I 



2 A DISCOURSE 



Hne myself to my more proper element, the earth, which, though the 

 lowest and most inferior of them all, yet is so subservient and necessary to 

 vegetation, as without it there could hardly be any such thing in nature. 



To begin : I shall, in the first place, describe what I mean by earth : 

 then I shall endeavour to shew you the several sorts and kinds of earth : 

 and lastly, how we may best improve it to the uses of the husbandman, 

 the forester, and the gardener ; which is, indeed, of large and profitable 

 extent, though it be but poor and mean in sound, compared to mines of 

 gold and silver, and other rich ores, which likewise are the treasures of 

 the earth, but less innocent and useful. 



I intend not here to amuse this noble audience, or myself, with those 

 nice inquiries concerning what the real form of that body or substance is, 

 which we call earth, denudated and stripped of all heterogeneity, and 

 reduced to its principles : as whether it be composed of sandy, central, 

 nitrous, or other salts, atoms, and particles : whether void of all quahties 

 but dryness, and the like, (as they commonly enter into the several de- 

 finitions of philosophers,) nor of what figure and contexture it consists, 

 which causes it to adhere and combine together, so as to affirm any thing 

 dogmatically thereupon; much less shall I contend whether it be a planet 

 moving about the sun, or be fixed in the centre of the universe ; all 

 which have been the curious researches and velitations of our later 

 theorists ; but content myself with that body or mass of glebe which 

 we both dwell on, and every day cultivate for our necessary subsistence, 

 as it affords us corn, trees, plants, and vegetables of all sorts, useful for 

 human life, or the innocent refreshment of it. 



Those who have written de Arte Comhhiatoria, reckon up no fewer 

 than one hundred and seventy -nine millions, one thousand, and sixty dif- 

 ferent sorts of earths ; but of all this enormous number, as of all other 

 good things, it seems they do not acquaint us with above eight or nine 

 eminently useful to our purpose ; and truly I can hardly yet arrive at 

 so many. Such as I find naturally and usually to rise from the pit, I 

 shall here spread before you in their order. 



The most beneficial sort of mould or earth, appearing on the surface, 

 (for we shall not at present penetrate lower than is necessary for the plant- 



