AGRICULTURAL MrS'EUM 



A soil from the low lands of , Somersetshire, celebra- 

 ted for producing exeelient crops of wheat aj)d beans 

 viih 'lit manure, I found to consist of one ninthof sa-.id 

 fhieriy sili-ious, and 8 9tlis of ealcareous marie ttnired 

 with iron ; and coniaininii; ahout ^ivr- parts in the huridied 

 i)f vegetable matter. I ctniid not detect in it anv phos- 

 phate or sulphate of lime, so that iis fertility must have 

 depend'd principally upon its power of attrattini; prin- 

 ciples of vegetable nourishment from water and the afc- 

 jnasphere§. 



]\Ir. Tillrt, in soma e!5neriments mads on the compo- 

 .sUion of 3 ;ils at Taris, found that a sod composed of 

 three eighths of clay, tivo eighths of river sand, and 

 three eighths of the parings of limestone, was very pro- 

 per for wheat. 



XIX. Of the Composition of Soils proper. 



FOR BULBOUS RoOTS AND FOR TrEES. 



In general, bnlbnus roots require a soil much marc 

 sandy and less absorbent than the grasses. A very 

 good potat'C soil, from Varfel, in Cornwall, afforded 

 me seven eighths of s licious sand ; and its absorbent 

 power was so small, that one hundred parts lost only 

 two by drying at 400 Fahrenheit. 



Plants and trees, the roots of which are fibrous and 

 hard, and capable of penetrating deep into the earth, will 

 vegetate to advantage in almost all common soils 

 which are moderately dry, and which do not contain a 

 very great excess of vegetable matter. 



I found the soil taken from a field at Sheffield place, 

 in Sussex, remarkable for producing nourishing oaks, to 

 consist of six parts of sand, and one part of clay and 

 finely divided matter And one hundred parts of the 

 entire soil, submitted to analysis, produced 



5 This aoil w» f<nt to me by T. Pool*, Ejqulrc, of Setlier Slower. It Ii oear tar op«niac«2 

 tbe nvcc Patrtl tnXo tUt Biitiili CbaiB«l kit I an Cvl^, Is sever •T«rt«>rt^ 



