10 



and one of the lightest he has to encounter : he need only 

 sow a few small plots with seeds taken from the opposite 

 side of the winnowing heap ; and by a careful comparative 

 view of the crops when ripe, he will be able to pronounce 

 upon the safety of the measure, and by attention he will 

 soon discover what he will gain by pursuing it. 



The preservation of the vigour of our soils, and the 

 reparation of the waste they sustain by our perpetual call 

 upon them for crops, and consequent loosening of their 

 texture by over-frequent cultivation, is a subject of vast 

 importance, and has already excited much attention. 



The mechanical mode is simple ; to renovate and con- 

 solidate our harassed and open soils by mixtures of firmer 

 materials ; that is, compost formed of strong earth, or pure 

 clay, well attenuated : but in loose, light, and sandy 

 ground, such consolidating materials are rarely found ; 

 the agriculturist is therefore thrown upon his own inge- 

 nuity ; and I know not any instance in which it has been 

 more successfully exerted. 



He has found, that by alternating what are known to be 

 exhausting crops, with those that are deemed to be melio- 

 rating, — culmiferous, with root crops — farinaceous, with 

 green crops — he has brought his ground to bear more con- 

 stant pressure than it was supposed capable of sustaining; 

 still the exhaustion, though much abated, is evidently per- 

 ceivable, and the Norfolk farmers complain their 

 grounds are TIRING of their favourite turnip. 



Mr. Gregg, now become very eminent as a practical 

 agriculturist, admits rest to be indispensably necessary, 

 and recommends two successive crops of grass. 



To make that rest as effective as possible, let us specu- 

 late a priori — Which are the grass crops that exhaust the 



