Decomposition of Vegetable Matter. 185 



mineral matter of the soil. Finally, with the aid of the deeply - 

 rooting plants I use, the humus is in every rotation more and 

 more deeply distributed in the soil, and the area of root range is 

 continuously being so enlarged. These points, and others to which 

 I have elsewhere alluded, fully explain our ability to produce 

 crops which have surprised the farmer alluded to in the Preface, 

 as well as many of his friends. 



■ Decompositiok of Vegetable Mattee moee Rapid on 

 Waem Slopes.' — In Keith's " Agriculture of Aberdeenshire," 

 page 637, it is stated that " in thin soUs, incumbent on gravel, 

 decomposition of vegetable matter is more rapid than its repro- 

 duction ; and being, when decomposed, soluble in water, it is 

 carried through the porous subsoil along with the lime, animal 

 manures, and whatever else water can hold in solution. For this 

 reason land of this description having a south exposure is 

 generally more shallow and exhausted than when screened from 

 the sun's heat by an inclination to the north." At thje present 

 time, when our farming system requires to be largely remodelled 

 in order that we may successfully grapple with the difficulties of 

 the age, this is a point of considerable importance, and deserving 

 of further investigation, in order to estimate exactly the effects 

 of the various aspects in the case of thin soils overlying porous 

 subsoils, or which have been well drained. In such cases it 

 seems evident that the warm aspects should be kept in grass as 

 long as possible, and, when taken up, should be cropped with 

 turnips, and laid down to grass the year following, as the waste 

 of vegetable matter and manure is far greater when the land is 

 under plough than when it is lying in grass. No experiments 

 have been made that I am aware of in order to determine the 

 comparative loss of nitrates on the various aspects. Dr. Keith's 

 book, which I have alluded to previously (vide page 59), was 

 published in 1811, and furnishes us with more than one illustra- 

 tion of the great neglect of Government in failing to keep alive 

 and direct continuous attention to points of the greatest 

 importance to British agriculture. It is constantly being 

 assumed that farmers may be relipd on for adopting whatever 

 course will pay them best. There never was a greater delusion,. 

 More than one hundred years ago the superiority of cocksfoot to 



