33 



commingle characterized by its fertility. A power of esti- 

 mating the general character of a district from its leading 

 features, is of the greatest utility in establishing local 

 standards of value. 



Chemistry, so far as it relates to the examination and 

 analysis of soils is also important. The quality of land 

 depends on its mineral composition the language by 

 which it is described is founded upon the same. Its colour, 

 its texture, its solidity, its weight, reveal to one practised 

 in chemical manipulations, what are the true value and 

 capabilities of a soil. Guided by this light, the skilful 

 valuator perceives which of the components of the soil is 

 deficient or in excess, and he is able to ascertain, with 

 greater accuracy, how much the real value of the soil 

 should be affected thereby. 



Of the nature and utility of these general qualifications, 

 we shall now speak a little more in detail. 



III. OF PRACTICAL AND SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE. 



As land valuation is the art which determines the amount 

 that should be paid as rent for the use and occupation of 

 land, it is obvious that a knowledge of the capabilities 

 of the soil to produce certain crops is essentially necessary. 



Some soils are very feeble in a limited succession of 

 years, their produce is poor and of little value, scarcely 

 remunerating the husbandman for his seed and labour. 

 Others, within the same period, yield in the greatest 

 abundance. Between these extremes there are many 

 varieties and gradations, and it is possible to form a toler- 

 able estimate of their value, by considering what kinds of 

 crops and what number could be grown upon them within 

 a certain limit. 



It has been long known to agriculturists, that the same 

 crops cannot be successfully grown on the same soil in 

 successive years, without restoring to the soil, by manure, 

 an equivalent for its waste and deterioration by those 

 crops. But if different crops are sown in alternate years, 

 the soil is not deteriorated to the same degree, and in a 



D 



