10S PRACTICAL AGKICULTURE. 



as can be, without scorching the paper ; boil it a few 

 minutes; then, after allowing it to settle about one 

 minute, turn off the water with the light clay sus- 

 pended in it ; add more water, stir it, let it settle as 

 before, and turn off again ; after repeating the opera- 

 tion several times, dry and weigh ; what remains in the 

 kettle is sand. Should nothing remain, or anything 

 less than 5 grains, it belongs to the first class above, 

 namely, pure clay. This, however, is seldom found, 

 and if found, is valuable for other than agricultural 

 'purposes. If from 5 to 20 per cent, remains, it is of 

 the second class, a strong clay soil. Such a soil as this 

 would be too stiff to cultivate without amendment. It 

 might be amended by mixing sand with it ; and might 

 itself be valuable for amending sandy soils, if such lay 

 near it, so that the farmer could cart back and forth 

 from one to the other. If from 20 to 40 per cent, of 

 sand were found in the kettle, the soil would be of the 

 third class, a clay loam; if from 40 to 70, a loam; if 

 from 70 to 90, a sandy loam; if from 90 upwards, a 

 sandy soil. Peat and swamp muck may be readily dis- 

 tinguished by the eye. These last cannot strictly be 

 regarded as soils; they are collections of vegetable 

 . matter, more or less decayed ; but as both are found 

 to considerable extent, it seemed convenient to arrange 

 them, as above, with soils. 



CAPABILITIES OF A FARM. 



374. If all these varieties of land were found on the 

 tarm I am speaking of, I should consider it the more 

 valuable, because then the various parts of it would 



