142 SPRING. 



The sunny slopes are those upon which the decom- 

 positions of the year are carried on, the burnings up in 

 the summer, and the pulverizations by alternate freezing 

 and thawing in the winter; and when the winds of 

 spring come, the finer soil from these is transferred to 

 the opposite sides of the vales, and thus the absence 

 of sun is more than compensated to them by the accu- 

 mulation of soil of the most fertile description. These 

 places are not quite so early as the others, but they 

 produce the largest trees, the most kindly grasses, and 

 the most abundant crops ; and they who have lands 

 on the southern verge of a valley borrow something 

 yearly from all the rest of it ; and the more, the wider 

 that valley is, and the higher state of cultivation 

 that it is in. This transfer of soil southward, is never 

 more clearly seen than upon the shores of an estuary ; 

 and, unless there be something very peculiar in the 

 form of the ground, that will satisfactorily explain the 

 individual case, we invariably find soft mud gradually 

 invading the water on the north side, and a steep bank 

 on the south, if the water is of sufficient breadth to in- 

 tercept the spring dust. This is the gentle way that 

 nature has of forming new land. Reeds, flags, aquatic 

 grasses, and the other tall growing annuals that have 

 tough and strong stems, and remain in their withered state 

 in the spring, serve as a kind of net to catch the dust and 

 also the mud that is driven back by the flowing of the 

 tide ; answering the same purpose on our comparatively 

 mild shores, as the mangroves do upon those where the 

 action of the seasons is much more violent ; and when 

 the soil has gained a little consistency, man comes with 

 his osier bed and the new land is secured. 



