On  the  Fotver  of  Soils  to  absorb  Manure. 
375 
it  has  none  of  the  chemical  properties  of  combining  with  manure 
which  clay  possesses.  In  Norfolk  this  is  frequently  the  case,  and 
it  would  often  pay  the  farmer  to  go  a longer  distance  for  real  clay 
rather  than  apply  that  of  inferior  quality  which  lies  under  the 
surface. 
Another  and  very  important  inference  may  be  drawn  from  the 
facts  now  described.  If  nature  has  established  a condition  of  the 
soil  by  which  all  the  salts  and  manure  pass  into  one  uniform  state 
in  which  they  are  presented  to  the  plant — and  if,  further,  it  can  be 
proved  that  the  soils  naturally  most  fertile  and  most  fitted  for 
successful  cultivation  are  precisely  those  which,  consistently  with 
a proper  mechanical  texture,  contain  abundance  of  clay,  such  as 
free  clay  loams,  then  it  would  seem  to  follow  that  in  an  absolute 
sand  or  gravel  manure  applied  in  any  quantity  would  not  undergo 
the  necessary  changes  and  combinations,  and  that  no  vegetation  in 
such  soils  should  be  perfectly  healthy.  In  all  good  soils  plants 
have  one  form  only  of  potash,  ammonia,  magnesia,  &c.  presented 
to  them.  Is  it  likely  that  they  can  thrive  equally  well  when,  as 
in  pure  sand,  these  bases  are  offered  to  them  in  every  possible  form 
of  combination  ? Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  possi- 
bility that  clay  possesses  a power  of  retarding  or  altogether  arrest- 
ing the  putrefactive  process.  Our  information  on  this  head  is  at 
present  very  limited ; but  should  further  inquiries  prove  that  such 
is  actually  the  case,  it  will  be  necessary  very  seriously  to  consider 
the  state  in  which  manure  should  be  applied.  It  seems  clear  that 
manures  in  a fresh  state  are  available  to  vegetation.  What  other- 
wise would  become  of  the  urine  of  sheep  folded  on  turnips,  and 
to  which  the  success  of  the  following  barley -crop  is  justly  attri- 
buted ? That  this  urine  and  dung  of  the  sheep,  which  is  incorpo- 
rated in  a state  of  perfect  freshness  with  the  soil,  does  act  upon  the 
succeeding  crop  there  can  be  no  doubt,  and  if  it  should  be  proved 
that  decomposition  of  animal  matters  does  not  go  on  in  the  soil, 
there  will  he  no  alternative  but  to  believe  in  the  power  of  plants 
to  feed  upon  these  matters  in  their  fresh  state.  The  property  of 
the  soil  to  arrest  putrefaction  and  to  combine  with  organic  effluvia 
is  matter  of  common  observation  ; the  practice  of  leaving  a knife 
in  the  ground  to  remove  the  smell  of  onions,  which  nothing  else 
will  do  so  well,  is  one  instance  of  this  property. 
The  dog  buries  the  bone  which  he  cannot  consume  at  one  time 
in  the  soil,  and  returns  for  it  at  leisure.  The  fox  in  his  wholesale 
depredations  is  known  to  secrete  his  booty  in  the  earth,  laying  up 
stores  in  various  places  for  his  future  use.  In  the  same  way 
venison  is  placed  in  the  ground  to  keep  it  sweet,  whilst  it  mellows. 
Every  one  has  remarked  that  a country  churchyard,  where  the 
bodies  are  not  over-crowded,  and  the  soil  is  sufficient  for  the 
