CL A 



CLE 



food. But it never should be 

 ploughed when it is so wet as to 

 potch with the feet of the cattle, 

 or to run like mortar. In this 

 condition, the more it is worked 

 the stilft-r it will become. On 

 the other hand, when it is very 

 dry, it cannot well be ploughed, 

 by reason of its hardness. Suita- 

 ble seasons should be embraced, 

 for ploughing it, when it is neither 

 too wet nor too dry. At the first 

 ploughing it comes up in large 

 clods ; but the oftener it is plough- 

 ed in fit times, the smaller the 

 clods will be, and the more fine 

 mould will be among them. 



Exposing the clods to the sun 

 and air has some tendency to mel- 

 low the soil : But a winter furrow 

 is of very great advantage. The 

 frost does much towards breaking 

 the cohesion, as I have found by 

 experience. 



Ciay soil, after all the meliora- 

 tion that can be given them, will 

 be more suitable for some plants 

 than for others. Those plants in 

 general which require a great de- 

 gree of heat, or a long summer, 

 are not so well adapted to be cul- 

 tivated in a clayey soil, such as 

 Indian corn, tobacco, &c. But it 

 may be made to produce good 

 crops of wheat, grass, barley, oats, 

 flax, cabbage, &.c. No good eat- 

 ing potatoes or carrots are ever 

 produced in such a soil. 



Fruit trees, in general, and 1 

 think all sorts, excepting pear 

 trees, answer but poorly in a clayey 

 soil, how much soever the surface 

 may have been mixt with other 

 substances. The roots of trees 

 will need to draw some of their 



nourishment from a part of the soil 

 below that which has been melio- 

 rated by mixing; but the com- 

 pactness of it will scarcely suffer 

 them to penetrate it. 



Fallowing and green dressing 

 may help to pulverize a clay soil ; 

 and sowing it frequently with pease 

 is recommended. Any crop that 

 forms a close cover for the surface 

 causes the soil to putrefy, breaks 

 the cohesion of its particles, and 

 prevents the ground from harden- 

 ing by the influence of the sun. 



If a clay soil lie so flat that water 

 stands on it some part of the year, 

 it cannot be brought to a good 

 consistence without ploughing in 

 ridges, and water furrowing. The 

 ridges may be wider or narrower, 

 according to the degree of wet- 

 ness to which it is subject. Some- 

 times deep drains will be necessa- 

 ry to give it the needful degree of 

 dryness. See Soil. 



CLEARING OF LAND, an 

 operation often necessary to be 

 performed in this new country, 

 especially in the most inland parts. 

 Lands which were before in a state 

 of nature, are said to be cleared, 

 when they are so freed from their 

 natural growth, as to become fit 

 for tillage, mowing, or pasture. 



In those parts of the country 

 where wood is of little or no value, 

 the method of clearing upland is 

 as follows : — The trees are felled 

 in one of the summer months; the 

 earlier in summer the better, as 

 they will have a longer time to 

 dry, and as the stumps will be less 

 ai)t to sprout. The trees lie till 

 the following spring; when the 

 limbs which do not lie very near 



