THE CULTIVATOR. 
141 
termed peaty. They are found, too, abundantly, on the coarser 
clays or tills, on the poorer silicious sands, as those lying upon or 
derived from quartz, on the poorer class of calcareous soils, as chalk, 
and generally on all soils, low in the scale of fertility. 
The soils where this kind of plant prevails, are frequently termed 
heathy soils or heaths. Heathy soils have, however, their relative 
degrees of productiveness, and this is generally well denoted by the 
vigor with which the heaths peculiar to them gjow. Thus, a soil of 
stunted heaths may be regarded as among the lowest in the scale 
of fertility, whilst a vigorous growth of the plant, may indicate a soil 
susceptible of improvement and cultivation. 
[We omit here the names of many plants which indicate the quality of the 
soil, as several of them are not found in the United States, and of those that 
are, little is known, by common readers, of their botanical or common names.] 
Various plants are regarded as indicating fertility where they 
prevail. Of these are:— 
1. Cnicus lanceolatus—Spear Plume-Thistle. 
2. Urtica dioica—Great Nettle. 
3. Arctium Lappa—Common Burdock. 
4. Stellaria media—Common Chickweed. 
5. Achillea Millefolium—Common Yarrow. 
And, generally speaking, all the richer and more nutritious pasture 
grasses. Such are: 
1. Dactylis glomerata—Rough Cocksfoot. 
2. Festuca pratensis—Meadow Fescue. 
3. Alopecuris pratensis—Meadow Foxtail. 
4. Poa trivialis—Roua'h-stalked Meadow-grass. 
5. Phleum pratense—Meadow Catstail. 
6. Lolium perenne—Ryegrass. 
Those who desire to pursue this investigation more in detail, may 
consult botanical works descriptive of the plants of paiticular coun¬ 
tries or districts, in which they will find the habitats of plants indi¬ 
cated with more or less correctness. It is not necessary, in the 
present place, to extend the observations on this subject; for in giv¬ 
ing examples of plants, those have been selected which are of fre¬ 
quent occurrence, and the best suited to indicate the characters of 
soils in this country. 
I shall now conclude the subject of soils, by giving the student a 
few rules for enabling him to distinguish soils in the situations in 
which they may be presented to him. 
First, then, let him make such use of the indications afforded by 
the natural produce of the soils as his means of information afford. 
He may not know the names of the plants that are growing natu¬ 
rally upon the surface, but he can always observe whether they 
are growing with vigor, whether the sward is thickly covered with 
species, and whether the general aspect of the part to be examined 
indicates fertility or poverty. 
A difficulty, which it will be well that he endeavor, in the first 
place, to overcome, is to distinguish the peaty soils from the earthy. 
He will experience little difficulty in this, when they are distinct 
from each other, and covered by their natural herbage ! But when 
they are subjected to cultivation, or intermingled with the earthy 
soils of the same field, or when a soil contains a certain portion of 
peat in its composition without being entirely peaty, then the eye 
may be deceived, from their resemblance to the dark coloured loams. 
The one class of soils, however, may be of great fertility, and the 
other of great barrenness ; for it is to be observed that, though peat 
may be often rendered fertile, its presence in soils is always suspi¬ 
cious. 
The soils termed peaty, it was before observed, are dark in their 
colour, and loose and spongy in their texture, even when improved 
by art. The soils which they most resemble in external characters 
are the richer loams, but they are more light and spongy than these, 
and their colour is of a duller dark than the loams, which approach 
rather to a hazel hue. Peaty soils, too, very generally lie on a re¬ 
tentive subsoil; but perhaps the best method of discriminating them 
in the absence of their peculiar vegetation, is by the stones which 
lie upon their surface. These appear to be acted upon by the acid 
matter of the peat, and present a white appearance, which, when 
once observed, will not be easily mistaken again. Coupling this in¬ 
dication with the dull black, as distinguished from the brighter hazel 
of the loam, and above all, with the peculiar vegetation and sterile 
aspect of the surface, the student will soon learn to distinguish the 
peaty soils from the earthy. 
