SOIL. 



may be rendered more proper for the growth of crops of 

 both the grain and grafs kind. 



And it has been obferved in the third volume of the 

 Farmer's Magazine, that the thinner kinds of thefe lands 

 are almoll univerfally poor : the colder and more unkindly 

 bottoms fuch foils are found upon muft naturally render 

 them fo. And that fuch land ir. badly adapted to bear much 

 fatigue of the plough, either in winter or fummer : that 

 being the cafe, neither autumn nor late fpring ploughing 

 can be depended on by the farmers ; the land being fo deli- 

 cate of itfelf, it cannot refill the alternate froft and rain in 

 winter ; and if it happen to be a wet feafon before feed- 

 time, the profpeft of a crop mult be very unpromifing ; and 

 by the latter, if drought come on, it cannot fail of pene- 

 trating to the bottom of the furrow ; in which cafe, the 

 grain caft upon it muft remain delfitute of nouridiment : 

 therefore, the moll proper feafon for ploughing fuch land is 

 February, and the beginning of March, when the weather 

 is dry. And further, that the ftronger forts baffle the 

 operation of the plough more than any other it encounters. 

 The only friend that co-operates with it, in fubduing fuch 

 foils, is ftrong liming : without doubt, winter froft is alfo 

 of much benefit ; on which account, the farmer is often in- 

 duced to plough fuch land early. But it ought to be re- 

 membered, that although falutary effefts may be produced 

 by early ploughing, when there happens to be much froft ; 

 yet very pernicious efFefls muft follow, when the winter 

 turns out to be very wet : for it is generally underftood that 

 clayey foils, for the moft part, lie upon a retentive bottom 

 of the fame nature ; therefore, all the water that falls upon 

 them muft eafily penetrate to the bottom, through the 

 feams between the furrows : and as the fubfoil, or bottom 

 of the furrow, will be left with a fmall bank on the land-fide 

 of the coulter cut together, with the under arafe of the 

 back part of the furrow refting upon it, the water muft be 

 prevented from running to the drain-furrow, which will 

 prove very pernicious and hurtful to the foil, being too 

 cold at the bottom, in its bell ftate. It may perhaps be 

 faid, that the fame danger will be incurred, at whatever 

 period the ploughing is performed ; but there is a material 

 differeiice*between water llagnatinej in the bottom of the 

 furrows for four or five months, and when it only does fo 

 for as many weeks : therefore, wherever autumn or early 

 winter ploughing is praftifed on fuch foils, that of fummer 

 fallow will alfo, he thinks, be often neceflary. 



It may be noticed, that the moft proper forts of crops, 

 in the firlt fort, are peafe and oats ; and where compofts 

 can be had, and af>plied to the fward, fummer fallow will 

 be beneficial ; followed by wheat and artificial gralles : and 

 in the latter, cabbages, wheat, beans, peafe, and grafs-feeds 

 for both hay and pafturc. See Clayey Land. 



Almoft every one of the above modes of improving and 

 bettering the qualities of clayey foils are praftifed with 

 much advantage and fuccefs, in one or other of the different 

 places throughout the country where they are met with. 

 In the northern parts, however, where the ufe of lime on 

 thefe forts of foils, efpecially the better cultivated kinds of 

 them, is more had rccourfe to than in the fouthern, they 

 not uncommonly apply farm-yard manure the fame feafon 

 in which the land is limed, though not, by any means, in 

 combination with it ; as by this practice the lime is believed 

 to aft more powerfully, as well as more cffeftually, and 

 with far greater expedition, than when it is employed in the 

 manner of compoft, or mixture with earthy matters. It 

 has been fully fhewn that lime, in its aftive ilato, has great 

 power in promoting the folution and decay of all ve»fetable 

 matters in foils, and, of courfe, of greatly incrcafing the 



proportion of that fort of material in them. In this way 

 its readinefs in producing this fort of matter in a large 

 quantity, when applied to foils which contain a confidcrable 

 portion of vegetable materials, is eafily explained. And 

 the powers of improving diflerent kinds of clayey foils, in 

 thefe methods, may be very much aided and affifted by well 

 direfted modes of (lirring and tilling fuch lands ; as where 

 the ploughings, harrowings, and other proccffes on them, 

 efpecially in the more ftiff^ and retentive kinds, are frequent, 

 and made at feafons of the year in which they are neither too 

 dry and cloddy, nor too wet and poachy, fo that they may 

 be well broken down and reduced in their parts, and fully 

 expofed to the influence of the atmofphere. In thefe 

 ways they are enabled to acquire a high degree of pulveriza- 

 tion and finenefs in their particles, by which the growth of 

 plants upon them is greatly forwarded, and rendered more 

 perfeft. The feed is here to be covered in, tor the moft 

 part, in a complete manner ; the previous ploughings hav- 

 ing been made to fuitable depths, as the circumftances of 

 the lands may direft. On the thinner forts, where fprings 

 are apt to rife, they fhould have lefs depth than in other 

 cafes. The tools and teams employed in working them 

 (hould be ftrong, and fo attached as to do as little injury 

 by poaching as poflible ; fuch feafons as are neither too 

 moilt nor too dry being, in all cafes, chofen for the purpofe. 



Soils of this nature prevail very greatly in many dillrifts 

 of the kingdom ; and though they are improved, and 

 brought into proper order for cultivation, with great diffi- 

 culty, labour, and expence, they commonly anfwer very 

 well in the end, by affording a long continued and very 

 abundant produce. 



2. Loamy Soils. — It is evident that loam, in its natural 

 ftate, is a fort of earthy material, more compaft than chalk, 

 but lefs cohefive than clay. In thefe foils there is likewife 

 much variety ; fome being ftiff and compaft ; while others 

 are more open, loofe, and porous : hence we have heavy, 

 ftiff', and light loams. The materials of which thefe foils 

 are chiefly compofed are thofe of the clayey, chalky, fandy, 

 and gravelly kinds ; on which account writers on hufbandry 

 have denominated them clayey loams, chalky loams, fandy 

 loams, and gravelly loams ; and fometimes, where a fmall 

 portion of the oxyd or calx of iron is found mixed with the 

 loamy material, they are termed lilly loams. The firll, ac- 

 cording to Kirwan, denotes a compound foil, moderately 

 cohefive, in which the argillaceous ingredient predominates. 

 Its cohefion is, then, greater than that of any other loam, but 

 lefs than that of pure clay. The other ingredient is a coarfe 

 fand, with or without a fmall mixture of the calcareous in- 

 gredient. It is this which farmers generally call ftrong, 

 ftiff, cold, and heavy loam, in proportion as the clay 

 abounds with it. And the fecond indicates a loam formed 

 of clay, coarfe fand, and chalk ; in which, however, the 

 calcareous ingredient or chalk much predominates. It is 

 lefs cohefive than clayey loams. 



The third fort denotes a loam iu which fand predomi- 

 nates : it is lefs coherent than either of the above-mentioned. 

 Sand, partly coarfe and partly fine, forms from 80 to 90 

 per cent, of this compound. The fourth differs from the 

 above only in containing a larger mixture of coarfe fand, or 

 pebbles. This and the two laft are generally called by 

 farmers light or hungry foils ; particularly when they liave 

 but little depth. The fifth is generally of a dark brown 

 or reddifii colour, and much harder than any of the pre- 

 ceding : it confifts of clay and the calces of iron, more or 

 lefs intimately mixed. It may be diftinguifhed not only by 

 its colour, but alio by its fuperior weight ; it fometimes 

 eflervcfces with acids, and femctimes not ; when it docs, 



murb 



