Spring Park Farm. 
527 
repeatedly whitened land by the quantities of chalk I have 
brought up, or have covered the surface with stones and clay 
from below, and have never found any mischief therefrom ; but, 
on the contrary, the soil at once has been improved by the mix- 
ture. I had learnt from study, that all soils are composed prin- 
cipally of the oxygenized dust from metallic rocks, a change 
brought about by the atmosphere and the mechanical actions of 
the alternations of heat and cold, wet and dry. I had also seen 
the practice in fresh enclosures for cottage-gardens, where trench- 
ing is the first operation to make a waste fertile ; and I had also 
witnessed that a neighbour, simply by turning over 2 feet deep a 
bed of gravel, had raised a quick-fence aside of land belonging 
to a rich neighbour, on which, v^ith the aid of manure and added 
soil, quick had failed to grow. I therefore persevered in the plan 
I considered essential to give a produce, until I had turned over 
every acre of land several times, and gained a depth of 14 or 15 
inches of soil, where originally 1 had found only 5 or 6. The 
next obstacle I had to contend with was want of drainage. I 
saw my sheep in winter wading up to their bellies in mud, and in 
the spring my season for tilling and sowing was ever delayed for 
weeks, and not unfrequently spoilt through the sodden state of the 
land ; and my winter crops were starved or partially destroyed by 
the chilling effects that stagnant water ever produces. My atten- 
tion was soon drawn to the difference of crops on parts of fields 
partially dry, and I began to calculate how great was the loss 
where the land had lain wet, and the fact was made apparent, that 
frequently tlie entire expense of draining is to he gained bach by the 
first years improvement in the crops. One great advantage from 
deep draining is the higher temperature of the soil gained in the 
spring, and the consequent more forward vegetation. 1 believe 
I have by this means given an earlier growth of some weeks; 
or in other words, taken from the winter's rest several weeks 
to give them to a summer's growth. I was fortunate, too, in 
being convinced at an early period of my farming, of the 
greater benefit from deep over shallow draining; and my land- 
lord having agreed to provide me with tiles, I proceeded to 
invest 500Z. in draining the wettest of my land. By this means 
I have succeeded in changing a very watery soil into a dry one — 
a backward vegetation into an early one. How much in this wav 
my live stock have benefited, and my produce per acre increased, 
and the quality improved, it is difficult sufficiently to estimate. 
My land, at the time I took it, was much subdivided by ditches 
and borders, and shadowed by scattered trees. The evil from 
this I soon saw was very considerable ; much loss of time in 
tillage occurred by the frequent turns thus occasioned; and I 
had early learnt that time was money: the weeds from the bor- 
