Book V. SOIL OF FARM LANDS. 773 



must remain completely waste, in a warm one may be rendered productive, 'i'lms, where the climate is 

 adapted to the culture of the vine, rocks, which in Great Britain, and in colder countries, would in 

 general be of little or no worth, in the southern provinces of France may yield as much in valuable pro- 

 duce as the cultivated land in their neighbourhood. The real excellence of a climate, however, depends 

 on its yielding, in perfection and abundance, the necessaries of life, or those which constitute the principal 

 articles of food for man, and for the domestic animals kept for his use. In this point of view, a meadow 

 is much more productive, and in some respects more valuable, than either a vineyard or a grove of oranges ; 

 though the one may be situated in a cold and variable climate, and the other in a country celebrated both 

 for its regularity and warmth of temperature. 



47.39. Even the nature of the articles raised depends upon the climate. Thus, in many elevated parts, 

 both of England and Scotland, wheat cannot be grown to advantage, and in some of the high-lying dis- 

 tricts of the latter, it has never been attempted. In several of the northern counties, it has been found 

 necessary to sow, instead of the two-rowed barley, the inferior sort called bear or big ; and oats, from the 

 hardy quality of the grain, are found to be a more certain and more profitable species of corn than any 

 other; while in humid districts peas or beans cannot be safely cultivated, from the periodical wetness of 

 the autumn. On the whole, without great attention to the nature of the climate, no profitable system 

 can be laid down by any occupier of land. 



4740. An inferior climate greatly augments the expenses of cultivation ; because a number of horses are 

 required for labour during the short period of the year, when the weather will admit of it, which, at other 

 seasons, are a useless burden upon the farm. When to this are joined an uneven surface and an inferior 

 quality of soil, arable land is of httle value, and yields but a trifling rent. 



47 U. Exotk plants or animals can only be naturalised in climates with success by paying attention to 

 that whence they were brought, and by endeavouring either to render the one as similar to the other as 

 circumstances will admit of, or to counteract, by judicious management, the deficiencies of the new one. 



4742. In order to ascertain the nature of a climate, the farmer, in modern times, has many advantages 

 which his predecessors wished for in vain. The progress of science has given rise to many new instru- 

 ments, which ascertain natural phenomena with a considerable degree of accuiracy. It may still be proper 

 to study the appearance of the heavens, and not to, despise old proverbs, which often contain much local 

 truth ; but the vane now points out the quarters whence the winds blow, with all their variations ; the 

 barometer often enables us to foretel the state of the weather that may be expected ; the thermometer 

 ascertains the degree of heat; the hygrometer, the degree of moisture ; the pluviometer, or rain-gauge, 

 the quantity of rain that has fallen during any given period ; and, by keeping exact registers of all these 

 particulars, much useful information may be derived. The influence of different degrees of temperature 

 and humidity, occurring at different times, may likewise be observed, by comparing the leafing, flower- 

 ing, and after-progress of the most common sorts of trees and plants, in different seasons, with the period 

 when the several crops of grain are sown and reaped each year. 



Sect. II. Soil in respect to farming Lands. 

 4743. The necessity of paying attention to the nature and quality of the soil need not 

 be dwelt upon. By ascertaining the qualities it possesses, or by removing its defects, 

 the profits of a farmer may be greatly increased. He must, in general, regulate his 

 measures accordingly, in regard to the rent he is to offer ; the capital he is to lay out ; 

 the stock he is to keep ; the crops he is to raise ; and the improvements he is to execute. 

 Indeed, such is the importance of the soil, and the necessity of adapting his system to its 

 peculiar properties, that no general system of cultivation can be laid down, unless all the 

 circumstances regarding the nature and situation of the soil and subsoil be known ; and 

 such is the force of habit, that it rarely happens that a farmer who has been long accus- 

 tomed to one species of soil will be equally successful in the management of another. 

 From inattention to the nature of soils, many foolish, fruitless, and expensive attempts 

 have been made to introduce different kinds of plants, not at all suited to them ; and 

 manures have often been improperly applied. This ignorance has likewise prevented 

 many from employing the means of improvement, though the expense was trifling, and 

 within their reach. From ignorance also of the means calculated for the proper culti- 

 vation of- the different soils, many unsuccessful and pernicious practices have been 

 adopted. Soils may be considered under the following general heads : Sandy ; gra- 

 velly ; clayey ; stoney ; chalky ; peaty ; alluvial ; and loamy, or that species of arti- 

 ficial soil into which the others are generally brought by the effects of manure, and 

 of earthy applications, in the course of long cultivation. 



4744. Though sandy soils are not naturally valuable, yet being easily cultivated, and well calculated for 

 sheep, that most profitable species of stock, they are often farmed with considerable advantage ; and when 

 of a good quality, and under a regular course of husbandry, they are invaluable. They are easily worked, 

 ;;nd at all seasons ; they are cultivated at a moderate expense ; are not so liable to injury from the vicis- 

 situdes of the weather ; and in general they are deep and retentive of moisture, which secures excellent 

 crops even in the driest summers. The crops raised on sandy soils are numerous, such as turnips, potatoes, 

 carrots, barley, rye, buck-wheat, peas, clover, saintfoin, and other grasses. This species of soil, in general, 

 has not strength enough for the production of Swedish turnips, beans, wheat, flax, or hemp, in any degree 

 of perfection, without much improvement in its texture, the addition of great quantities of enriching ma- 

 nure, and the most skilful management. In Norfolk and Sufiblk it is found, that poor sandy soils, unfit 

 for any other purpose, will, under saintfoin, produce, after the first year, about two tons per- acre of 

 excellent hay, for several years ; with an after-grass, extremely valuable for weaning and keeping lambs. 

 How much more beneficial than any crops of grain that such soils usually yield! (Young's Kalend. 123.) 



4745. The fertility qf sandy soils is in proportion to the quantity of rain that falls, combined with the 

 frequency of its recurrence. As a proof of this, in the rainy climate of Turin, the most prolific soil has 

 from seventy.seven to eighty per cent, of siliceous earth, and from nine to fourteen of calcareous ; whereas 

 in the neighbourhood of Paris, where there is much less rain, the silex is only in the proportion of from 

 twenty-six to fifty per cent, in the most fertile parts. 



4746. Gravelly soils differ materially from sandy, both in their texture and modes of management. They 

 are frequently composed of small soft stones, sometimes of flinty ones ; but they often contain granite, 

 limestone, and other rocky substances, partially, but not very minutely decomposed. Gravel, being more 

 porous than even sand, is generally a poor, and what is called, a hungry soil, more especially when the 

 parts of which it consists are hard in substance, and rounded in fonn. Gravelly soils are easily exhausted ; 

 for the animal and vegetable matters they contain, not being thoroughly incorporated with the earthy 

 constituent parts of the soil (which are seldom sufficiently abundant for that purpose), are more liable to 

 be decomposed by the action of the atmosphere, and carried off by water. 



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