894 IMPROVEMENT OF SOILS. 



sist in attempting to grow crops that require an open soil. Clayey 

 lands generally answer well for meadows, and autumn ploughing is 

 always highly advantageous to them by reason of the disintegrating 

 effects of the ensuing winter frost. 



Chalk occupies a large space in recent formations ; as a general 

 rule, the soil it supports immediately is of no great fertility. Sir 

 John Sinclair proposed to improve such soil by growing green crops 

 and consuming them upon the spot. Properly treaicd, the chalky 

 soils of England produce trefoil, turnips, and barley, and they ar« 

 particularly adapted to cinquefoin. It is doubtful whether in France, 

 where the climate is not so moist as in England, chalky lands could 

 be treated to advantage on the English plan. Recent inquiries have 

 shown that chalk contains a small quantity of phosphate bf lime, a 

 salt, as we shall see by and by, whose presence is always desirable 

 in arable lands. 



Turf or turfy soils yield rich crops when we succeed in converting 

 the turf into humus. The grand difficulty in dealing with turf is to 

 dry it properly, inasmuch as it is generally found at the bottom of 

 valleys or of old lakes and swamps. By a happy coincidence, turfy 

 deposites frequently alternate with layers of sand, of gravel, of clay, 

 and of vegetable earth, which have been accumulated at the 'same 

 epoch. By a mixture, by a division of these different materials, 

 preceded in every case, however, by proper draining, mere peat bogs 

 may be turned into good arable soil. Pyrilic turf, however, shows 

 itself more intractable, it rarely yields any thing of importance. To 

 improve such a soil it is absolutely necessary to have recourse to 

 substances of an alkaline nature, such as chalk or lime, wood-ashes, 

 &c., which have the property of decomposing the sulphate of iron 

 which is formed by the efflorescence of the pyrites. Turfy lands 

 can also be brought into an arable state, with the help of paring and 

 burning. Scotch agriculturists, who are very familiar with reclaim- 

 ing land of this kind, hold, that the best method of improving turf or 

 bog lands, is to turn them into natural meadows. Where the wet 

 and soft state of the soil does not allow cattle to be driven upon it, 

 the crop of hay should only be cut once, the second crop should be 

 left standing. By proceeding in this way mere bogs have been turned 

 into productive meadows.* Turfy lands thoroughly drained and im- 

 proved, present many advantages connected with their natural but 

 not excessive moistness. In the neighborhood of Haguenau, mag- 

 nificent hop-gardens are found upon bottoms of this kind ; madder 

 also thrives in it equally well, and for certain special crops it is in my 

 opinion one of the richest soils. 



Sandy soils do perfectly well in countries which are not exposed 

 to long droughts ; their cultivation is attended with little expense, 

 and they grow excellent crops of turnips, potatoes, carrots, and 

 rye ; but it is well to exclude clover, oats, wheat, and hemp, which 

 require a soil of greater consistence. In southern countries, a sys- 

 tem of irrigation is absolutely necessary, in connection with the 



* Sinclair, Practical Agriculture 



