37S [Assembly 



ocean, is not stopped. If we take from our soils annually, all its 

 productions, and return nothing to it, exhaustion will of course be 

 the consequence. 



If you find your soil contains, on washing, any acid matter, or 

 that it produces sorrel in abundance, which indicates acid, an applica- 

 tion of caustic lime will be very beneficial, as it will immdeiately 

 combine with the acid and neutralize it, and thus at once remove itj 

 although at first it will probably injure the grass, or the crops you 

 may have on the soil, still the benefit will be very great. Sometimes 

 the. soil may contain copperas, which will render it unfit for agricul- 

 tural productions, although it may contain all the requisites of 

 growth; if such is found to be the case, an application of caustic 

 lime will decompose the sulphate, and render the land fit for tillage. 



If you find, on the other hand, that your land contains an excess 

 of lime, you may if it be a clay soil, overcome the lime by an ap- 

 plication of sand; and if it be a sandy soil, an application of clay 

 will have the desired eflTect. If the sandy soil is excessively light, 

 and is carried about by the force of the wind, which not unfrequent- 

 ly is the case, peat or muck might be applied, with immense advan- 

 tage; it w^ould consolidate the soil, prevent the ill effects of the wind, 

 render it at once fertile, and if the muck should be applied in suffi- 

 cient quantity, permanently so. 



If your soil contains too small a quantity of vegetable substance 

 to grow good crops, it may wuth all ease be supplied by the usual ma- 

 nures; if too large a quantity, the excess may be removed thus: 

 plow the land north and south for instance, then east and west, by so 

 doing you will cut the sods into squares, they must be drawn into 

 heaps and burnt; the vegetable matter contained in them is left* cal- 

 cined with the earth in the form of ashes, in which shape it must be 

 spread over the field; inorganic and saline matters will be by it 

 yielded to the seeds afterwards sown; an application of lime plowed 

 under, will exterminate by decomposition the roots of weeds, wild 

 grass, &c., not reached by the plow, and the whole field will become 

 remarkably fertile, and capable of yielding any vegetable production. 



I had a field of this description on my farm, which for several years 

 "was a perfect eye sore to me, it abounded with superflous water, was 

 covered by a rank growth of wild grass and bogs, stones and roots were 

 abundant. It was supposed by all who saw it, that the field could not 

 be reclaimed. I determined to drain it, and for that purpose, formed 

 an irregular shaped space in the lowest portion of the field, to re- 



