SECTION VI. 



Note I. Page 130. 



According to Bergman, the soil best adapted to culture consists of 

 4-lOtlis of clay, 3-lOtlis sand, 2-lOths calcareous earths, and 1-lOth 

 magnesia. Fourcroy and Hassenfratz found 9216 parts of fertile, soil 

 to contain 305 parts of carbon, together with 27 9 parts of oil — of which, 

 according to the calculations of Lavoisier, 220 parts may be considered 

 as carbon ; so that the whole of the carbon contained in the oil may be 

 estimated at nearly 525 parts, not reckoning the roots of vegetables, or 

 about l-16th part of its weight. Young, a scientific agriculturist, 

 observed, that equal weights of different soils, when dried and reduced 

 to powder, yielded by distillation quantities of air in some measure 

 corresponding with the ratio of the values. The air was a mixture of 

 fixed and inflammable air, proceeding probably from the decomposition 

 of the water, but partly also, as may be supposed, from its power of 

 abstracting a quantity of air from the atmosphere, which the soil is 

 likewise capable of doing. 



One of the most favourable soils in England for the production of 

 fine wood, is said to be Sheffield-place, the seat of Lord Sheffield. 

 " What is most remarkable (as Pontey observes) is, that the Oak and 

 the Larch flourish equally upon it ; though it would seem too light for 

 the former, and too stiff for the latter." — Profitable Planter^ p. 106. In 

 order to ascertain the constituent parts of a soil so celebrated for the 

 production of timber, Sir Humphrey Davy submitted one hundred parts 

 of the entire soil to analysis, of which the following was the result : — 



Water ...... 3 



Silex 64 



Alumine . . . . . .28 



Carbonate of Lime ..... 8 



Oxide of Iron ..... 5 



Decomposing Vegetable matter ... 4 



Loss . . , . . . 3 



100 parts. 



