148 ESSAY ON TOP DRESSINGS 



Nor is this application of mud and clay any new fact to the 

 practical agriculturist. It was practised in England nearly two 

 thousand years ago. The county of Norfolk, in England, is 

 said to ovvTe much of its great fertility to this source. The 

 greatest European improvements in sandy soils, have been 

 made by these means, in Belgium. They do not operate so 

 rapidly as quick lime, but their effect is far more lasting. So 

 lasting, indeed, that our Anglo Saxon fathers thought they 

 were felt for eighty years. As intimated in the experiment al- 

 luded to, it has always been found best to expose the mud or 

 clay to the action of the frost. It becomes mellowed so that it 

 may be spread evenly upon the ground. Peat mud is compos- 

 ed of vegetable matter which has been accumulating for ages. 

 When taken fresh, it is found to contain an amount of acid 

 which would make it improper for immediate use. Exposure 

 to the frost, wind, and rain, entirely neutralizes the acid proper- 

 ties. Ashes, or potash, would have the same effect. 



These substances may he said rather to ameliorate and im- 

 prove the texture of soils than to furnish immediate sustenance 

 to the plant. And in this view, they cannot be too strongly 

 recommended, for we have never known them to fail of having 

 the most beneficial effects, both on pasture and mowing lands. 

 And besides, the application of them is so simple, so much 

 within the reach of every farmer, that it is well worth the trial. 

 If the soils are much worn, or very barren from a great pre- 

 ponderance of any particular earth, a liberal allowance will be 

 required. Ordinarily, as in the experiments which have come 

 under our notice, some twenty-five or thirty cart loads to the 

 acre have been found sufficient to increase very greatly the 

 productiveness of the land. A still less quantity would be of 

 essential service. Nor is the expense of this application so 

 great as some imagine, for almost every farm contains a quan- 

 tity of waste peat meadow, and clay is almost always near at 

 hand. It may be removed and prepared at a season of the 

 year when there is but little else to do. The expense, there- 

 fore, need not deter any one from its use. 



But there is another substance equally accessible, which acts 

 both as an ameliorator and a fertilizer of the soil. It is, per- 



