CHAPTER III. 



ON SOILS. 



To enter fully into this branch of the sub- 

 ject, and with all the detail which its impor- 

 tance deserves, would require a volume of it- 

 self, and would far exceed either the limits or 

 the intention of this elementary work. 



It must suffice here that a general outline of 

 the characteristics of the soil is given ; that the 

 source from which its fertilizing properties are 

 derived, is pointed out; and that attention is 

 called to the benefit to be always derived from 

 a judicious admixture of the various kinds of 

 soils. This, with a few remarks on the neces- 

 sity that exists for a rotation of crops, and the 

 benefit that arises from allowing the land either 

 to lie fallow or at least to be cropped only with 

 such crops as do not exhaust the soil, and 

 which from this circumstance are termed fal- 

 low crops, will comprise all the information it 

 is proposed to bestow on this subject. 



Soils are distinguished by a variety of names, 

 according as a particular substance predomi- 

 Uratesin them. Thus calcareous soils are those 

 containing lime in greater quantity than any 

 other ingredient. 



