclosed, drained, ploughed, harrowed and 

 thickly covered in the year 1822 with burnt 

 marl and cinders. It was sowed with grass 

 seeds, and now supports a tolerably good but 

 coarse pasture. Holes were dug in this field 

 in 1837, or 15 years after its reclamation, 

 and we see in the accompanying diagram 

 (Fig. 5), reduced to half of the natural scale, 

 that the turf was ^ inch thick, beneath which 

 there was a layer of vegetable mould 2 J inches 



