THE WASTE. 19 



discovery stimulate further exploration, and his 

 plow be set a couple of inches deeper, his ears 

 might presently be regaled with a sound as of a 

 heavy-laden cart dragging over a newly-graveled 

 road ; and after turning up a variety of conglo- 

 merates, as compacted as the bed of an old Ro- 

 man causeway, and as many-colored as Harlequin's 

 coat, the stress of the pull would suddenly be 

 eased, and the plow be heard swimming whis- 

 peringly through a bed of wet sand ; and just 

 as the filler-horse was congratulating himself that 

 it was all plain sailing now, bang goes a trace 

 or a spreader, and the plow comes to a stand- 

 still, just revealing, at the share-point, the bruised 

 side of a quartz-pebble, as big as a foot-ball, 

 grinning at you from its tight nook in the bed of 

 the furrow."* 



text, contains iron and lime, possessing the property of 

 "setting" under water. Scarcely any deposit beneath the 

 surface, within range of the plow, can be more unwelcome 

 to the farmer as affecting the permanent fertility and im- 

 provement of his soil. It is a favorable consideration that 

 deposits of Lias are not frequent in American soils. ED. 



* A graphic description of what many a young farmer may 

 encounter in his first efforts at subduing a naturally forbid- 

 ding soil. Where, however, the elements composing it arc 



