570 Indications of Fertility or Barrenness of Soils. 
Because it is found that the surface is occupied bj grasses which 
are known from experiment to be unproductive. And why is 
the surface thus occupied ? Because it requires a fertile soil to 
produce and bring to perfection a great quantity of produce of a 
good cjuality , and the reason why all soils do not naturally do so 
is because they are not fertile, that is, they are barren. And 
further, it is known that any surface occupied by natural grasses 
of an unproductive kind may be improved by manuring, and 
made fertile by a long continuance of good management. But 
barren land can never be made fertile without changing its herb- 
age, and, as certain as we begin to manure and improve our 
grass land, that herbage which is a never failing indication of 
barrenness will gradually disappear, and will be replaced by 
that of a better kind, and the land will finally become clothed 
with good natural grasses, the presence of which is a certain indi- 
cation of fertility. 
There are also other vegetable productions always present in 
pasture-lands which are indications of barrenness and fertility, 
and point out, almost to as great a certainty as those which con- 
stitute the principal produce, whether land producing them be 
barren or fertile. Those also are capable of being formed into 
a list and made use of, and are an admirable test of the ideas 
derived from previously-observed surface-apj)caranccs. 
Thus, by stating in our oViservalions that certain lands produce 
this or that kind and description of plants, at the same time 
writing down their names, such observations will point out, in a 
definite and simple manner, the inferiority or fertility of soils 
much more distinctly than by stating that the herbage is coarse, 
sour, benty, and peaty. If the herbage be really coarse, sour, 
benty, and peaty, the names of the prevailing grasses found upon 
such soil will not only convey to the mind that such herbage is 
unproductive, but, in addition, the certain knowledge that the 
land producing it is absolutely barren. 
The very appearance of many of the plants in the following 
list is a certain indication of the barrenness of the soil that pro- 
duces them, but a few are enumerated that cannot be ccmsidered 
to be so decisive in their indications, and must be found in con- 
siderable quantities before they are put down as certain. Such 
are the daisy, plantain, cowslip, ikc. Their appearance, how- 
ever, is calculated in any circumstances to excite suspicion, and 
ought to be taken as an indication of barrenness, until it is found 
from examination that the proportion of the surface they occupy 
is not so great as to warrant their presence being taken as a de- 
cided indication. 
