79 
Sir Francis L. Wood said he knew so little of 
geology that he was not prepared to enter into the 
general question, but he was perfectly convinced that an 
acquaintance with the science was necessary to a perfect 
knowledge of the art of farming ; and that the farmer 
must know somethins: of the nature of the subsoils 
before he could advantageously mix them for the pro- 
duction of corn or, grass. There was an experiment 
tried lately near Hatfield of mixing sand with the peat 
or black earth, which had proved so successful that they 
could now get crops of Swedish or common turnips six 
times better than they could get them before. 
Professor Sedgwick said, that having been so pointedly 
called on, he should say a few words, though the imme- 
diate subject of their discussion was one to which he 
was almost a stranger; he meant the nice examination 
of soils and their bearings upon agricultural produce. 
His pursuits of geology had been on a large scale, and 
he had studied its relations to great questions both of 
natural history and of general physics ; but its applica- 
tion to the science of agriculture he had hardly ever 
touched upon. They were all greatly indebted to Mr. 
Thorp for the skill with which he had drawn up his 
paper, and for the instructive facts and observations he 
had laid before them. 
With regard to the connexion between geology and 
agriculture, (the subject on which he was called on 
to speak,) he might just remark, that a knowledge of 
the great mineral masses that constitute the superficial 
portions of the earth was the first business of geology ; 
and it was true that each successive deposit was derived 
from a new arrangement of the materials that preceded 
it. To this rule the vegetable soil, or, at least, the ma- 
