418 



The Claying of Fen Soils. 



[Aug., 



on this land consists simply of from 8 to 10 cwt. per acre of 

 superphosphate, no potash manure being used. 



Of all the benefits, however, the most important seem to 

 be consolidation and drainage. With soils containing only 20 

 to 25 per cent, of mineral matter, and from 50 to over 70 per 

 cent, of humus, the consolidation effected by an application of 

 upv^ards of 100 tons of clay per acre is obvious. 



It may be noted here that Clay No. II in the analysis is 

 really not clay and contains over 70 per cent, of coarse and 

 fine sand. This is realised by the farmer to be very inferior 

 material, but running through it are veins of Clay No. II a, 

 which, as may be seen by the analysis, is a very superior 

 clay, containing over 50 per cent, of the finer fractions. 



The solidity given to these blackland soils by a dressing 

 of clay is quite remarkable. As Mr. Pusey says, in 

 the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society,* " In wet 

 weather, even on a stubble, a horse will often sink in to the 

 fetlocks; yet where so slight a dressing of clay as 40 cartloads 

 per acre has been applied in the previous winter, he will find 

 a firm footing." 



In the opinion of the writer the much improved drainage 

 resulting from the modern method of claying already de- 

 scribed, is one of the greatest benefits derived from it. In 

 sinking a dyke across a field it will be found that the water 

 table in the centre of the field is very much nearer the surface 

 than it is at either side, where it is lowered by the proximity 

 of the open drains which surround every field. It is clear 

 that a series of trenches 13 yards apart, 6 ft. deep, filled with 

 a porous material such as peat, and discharging into open 

 drains at each end, will assist the free movement of water 

 through the soil and improve the drainage. This point 

 should be borne in mind by those who contemplate carrying 

 out work of this nature. 



Owing to the very high percentages of humus it was found 

 impossible to make mechanical analyses of the top and subsoils. 



Jour. Royal Agric. Soc, Vol, II, p. 409. 



