SOIL. 



(idL-rable extent. This is largely done, it is faid, in the 

 neighbourhood of the metropolis. 



Upon the whole, confidering the fmallnefs of the quantity 

 which is necelTary, this may be allowed to be the moft 

 powerful and effeftual manure of any which is now in ufe 

 for improving land. 



In the county of Effex, about Hornchurch, Mr. New- 

 man has found that, for palture, this fort of manure is, of 

 all others, the moll capital ; two waggon-loads on the acre, 

 which coft "js. befides carriage, are, it is faid, beyond every 

 thing, and fecure a carpet of fine herbage. On corn-land, 

 however, it is thought that it forces ftraw too much. 

 Others have alfo found this to be the cafe, but when well 

 mixed with good earthy fubftances, in fufficiently full pro- 

 portion?, there can be no doubt of its being equally faitable 

 for raifing good grain crops. 



On account of the increafing fcarcity of manure, this 

 fart of material fhould be every where more attended to and 

 preferved than has hitherto been the cafe ; and it may be 

 largely increafed as a manure by the addition of fuitable 

 quantities of earthy or other proper matters, according to 

 circumftances, and the purpoies for which it is to be em- 

 ployed, as well as be rendered more fit and convenient for 

 carriage and application. 



Soil, Preparation and after-cultivation of, for and in 

 planting, in Agriculture and Gardening, the manner of ren- 

 dering it fuitable and proper for the reception of the trees, 

 and of keeping and prefcrving it in order afterwards. 



The nature, fituation, and Itate of the foil, muft unquef- 

 tionably have much influence in determining and diredling 

 the degrees of preparation that may be requifite in the dif- 

 ferent cafes ; and though there may be fome foils which re- 

 quire very little, this can but feldom be the cafe, as good 

 foils ftiould never be planted, except for ornamental pur- 

 pofes, and then as little as poffible. It confequently ap- 

 pears proper, that fome degree of preparation of the foil 

 Ihould conftantly take place in almolt all cafes, however the 

 miftaken notion in regard to the expence attending it may 

 have hitherto prevented the general adoption of the praftice. 

 The expence of the proper preparation of the foil, before 

 the work of planting commences, in many cafes, is not by 

 any means great, when properly managed ; and in no few 

 inftances, may be more than repaid by the kinds of crops 

 that are afterwards grown for two or three years, and fome- 

 times longer : nay, even where fuch crops cannot be raifed 

 and produced, the faving in plants and planting, which 

 would otherwife be required, will often wholly or nearly 

 defray the charges of the preparation. Thus, it is faid by 

 Mr. Loudon, that, independently of timber produce, it 

 would feem that the extra charges of preparing the foil may 

 commonly be provided for in the immediately fucceeding 

 years to the work's being finifhed, either pofitively by the 

 growth of proper crops, or negatively by obviating the in- 

 curring of additional expences. And that, when the dif- 

 ference in the returns of timber produce are taken into the 

 account, it may appear alloniihmg that the cultivators in 

 this way fhould difregard their own advantage fo much as to 

 negleft and omit the proper preparation of the foil. . For 

 if it fhould be fuppofed that, during the firll ten years, trees 

 grow only twice as fall where the foil is properly prepared, 

 as where it is not, then even a plantation worth loo/. in fifty 

 years, had the foil been well prepared, would have been 

 worth zool. in the fame length of time. But it muft be 

 allowed that many kinds of deciduous trees will grow three, 

 four, and even ten times falter in prepared than in unpre- 

 pared ground, and, of courfe, the return of profits be in 

 ihe fame proportion. 



Thefe ftatements can furely leave no doubt of the pro 

 priety of preparing th^e foil with a view to thefe forts of 

 undertakings. 



The preparation of the foil will vary according to its na- 

 ture, and the circumftances of it ; after the ftagnant wet- 

 nefs, where prefent, has been properly removed, and the 

 furface impediments cleared away as much as may be found 

 neceffary. In all itiff foils the land muft be more wrought 

 and expofed than in the contrary forts, which often require 

 but little flirring or expofure. In extenfive trafts, the 

 ground or foil, when poflible, (hould be prepared by means 

 of the plough, by turning it up and expofing it to tlie ope- 

 ration of the atmofphere and frods in the fummer, autum- 

 nal, and winter months, when of the more rough and obfti- 

 nate kind, repeating the ploughings, and making harrow- 

 ings as there may be occafion. In extremely rough moory, 

 and fome other coarfe forts of foil, this may be neceffary for 

 more than one feafon. After this, trench-ploughing may be 

 had recourfe to wherever it is wanted, and is capable of being 

 pradifed. By the ufe of the plough in thefe ways, tlie 

 organic matter becomes more decompofed, and the particles 

 of the foil more fully and completely broken down and re- 

 duced, than by performing the work with the fpade, while 

 the coft is not more than one-third. 



In places where the plough cannot be admitted, other 

 methods mult be had recourfe to, as thofe of the fpade, 

 the broad-mouthed mattock, and the fharp-pointed ttrong 

 hoe. The fpade muft be employed in all cafes where 

 digging and trenching can be pradtifed, where the plough 

 cannot work, and in forming pits, flits, and other modes of 

 putting in the plants. Where the fpade cannot be made to 

 perform the bufinefs, the mattock not unfrequently docs 

 the work in a ready and effeftual manner. And where 

 the mattock cannot be brought into ufe, the hoe often 

 completes the work without difficulty. The two laft me- 

 thods may be ufeful in fteep banks and fpots filled with 

 ftones and other obitruftions to the fpade. The foil in all 

 thefe cafes is to be properly reduced and rendered fufficient- 

 ly fine for the reception of the tree-plants, by being ftirred, 

 incorporated, and mixed together in a fuitable manner. 



Particular fituations may require particular modes of pre- 

 paring the foil and putting in the plants : thus, where there 

 is danger of loofe foil beini^ carried away by winter rains, 

 the land fhould be prepared in the previous fummer feafon, 

 by making holes or openings, the earth of one of which is 

 thrown into another with the turf or fward-fide downwards, 

 which, when opened again for planting, is become rotten, and 

 intermixed with the reft of the foil in putting in the plant. 

 In other fituations, where the wind and rain are liable to 

 carry ofTthe foil, the only fafe mode of preparing the foil is in 

 pits, holes, and flits, and placing the plants in them. And 

 in ftill more difficult places, little or no preparation is necef- 

 fary, only putting in the plants in openings or flits, or fowing 

 the feeds, which will often grow in rocky crevices, where 

 little or no earthy matter is to be feen or met with. The na- 

 ture of growth i,i the plants or feeds points out in fome cafes 

 the modes of prep vat ion of the foil for them ; thus, in the 

 very young plants, and in feeds of the oak-kind, where they 

 are only ufed, the placing them in holes or pits, prepared in 

 a proper manner, is all that is necefl'ary, as they receive the 

 chief of their fupport from their tap-root, which runs di- 

 reftly downwards. 



In regard to the cultivation of the foil, after the work of 

 planting the young trees has been performed, it muft ob- 

 vioufly be of great ufe and importance to keep the furface 

 loofe, clean, and free from the produftion of all forts of 

 improper plants of the weed kind, as the health, growth, 



and 



