22 Soil. 



ing rather deep ; by mixing them with large quantities of 

 clay, chalk, marl, peat, or other earth ; by frequent returns 

 of grass crops; by repeated applications of manure; and 

 by irrigation, more especially if the water be full of sedi- 

 ment, and judiciously applied. 



Sometimes the ground is so covered with flints and stones, 

 that hardly any mould is to be seen. Land of this descrip- 

 tion is very troublesome to work, and is injurious to the 

 implements of husbandry employed in the cultivation ; but 

 with proper management, it can often be rendered highly 

 productive ( 68 ). The stones on the surface, by sheltering and 

 keeping warm, in the cold seasons, any small quantity of 

 soil which is amongst them, and by protecting it from the 

 scorching influence of the sun, in the hot seasons, frequently 

 produce abundant crops ( 69 ). 



The stone-brash or corn-brash soils, (as they are provin- 

 cially called) of Gloucestershire, and the midland counties 

 of England, may be included under the general head of 

 yravel/y soils, being much mixed with small stones. They 

 have frequently, however, more sand, or clay, or calcareous 

 loam, in their composition, than gravelly soils usually pos- 

 sess ; and on that account, are treated of by some authors as 

 a distinct species of soil ( 7 ). 



Gravelly soils, from their parting so readily with moisture 

 are apt to burn, as it is called, in dry seasons ; but in wet ones, 

 they usually produce abundant crops of barley, rye, tares, 

 pease, oats, and even wheat. It has been found, that a thin 

 stratum of gravel, if mixed with shells, and other marine 

 productions, possesses many advantages for cultivation in a 

 wet climate ( 7I ). 



Gravelly soils, free from stagnant water, give such an ad- 

 ditional warmth to the climate, that vegetation is nearly a 

 fortnight earlier, than where other soils predominate ( 7Z ). 

 About Dartford and Blackheath, in Kent, they produce early 

 green pease, winter tares, rye, autumnal pease, and occasion- 

 ally wheat, in great perfection ( 73 ). When barley and oats 

 are cultivated, they should be sown very early, that they may 

 have full possession of the ground before the dry season sets 

 in ( 74 ). Gravelly soils, in a wet climate, answer well for 

 potatoes ; and indeed, in Cornwall, in a sheltered situation, 

 with a command of sea-sand, and of sea-weed, they will pro- 

 duce two crops of potatoes in the same year ( 75 ). 



Poor gravelly soils, full of springs, and those sulphureous, 

 are very unfriendly to vegetation, and are better calculated 

 ibr the production of wood, than for arable culture ( 76 ). 



