ACTION OF THE SOIL ON PLANTS. 155 



It cannot be too often repeated, that when you aim at 

 bringing bad soils into culture, the first produce must be 

 sacrificed for the benefit of the land, with a view to im- 

 prove it for future harvests. 



Caroline. So far as can be judged from the abundance 

 and magnitude of the crops, Belgium appears to be one 

 of the countries in which agriculture is carried to the 

 greatest degree of perfection. 



Mrs. B. The beauty of the produce is no bad criteri- 

 on of the advancement in the art, especially in Belgium, 

 where Nature has done little for the husbandman ; but the 

 Belgic peasantry are nearly as well versed in agriculture 

 as the learned of other countries. Their soil is in a great 

 measure the work of art, man having taken possession 

 of it before Nature had completed its formation. i 



Caroline. Nor does it appear that the art of man has 

 yet finished it ; for though the cultivated parts yield such 

 rich crops, an extensive sandy desert, called the Campine, 

 still remains on the confines of Belgium and Holland. 



Mrs. B. True ; but cultivation advances with gigantic 

 strides across the arid waste. The mode by which the 

 husbandman commences the process of fertilisation in 

 these sterile plains is by sowing Genet of Broom, which 

 grows up in bushes, the roots of which confine the soil, 

 and give it sufficient stability to enable him to sow pines 

 with advantage. These are followed by Acacias ; the 

 branching roots of which, stretching out in various direc- 

 tions and interwoven together, sustain the soil as it were 

 in osier baskets. But it is not until this succession of 

 forests have flourished and decayed that the soil enriched 

 by their remains, becomes fit for general culture. 



Emily. This, then, is the work of a long course of 

 years ? 



Mrs. B. Certainly ; but still the formation of the soil 

 is rapid, in comparison of what it would have been, if 

 left to be completed by the gradual agency of Nature, 

 who is enabled to prolong her operations beyond the pe- 

 riod of our transitory existence, and is therefore less im- 

 patient to accomplish her task. We are justified, how- 



854. What cnnnot be tod often repeated 1 ? 855. What is said of 

 the Belgic peasantry 1 ? 856. And of their soil! 857. What ig 

 the mode of enriching it in order to its becoming fit for general culture 1 ? 

 858. What is needed for this renovation"? 



