364 TEXTURE OF THE SOIL. 



with success when judiciously managed, and it offers a 

 practicable means of improvement. 



Nor is this application of mud and clay any new fact 

 to the practical agriculturist. The county of Norfolk, 

 in England, is said to owe much of its great fertility to 

 this source. The greatest European improvements in 

 sandy soils have been made by these means in Belgium. 

 As intimated in the experiment alluded to, it has always 

 been found best to expose the mud or clay to the action 

 of the frost. It becomes mellowed so that it may be 

 spread evenly upon the ground. Peat mud is composed 

 of vegetable matter which has been accumulating for 

 ages. When taken fresh it is found to contain an 

 amount of acid which would make it improper for im- 

 mediate use. Exposure to the frost, wind, and rain, 

 will, in time, entirely neutralize the acid properties. 

 Ashes, or potash, would have the same effect in a much 

 shorter time. 



These substances may be said rather to ameliorate 

 and improve the texture of soils than to furnish imme- 

 diate sustenance to the plant. And in this view they 

 cannot be too strongly recommended ; for we have 

 never known them to fail of having beneficial effects, 

 both on pasture and mowing lands. And, besides, the 

 application of them is so simple, so much within the 

 reach of every farmer, that it is well worth the trial. 

 If the soils are much worn, or very barren from a great 

 preponderance of any particular earth, a liberal allow- 

 ance will be required ; but, ordinarily, as in the experi- 

 ments which have come under my notice, some twenty- 

 five or thirty cart-loads to the acre have been found 

 sufficient to increase very greatly the productiveness 

 of the land, while a still less quantity would be of essen- 

 tial service. Nor is the expense of this application so 

 great as some imagine ; for almost every farm contains a 



