*'. YORKSHIRE. 147 



beaten firmly together '* : and in Norfolk, I 

 apprehend, they have been formerly made 

 with marl. In all countries where unfathomed 

 beds of clay are common, drinking pools 

 fufficiently retentive may, at a fmall cx- 

 pence and without much art, be formed ; and 

 are in general fufficiently abundant. 



But the art of making retentive pools with 

 CLAY, in loofe abfcrbent foils, is a recent dif- 

 covcry which has been hit upon in this 

 Diftrift i in which it has made a rapid pro- 

 grefs, and is now in univerfal praftice among 

 farmers of every clafs. Indeed, for a country 

 like thisjwhere upland foil is kept principally 

 in grafs, it may well be confidered as the 

 moft valuable difcovery which has lately 

 been made in Rural Economy -f. 



L 2 There 



• Experiments have, it is faid,been tried with chalk 

 upon the Yorkfliire Wolds without fucccfs ; owing 

 pr bably to the too g.eat hardnefs of the \V(jld-chalk. 

 A fat foft chalk is no doubt fitted for this purpofe. 



-j- Francis and Robert Gardiner, W( 11-diggcrs 

 and fifli-pond-makers, of Driffield, are entitled to much 

 more than the credit of this difcovery. The York 

 Agriculture Society voted them a premium cf ten 

 pounds : were the nation to grant them tea thoufand, 

 it wculd not be more than they merit. 



