152 Eulo^ium on JVilliam JVest, 



Its fertilizing effects were the result of subsequent ex- 

 perience, the knowledge of which from the recent and 

 partial use of the plant was yet to be acquired. Clover 

 was therefore sown, and his fields soon bloomed with 

 the novel exotic, affording him treble the quantity of 

 hay, that ever had been known to grow in the vicinity, 

 upon the same quantity of ground. But clover, valu- 

 able as it proved to him, and as it still is, he knew requi- 

 red to be renewed, and a permanent pasture was the ob- 

 ject he aimed at, for he held it as a principle that every 

 country was blessed by a native permanent pasture grass. 

 How therefore was this to be obtained ? it occurred to 

 him that a visit to the peninsula, where native grasses 

 abounded, and an examination of the soil on which they 

 grew, might teach him something on the subject. He 

 there saw that the whole soil was alluvial, and of course 

 very rich, that luxuriant natural grass clothed the fields, 

 and that the only manuring which they obtained, con- 

 sisted of the droppings of the cattle; here then were the 

 principles upon v>hich the improvement was to be 

 grounded. Manure was applied as equally as possible, 

 to the surface of a rich bottom. Philosophically con- 

 cluding that like causes must produce like effects, he 

 determined to imitate the practice, and the result proved 

 the accuracy of his deduction. The first object there- 

 fore to be attended to, was to bring his soil if possible, 

 to the desirable state of fertility of the alluvial district, 

 and this he knew could only be accomplished, by the 

 accumulation of manure. How therefore was this great 

 desideratum to be obtained, and how increased? It was 

 clear that the wandering of the cattle over the fields and 

 roads or in the woods, could not add to the stock of 



