SOILS. 19 



to time be given to it for the wants of future crops. Unless 

 of this latter description, gravelly soils, should not be subjected 

 to tillage; but appropriated to pasturage, when sheep will keep 

 them in the best and most profitable condition of which they 

 are capable. 



LOAMY SOILS being intermediate between clay and sand, 

 possess characteristics and require a treatment approximating 

 to one or the other, according to the predominance of either 

 quality. They are among the most desirable soils for the 

 various purposes of agriculture. 



MARLY AND CALCAREOUS SOILS, have always a full supply 

 of lime, and like the loams, they frequently incline towards a 

 clay or sand, requiring a treatment corresponding to their 

 character. Putrescent and vegetable manures increase their 

 fertility and they are held with great tenacity till exhausted 

 by crops. In durability or lastingness they cannot be 

 exceeded. 



ALLUVIAL SOILS, are such as have been formed from the 

 washing of streams. They vary in their characteristics, 

 from a mixed clay to an almost pure sand; but generally they 

 combine the components of soils in such proportions as are 

 designated by loamy soils, or sandy loams. When thus formed 

 they are exceedingly fertile, and if subject to the annual 

 overflow of a stream, having its sources far above them, they 

 usually receive such an addition to their productiveness, as 

 enables them to yield large crops perpetually without further 

 manuring. 



They are for the most part easily worked, and are suited 

 to the various purposes of tillage and meadows; but when 

 exposed to overflowing, it is safer to keep them in grass, a.s 

 this crop is less liable to injury by a freshet; and where sub- 

 ject to washing from the same cause, a well matted sod is 

 the best protection which can be offered against it. Many of 

 the natural grasses which come into these meadows yield 

 a fodder of the highest value 



PEATY SOILS. These are composed almost wholly of peat, 

 and are frequently called vegetable soils. They are exten- 

 sively diffused between the latitudes of 42 and 60 north, at 

 a level with the ocean, and are frequently found in much 

 lower latitudes, when the elevation of the surface produces a 

 corresponding temperature. They generally occupy low 

 swampy levels, but sometimes exist on slight northern 

 declivities, where the water in its descent is arrested by a 

 succession of basin shaped cavities. 



