Indications of the Fertility or Barrenness of Soils. 429 
ably. The discoveries of Professors Liebig and Playfair, the 
improvements made by our Royal, Highland, and Provincial 
Agricultural Societies, and put into practice by Earls Ducie and 
Spencer, Mr. Pusey, and a long list of the great and intelligent 
throughout our island, have given an immense impetus to agricul- 
tural improvement, which I trust will not cease till our land has 
attained that full amount of productiveness which the Almighty 
intended, and which his kind providence has placed within the 
reach of every practically scientific agriculturist. 
243, High-street, Exeter. 
XXV. — On the Indications of Fertility or Barrenness of Soils, 
ichether of Colour, Consistence, or Vegetation. By John 
Arkell. 
It has often occurred to me, when reading of analyzed soils and 
opinions given thereon, that there must be great difficulty in 
coming to a correct conclusion as to its fertility or barrenness 
thereby, knowing as we do that the different formations of the 
earth, as laid down by geologists, contain a number of veins or 
strata in the same formation, and that many of these veins or 
strata often crop out or come to the surface of the earth in the 
space of a hundred yards, also that each of those strata are com- 
posed of very different matter, as respects colour as well as sub- 
stance ; therefore, soil taken from either of those strata and 
analyzed cannot give the contents of any one of the others. It is 
true, on arable land, the different strata become mixed in a 
degree by the action of the plough and harrows, but not enough 
to make the soil of a whole field all alike. I have observed in the 
spring of the year, in dry weather, that scarcely any piece of 
arable land is of the same colour all over ; some of several dif- 
ferent shades in the space of 8 or 10 acres ; and have come to 
the conclusion that the difference in colour is caused by the dif- 
ferent strata coming up to the surface. As a case in point, I 
have in my occupation a field of arable land of about 10 acres, 
situated on the blue lias formation, which contains at the lowest 
part of it, in the space of a depth of less than 20 feet, no less than 
ten separate beds of stone, divided from each other by as many 
beds of clay or marl. Now, every one of these beds of stone and 
clay or marl crop out before you get three parts of the way up 
the same field ; neither two of these beds of stone are alike in 
colour or matter, although all bear a resemblance to each other. 
The several beds of clay and marl are very different ; some 
contain gravel and sand, others many small particles of limestone ; 
and next to the hardest and best stone lies the marl, as soft in 
