38 



A DISCOURSE 



Marsli and churlish earth will be civilized by the rigour and discipline 

 of two winters ; his fr'tgora, is Uie old method to make the stubborn 

 clod relent ; and, with the mixture of a little sand, if it be too close of 

 body, it will become excellent mould. 



Clay is, of all other, a cursed, step-dame to almost all vegetation, as 

 having few or no meatuses for the percolation of the alimental showers, or 

 expansion of the roots ; whether it be the voracious, hungry, weeping, or 

 cold sort. In these cases, laxatives are to be prescribed, such as drift sand, 

 small gritty gravel, saw-dust, with marl or chalk, and continually vexing 

 it with the spade or plough ; but, above all, with sea-sand, where it may 

 be procured, and the burning of the ground to ashes, with all that it bears, 

 the more the better ; for by no less severity will this ill-natured mould 

 be subdued. Rotten wood, and the bottom of bavine-stacks, is a good 

 ingredient to this manure ; and, if the land be of a cold and wet quality, 

 strewings of soot is good ; if very stiff, rubbish of brick, limestone, and 

 such trash, may properly be laid at the bottom, and, on the upper part, 

 composts of dung; for otherwise, no limings (which being sleeked, is raw 

 and cold) may, at any hand, be applied, especially to the hungry sort, 

 which (as also most kinds of marsh-earth) is subject to chasm, and gape 

 in dry seasons ; to prevent which, a discreet mixture of ashes and sand 

 is used : for, if it be in excess, it over-heats the latter. 



I do not reckon loams among the clays, though it seem to be but a suc- 

 culent kind of argilla, imparting a natural ligament to the earth where 

 you mix it, especially the more friable, and is therefore, of all other, the 

 most excellent mean between extremes, fastening and uniting that which 

 is too loose or stony, cooling that which is hot, and gently entertaining 

 the moisture. The flower-garden cannot be without a mixture of it ; 

 nor will any fruit, especially the best cider-apples, so it be accompanied 

 with a lighter soil. 



To sum up all we have said concerning natural improvements, by mix- 

 tures of earth with earth, rather than dungs, let us hear my lord Bacon : 

 He reckons up marl, chalks, sea-sand, mould upon mould, pond-earth 

 with chalk, and the several blendings and tempering of them ; among all 

 which, we find marl to carry the pre-eminence with his lordship, as the 

 most pinguid, rich, and least over-heating ; next to this, sand, as the 



