SECT. VI. MANURES. 83 



been wet or marshy, as is frequently the case, it is often ing, burn- 

 sufficient to prepare it merely by means of draining Ulgj 

 off the superfluous and stagnant water, and of paring 

 and burning the turf upon the surface. This mode of 

 preparation is at present much practised throughout 

 England, but particularly in Yorkshire and Lincoln- 

 shire, as being the best suited to the character of 

 the soil of these counties that remains to be taken 

 into cultivation. 



If the soil has been exhausted by too frequent a 

 repetition of the same crop, it often happens that a 

 change of crop will answer the purpose of the culti- 

 vator; for although a soil may be exhausted for 

 one sort of grain, it does not necessarily follow that 

 it is also exhausted for another. And accordingly, 

 the practice of the farmer is to sow his crops in ro- 

 tation, having in the same field a crop, perhaps, of 

 wheat, barley, beans, and tares in succession ; each 

 species selecting in its turn some peculiar nutriment, 

 or requiring, perhaps, a smaller supply than the crop 

 that has preceded it. But even upon the plan of 

 rotation, the soil becomes at length exhausted, and 

 the cultivator obliged to have recourse to other means 

 of restoring its fertility. 



In this case, an interval of repose is considerably Repose, 

 efficacious, as may be seen from the increased ferti- 

 lity of fields that have not been ploughed up for 

 many years, such as those used for pasture ; or even 

 from that of the walks and paths in gardens when 

 they are again broken up. Hence also the practice 



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