52 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. IV. 



striking effect on its amelioration. In tliis manner, M. Thaer assures us 

 that lie has successively, during a series of years, effected the gradual and 

 complete mixture of ditferent layers of soil in one season ; that he has 

 thereby not only augmented the vegetative stratum of his soil, but has ex- 

 perienced a very sensible improvement in liis crops ; and that, after the close 

 of a rotation, lie has repeated the experiment with equal success. To which 

 we may add, that many farmers who have followed the same plan, liave 

 uniformly found it attended witli similar results ; though others, who have 

 not taken the precaution of going leisurely to work, or who have not been 

 sufficiently aware of the nature of the subsoil, liave, in some instances, done 

 considerable injury to their land*. 



There are, no doubt, many deep soils naturally of an equal quality 

 throughout, but which, consisting of tenacious clay, or till-f, of various 

 kinds, would, if brought up to the surface, impoverish the ground, and bring 

 in their train a long list of noxious weeds, were they not corrected by the 

 process of perhaps more than one summer fallow, together with an applica- 

 tion of both lime and dung; and it is also true, that even if these sub- 

 stances can be readily obtained, yet the expense, even if repaid by the land, 

 may not suit the farmer's pocket. Under ordinary circumstances, indeed, 

 large operations of that nature, which are intended to eflect a permanent im- 

 provement in the soil, cannot be considered as coming within the scope of 

 common farming, and can only be undertaken by the owner of the land, or 

 on terms which will secure the tenant in the return of his outlay; for it should 

 be clearly understood that in no case can it be effected without either the as- 

 sistance of extraneous manure, or by the sacrifice of a portion of that which 

 properly belongs to the usual cultivation of the farm, and might, therefore, 

 probably be more advantageously applied to the support of the soil already 

 under tillage. 



Neither should pooi- soils be ploughed deep ; for the vegetative mould 

 with which the surface of land of that description is covered, having been 

 formed by the decomposition of the scanty herbage which grew u])on it 

 when in a state of nature, is proportionably thin, and the subsoil on which 

 it reposes consisting generally of sterile materials, it will be found bad 

 policy to mix them with the upper stratum, which, though perhaps not very 

 productive, yet requires the whole power of the small portion of manure 

 which it furnishes to preserve it in tolerable condition^. This, more espe- 

 cially, if it be intended to return the land to grass ; for the sward seldom 

 penetrates farther than about two inches into the ground, and its value, 

 therefore, depends chiefly upon the fecundity of the surface upon which it 

 rests. Thus the generality of those farmers who are situated upon wolds 



lies upon such a slope as may cause the dung to be swept oflf by the rains, then it should, 

 however, be buried by a very slight ploughing. 



* See the Reports of Essex, vol. i., p. 197 ; Bedford, p. 276 ; Bucks, p. 128 ; Steven- 

 son's Surrey, pp. 148 and 170 ; Malcolm's Surrey, vol. i., p. 2G8 ; Kent's Norfolk, p. 37 ; 

 Gen. Rep. of Scotland, vol. i., pp. 347 and 419 ; and Loch's Improvements on the estates 

 of the Marquess of Stafford. 



t In Scotland, " ti/l" is understood to imply, as a subsoil, a mixture of clay with sand 

 and gravel, devoid of vegetable matter, and impervious to water. In Ireland, this de- 

 scription of soil is called " Lackkagh" and the pan which it forms is there i)roken up 

 with a plough of immense weight and strength, called a " miner" which acts without a 

 mould-board, and is followed in the furrow by another plough of the common power. 

 See vol. i., chap, xxix., p. 465. 



\ " The Norfolk fanners, generally possessing a thin light soil, with a poor and barren 

 subsoil, prefer shallow ploughing at all times, and argue that it is easier to keep a small 

 quantity of soil in good beiut than a greater c^uantity, which would be formed by deep 

 l)loughmg."_jr)tf;«y>-,es Hep., Aj>p, p. 078. 



