THE VALUATION OF LANDED ESTATES. 325 



Subsoils. I have hitherto only taken notice of the surface-soils. It 

 is, however, an important point to examine the subsoils of all lands. If 

 the subsoil is dry, the upper soil will also be dry at least this tends to 

 dry it very much. If the subsoil is stiff and wet, then the surface is 

 also certain to contain too much moisture. The surface-soil can never be 

 thoroughly improved unless the subsoil is either naturally dry or artifi- 

 cially made so ; and subsoils also frequently contain inorganic matters 

 hurtful to plants, which must be removed before plants will thrive. 



To find the nature of a soil, Professor Johnston tells us that, " if an 

 ounce of soil be intimately mixed with a pint of water till it is perfectly 

 softened and diffused through it, and if, after shaking, the heavy parts 

 be allowed to settle for a few minutes, the sand will subside, while the 

 clay which is in finer particles, and is less heavy will still remain float- 

 ing. If the water and fine floating clay be now poured into another ves- 

 sel, and be allowed to stand till the water has become clear, the sandy 

 part of the soil will be found 011 the bottom of the first vessel, and the 

 clayey part on that of the second, and they may be dried and weighed 

 separately. If one hundred grains of dry soil, not peaty or unusually 

 rich in vegetable matter, leave no more than ten of clay when treated in 

 this manner, it is called a sandy soil ; if from ten to forty, a sandy loam ; 

 if from forty to seventy, a loamy soil ; if from seventy to eighty-five, a 

 clay loam ; from eighty-five to ninety-five, a strong clay soil ; and when 

 no sand is separated at all by this process, it is a pure agricultural clay." 



All the different kinds of soils on an estate should be examined ; every 

 field should be walked over and dug into. No value can be put upon 

 any soil unless from actual inspection of it, and, if thought necessary, 

 from analysis. Some soils may look dirty, and not at all pleasant to the 

 eye, when they have been farmed by poor farmers, but this need not in 

 any way deteriorate from the intrinsic value of such soils. 



The value of each soil cannot properly be found in the same way. 

 Some kinds may be able to produce all our grain crops, while others may 

 be suitable for barley and turnips, and may not grow wheat to perfection. 

 Other soils, again, are suitable only for grazing purposes. 



The best way to ascertain the market value of any soil is to estimate 

 the total amount of grain it can produce per acre in one year, and take 

 that at so much per quarter, according to the average price of such grain 

 for a few of the preceding years, and then deduct from that the expenses 

 necessary in cultivation, seed, manure, taxes, &c., and allow a fair percent- 

 age on the capital required to be laid out by a tenant in stocking his farm 

 per acre. The result of this system would of course vary a good deal, 

 but the experience of the valuator must enable him to put a fixed price 

 upon it. In valuing grass-land, it should be calculated what it can 



