28 THE RURAL SOCRATES c 



pcirticles of gravel. — Kliyogg apprehends the falutary 

 efFe£ls of this ipecies of manure to arife from the heat 

 communicated to the earth : he alfo attributes to it the 

 virtue of extirpating baneful herbs, and particularly a 

 Icind of pjudiculaire {rhinanthus chrifia galli^ Linn.^ a 

 plane fo deftru6livc to barley, that when it gets the ma{^ 

 tery in a field, there is little to be reaped. 



By the a-riuance of this manure, Kliyogg has convert- 

 ed the worft land imaginable into excellent grain fields. 

 He lately bought near an acre cf flerile ground for 

 4I. 14s. 6d. and hopes to make it worth 21I. J7s. 6d. 

 within a few years : a thing by no means improbable, as 

 he has already given fpccimens of equal improvement, 

 on foils that had beer? given up from their barrennefs or 

 diflant fituation. — Alterations fo aftonlQiing, prove, in a 

 forcible.manner, how much foundation there is for his 

 afTertion ; that we ought to attribute it to the lazinefs 

 and unfldifulnefs of thepeafants, Tf our country does not 

 produce even a fuperfluity of grain ! * 



Dreffing larids with this manure is not a newdifcov- 

 ery ; the negligence of the peafant;s feems the reafon 

 why it is not more pra<n:ifed. — Thefe alledgc, by way of 

 juftification, that they will not pretend to difpute its ef- 

 ficacy for a few years ; but that after a certain term, 

 the ground will be as much, or rather more impoverifh- 

 ed, than it was originally. — We freely, in reply, grant 

 th'e operation of this manure to be limited to fiich a pe- 

 riod ; when it pught to be renewed, or fome other to be 

 fubiMtuted in its place : but is not this the cafe with 

 every improvement in hulbandry I It is only as the 

 reward of confcant and diligent labor, that the earth 

 yields her treafurcs to man. — Kliyogg fiipports all his 

 arguments on this principle, which has never deceived 

 him. The fortunate fuccefs with which heaven has 

 blelTed his induflry, encourages him, with allidiious ap- 

 plication, to invent ncv/ operations, rationally deduced 

 from new experiments in agriculture. — The effefe of 

 gravel led him to this general maxim, that every fpecies 



