34 MODERN HIGH FARMING. 



composed of clay or entirely sandy, and here it is that our ingenuity 

 must be brought to bear. 



Commencing on a clayey soil with the removal of all excess of 

 water, by a system of surface or substrata drainage, we must look 

 around us for those substances which, by their addition, will com- 

 municate to the clay the necessary degree of porosity. 



In a previous chapter we have explained that many surface soils 

 have no natural connection with the rocks which underlie them ; 

 that they may have been carried to their present position, and de- 

 posited by water arriving from various distances, and that conse- 

 quently they may cover strata of an entirely different composition 

 to their own. An examination of this point, being very easily made, 

 should never be neglected, because, if beneath the overlying clays 

 we come upon beds of marls, limestones, or sand, we need seek no 

 further for what is necessary to remedy the defects under consider- 

 ation. Presuming, however, the non-existence of any underground 

 source of improvement, recourse must be had to outside means : 

 the application of cinders, furnace refuse, coal dust, or ashes, the 

 ashes of all kinds of burnt vegetable refuse; old and discarded 

 building materials, large quantities of lime, chalk, or marls ; the 

 whole of which will have the desired effect. 



In some rare cases we have heard it objected that none of the 

 bodies we have enumerated could be obtained in sufficient quantities, 

 near enough at hand to admit of their employment ; and that their 

 transport from long distances is rendered impossible by the heavy 

 and prohibitive charges for freight. Although such objections must 

 soon disappear before the rapid growth of cheaper communications, 

 we cannot afford to overlook them, but, bearing in mind that "labor 

 omnia mncit" must seek and find in the clay itself a solution to the 

 difficulty. 



First roughly shaped into balls or bricks and allowed to dry 

 in the sun, it should be burnt in small piles made up of alternate 

 layers of clay, wood, coal dust, or any other cheap and readily avail- 

 able combustible material. When the burning process, which gen- 

 erally lasts some days, is terminated, the bricks or balls must be 



