English Agricultural Society. 



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Plavlng tlius reported sucli steps as your Committee have taken 

 in discharge of the trust committed to them hy the Society, they 

 are now desirous shortly to advert to some of the heads under 

 which it appears to them that our future labours in the promotion 

 of agricukural knowledge may be conveniently classed. The first 

 of these appears to them to be a more accurate acquaintance with 

 the characteristics of soils, and it might properly be termed the — 



I. — Classification of Soils. 



It is well known to practical farmers that in fields, where the 

 soil is seemingly throughout of one character, various qualities are 

 found by experience to exist in different portions ; that diversity 

 is found, of course, to be greater in larger divisions, such as farms, 

 parishes, and hundreds. Attempts have been made by chemical 

 examination to ascertain and account for these variations, but not 

 as yet with any decided success. It appears, however, that geolo- 

 gists, in making their surveys, often readily distinguish the strata, 

 which they seek to lay down in their maps by the vegetation which 

 appears on the surface, and many facts might be adduced in sup- 

 port of the connexion betv/een the geological and agricultural 

 characters of given districts. It has been proposed, therefore, by 

 the Journal Committee, that a survey should be made of the 

 Weald of Kent and Sussex, as a first step towards bringing this 

 view into a tangible shape, it being obvious that a correct know- 

 ledge of the various soils of this country is the only solid founda- 

 tion of English agricultural science.* 



II. — Permanent Improvement of Soils. 



The large sums yearly laid out in drainage, and the yet larger 

 amounts which might probably be so expended with advantage, 

 show the necessity of attending carefully to the details of this pro- 

 cess, as to the depth, distance, materials of the drains, in different 



* A Sub-Committee of Geology has since been appointed, who will have 

 specially to consider the survey here referred to. 



