38 



way into the ground ; whence we might infer, that this 

 grass would agree with a very shallow soil: — by no means; 

 on the contrary, I never found it permanently luxuriant, 

 except in very deep soil. My worthy friend the late 

 Bishop of Llandaff, with his usual ingenuity, dis- 

 covered the cause; — an important secret which agriculture, 

 in all its branches, owes to that venerable prelate. His 

 Lordship told me, that there was a perspiration from the 

 earth highly favourable and encouraging to vegetation ; 

 weak where the soil was shallow, but powerful where it 

 was deep ; and these positions the Bishop confirmed to me 

 by the most conclusive experiments. 



Our field is ample ; mountain grazing farms are widely 

 extended ; and as a very few acres of meadow will suffice 

 for all the cattle in winter, that were maintained on it in 

 summer, we have great room for selection, and in the 

 variety of surface shall surely find a sufficient area fa- 

 vourable to our purpose ; nor am I hard to please. Much 

 of the green mountains I have traversed, are of the fol- 

 lowing description — peaty soil, from nine to fifteen inches 

 deep, fibre decomposed. 



This is a very good description, especially if the sub- 

 stratum be clayey, so as, when reached by the drains, to 

 afford a material that will improve the peaty compost ; 

 should the peat be graduating into moor, and either by 

 decay or mixture with earth be unfit for fuel, I consider 

 this soil as still better. 



Where there is not peat, alluvial clay or earth is very 

 favourable ; and where the ground is spouty, generally 

 sufficiently deep, a point to be carefully attended to ; and 

 in general I would choose wet marshy ground, for the 

 drainage is cheap, and most productive of soil for compost, 

 when drains are frequent. 



Where the peaty soil is fibrous, we generally feid it 



