OCTOBER. 501 



winter. They admit ploughing all winter through, 

 except in very wet times ; always break up in a 

 crumbly state of running moulds ; and if a stubble, 

 will dig, on trial by the spade, in the same man- 

 ner. If under turnips, you may perceive, by walk- 

 ing through them, that it will bear their being fed 

 off. 



The wet, cold, springy gravel, is a very bad 

 soil ; it is known in winter by the wetness of it ; 

 and in spring, by its binding with hasty showers. 

 It rarely breaks up in a crumbly state, or shews a 

 mellowness under the spade. Very expensive 

 drains greatly correct its ill qualities, but it re- 

 quires a prodigious quantity of manure to ferti- 

 lize it. 



Some gravels are so sharp and burning, that 

 they produce nothing except in wet summers ; but 

 such are known at any season of the year. Sands 

 are as various as gravels, and are all easily disco- 

 verable in their natures. The rich, red sand is, 

 I believe, as profitable a soil as any in the world. 

 It has at all seasons a dry soundness, and at the 

 same time a moisture without wetness, which se- 

 cures crops even in dry summers. The spade is 

 sufficient to try it at any season of the year. 



The light sandy loam is, likewise, an admirable 

 soil : it will bear ploughing, like the preceding, all 

 winter long, and appears quite sound and mellow 

 when tried with the spade. If it lies under a win- 

 ter fallow, the best way to judge of its richness, is 

 to remark the state of the furrows, and the degree 



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