AGRICULTURE. 
amount of poor rates ; the compactness of 
the land, and the covenants concerning 
crops, are only a few of the points which 
demand in such circumstances to be duly 
ascertained and estimated. To fix on good 
land is a prudential general direction. For 
such it is not easy, with ordinary discretion, 
to pay'too much, while for poor soils a small 
rent very frequently exceeds their worth. 
The most advantageous of all soils are the 
mellow, putrid, crumbling, sandy loams : 
those which will admit tillage soon after 
rain, and, though finely harrowed, will not 
harden, as if baked, in consequence of the 
hottest sunshine, after violent rains. The 
stitfloam, which is very nearly approaching 
to proper brick earth, is, without plenty of 
manure, an unfavourable soil. On walking' 
over it, it is found extremely adhesive in 
wet weather, and it requires a long time to 
dry. It may be considered as forming a 
medium between the clods of clay and the 
crumblings of loam. In stubble, a small 
green moss is frequently seen to cover it. 
I5y farmers, poverty and hunger are meta- 
phorically, and most expressively applied to 
this land, which has a great number of va- 
rieties. It requires a large quantity of ma- 
nure, and is wonderfully improved by hol- 
low ditching. The expense of these opera- 
tions must never be forgotten in connection 
with an estimate of their result. 
Warm, dry, gravelly loams are, in win- 
ter, easily distinguishable. Unless in a par- 
ticularly wet winter, they may be ploughed 
during almost any part of it, and will break 
up in a state of crumbling, running mould. 
A very bad soil is constantly formed by wet, 
cold gravel, which, in winter, is always in- 
dicated by its wetness, and in spring is 
known by the binding effects produced upon 
it by short and violent showers. It can be 
fertilized only by very extraordinary quan- 
tities of manure ; and drains fully and neatly 
completed in it, will considerably improve 
it. Some gravels are of so particularly sharp 
and burning a nature, that, unless the sum- 
mer be particularly wet, they will produce 
absolutely nothing. At any season this soil 
is obviously distinguishable. With respect 
to sands, the rich, red sand possesses 
always a dry soundness, and a temperate 
moisture, and will, in the driest summer, 
secure a crop. Its excellence and profita- 
bleness can scarcely be exceeded. Another 
admirable soil is formed of the light, sandy 
loam. It may be ploughed during the whole 
winter. The degree of its adhesion is pre- 
cisely that of its perfection. It may be 
usefully observed, that when stiff land is 
dry and crumbling, it is a sure indication of 
its goodness, as the adhesive quality of a 
sandy soil is, with respect to that species of 
land, an equally decisive symptom in its fa- 
vour. That which falls flat in powder is a 
niere barren sand. The chalk marie runs 
exceedingly to mortar from violent showers, 
after being pulverized, and is a cold and 
unprofitable soil. Clay land of great tena- 
city is usually let for more than it is worth ; 
and, though it will yield abundance of wheat, 
is attended, in its management and prepa- 
ration, with so great expense, that its profit 
is often trifling, and fortunes are far more 
frequently made by lands of a directly op- 
posite description, consisting of light and 
dry sand. The common fault of stiff clays 
is wetness. Where fields are level, and, 
even though the furrows are well ploughed, 
the water stands in the land, the extreme 
tenacity of the soil is obvious. It is also 
broken up by the plough only by a very 
powerful draught of cattle, and in pieces of 
vast size and extreme hardness. In winter, 
soils approaching to , this character are most 
to be distinguished. They will yield large 
crops of beans and wheat, but the sight of 
these should always be blended with the 
consideration of the immense expense at 
which they are necessarily raised. There 
are many variations of peat, bog, and fen, 
and all may be found exceedingly profita- 
ble ; and if marl or lime be in the neigh- 
bourhood, that circumstance is a most im- 
portant inducement to undertake the ma- 
nagement of them. 
With regard to grass lands they are to be 
best examined at several seasons, in order 
to ascertain their character. If they be too 
wet, this is shewn by walking over them in 
winter, and by rushes, flags, and moisture, 
which, in a greater or less degree, are al- 
ways observable upon them. The grass is 
generally blue at the points, and always 
coarse. Draining may correct stiff loams, 
but the stiff tenacious clay is scarcely sus- 
ceptible of cure. Grass, on gravelly soils, 
will inevitably burn in hot summers, but 
will extremely abound on loams in wet ones. 
On the banks of brooks and rivers, meadow 
of almost any soil may be considered good, 
but the circumstance of their liability to 
summer inundations ought never to be for- 
gotten. 
The herbage on many fields is sometimes 
composed of weeds and the coarsest and 
worst of grasses, which ar e at all times dis- 
cernible, and indeed glaring. Under a pro- 
