THE RURAL SQCRATES. 9 1 



ai>d tiic fpecies - of commonage above-mentioned was 

 finally abolifhcd. 



The following year the fubjedi: of the Society^s prize 

 was the employment of the manure of the far jn- yard ; 

 for as it was eilablilhed in the difcuflions of the preced- 

 ing year, that there were diffeient fpecies of manure, 

 the examination now was, how bell to «pp1y each, of 

 them ; both as to the objed of cuhure, and the fpecies 

 of ibil. More inform atioo was obtained on this head 

 than was ei;peded ; and the memoir of Captain Tog- 

 guenburguer of Martelen, an experienced and intelli* 

 gent cultivator, was printed without any change being 

 made in it. — In the reiult, the peafantry received here 

 again much inflrudtion. It v/as even found profitable 

 to manure lefs laud, provided it v/as done upon a better 

 fyflem ;for the manure ought to be fo laid, as to increale 

 tlie future means of manuring, by augmenting the 

 quantity both of forage for cattle and of itrav/. 



Thefe fucceffes led to another object ftill more diffi- 

 cult and almod unknown in the country ; namely, the 

 rmxiure of differ era earths^ and the decifion of the ^<?- 

 cieT of culture called for by each foil. — it is true that in 

 a little diflri^l of the canton named Lagerberg, they 

 had known from time immemorial, the ufe of a marley 

 'potters-clay S^glctije marreuje^ for im.proving clover, to 

 the great benefit of their cattle. Gravel alfo had been 

 applied to clay; though it v/as pretended that this was 

 to enrich the fathers at the expence of the children. 

 In \.\i^v'meyards alfo on the ildes of the hills, the culti- 

 vator when replacing the earth lofl by wafiiings from, 

 the rain, incidentally found benefit from the new earth 

 which he brought to his old foil.— But ftill the fubje<St 

 was imperfectly handled and parfued ; and foils were 

 not yet known by their oppofitions to each other ; though 

 hence was to be drawn the grand rule for their being 

 mixed. 



The Society had next to inquire into the ftate of the 

 ..;:plemc?2fs o{ agriculture u fed by the peafantry ; and 



here 



