ON THE COMPOSITION OF SOILS, &C. 205 



" coast, endowed with a most singular degree 

 *' of fertility. In all seasons it produces a most 

 " luxuriant herbage, although it never got any 

 " manure since the creation, and has been for 

 " time immemorial subjected to the following 

 " course of crops. 



«« 1. Bear after once ploughing, from grass, 

 " usually a good crop. 



« 2. Bear, after once ploughing, a better 

 " crop than the first. 



" 3. Bear, after once ploughing, a crop 

 ** equal to the first. 



" 4. 5. and 6. Natural grass, as close and 

 " rich as could be imagined, might be cut if 

 " the possessor so inclined, and would yield an 

 " extraordinary crop of hay each year : after 

 " this the same course of cropping is renewed. 



" The soil that admits of this singular mode 

 " of farming, appears to be a pure incoherent 

 " sand, destitute of the smallest particle of ve- 

 " getable mould ; but upon examination it is 

 " found to consist almost entirely of broken 

 " shells ; the fine mould here bears such a small 

 " proportion to the calcareous matter, as to be 

 ^< scarcely perceptible, and yet it forms the 

 " most fertile soil that ever I yet met with." 



The writer of this article in the Encyclopae- 

 dia accounts for this fertility, by supposing that 