In examining the earthy soils, an essential circumstance to be re¬ 
garded is, the depth of the soil, and the texture of the subsoil. A 
medium depth of a soil may be held to be from nine to ten inches. 
But it will be better that it exceed a foot, and this greater depth of 
the soil is always a favorable indication. If the depth of the soil 
does not exceed six inches, that is an unfavorable indication. Such 
shallow soils are rarely good, except sometimes when they occur 
resting on peculiar rocks, as compact limestone, and certain easily 
decomposed basalts and porphyries. If a shallow soil shall occur 
on a retentive clay, or on silicious sand, we may certainly pronounce 
it to be bad. When in the common operations of tillage the plough 
is constantly turning up a subsoil very different in colour from the 
upper stratum, that is an unfavorable indication. 
When we find the rain in a furrow of ordinary descent carrying 
off the soil, and leaving the subsoil exposed, that is an unfavorable 
indication. It is desirable to see the water in the furrows sink down 
and be absorbed, instead of carrying of the surface soil. 
If the soil be of a dull black colour, and if it present upon the sur¬ 
face the white stones above refered to, that is an unfavorable indi¬ 
cation, as it shows that the soil has more or less of peat in its com¬ 
position. 
If the soil produce sub-aquatic plants, it is wet. If we find that 
such a soil is peaty, or shallow on a retentive subsoil, it is naturally 
sterile. If we find that the sub-aquatic plants are tall and vigorous, 
and the soil earthy and deep, the removal of the wetness may re¬ 
move the cause of infertility, and such a soil may become of the 
richest kind. 
If we find a soil producing naturally the superior herbage plants, 
and of a good depth, that soil we may infer to be good. When soil 
of this kind tends to a dark hazel colour, we may safely reckon it 
among the superior soils. 
By attention to these rules, and by a little observation and prac¬ 
tice, the difficulty of discriminating soils will gradually be lessen¬ 
ed, and at length disappear. Those who have been used to coun¬ 
try objects rarely experience difficulty in discriminating soils, in so 
far at least as these soils are to be distinguished by their texture 
into stiff and free, or by their powers of production into rich and 
poor. 
Sl&eep Husbandry* 
HINTS ON SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 
[Selected and collated for the Cultivator.'] 
In an agricultural view, simply, the importance of sheep is ex¬ 
treme ; since, by their assistance alone, thin barren, upland soil, so 
often the far greater part of a country, can be cultivated to advan¬ 
tage, which otherwise could not generally be cultivated at all. The 
sheep will subsist and multiply on those barren soils where no other 
animal would be maintained with equal profit; he is equally calcu- 
culated for the most deep and fertile, challenging competition, and 
dividing the palm of profit with the ox, and is excluded from such 
only as abound in stagnant water, the moist exhalations of which 
are naturally destructive to his constitution.— Lawrence on Cattle. 
The bodily constitution of the sheep, as of the goat., the deer, the 
camel, the hare and the rabbit, is usually called hot and dry ; we 
however kno,w from unquestionable experience, that dry soils, a dry 
air, dry provender and green food, which does not abound in cold 
and watery juices, are most appropriate and salutary to them. In¬ 
deed the contraries are replete with danger to the sheep, most par- 
ticulary, which is naturally and constitutionally subject to serous 
effusion, producing a dropsy of peculiar kind, either universal or cir¬ 
cumscribed, but more usually the latter, extending indifferently to all 
parts of the body. This efflux of water, or rather watery tenden¬ 
cy, in all the fluids of the body, gradually produces in the solids dis¬ 
organization, mortification or rot. Catarrhal affections are the most 
usual primary causes of rot. These ideas very plainly indicate the 
proper situations, food and treatment of sheep. 
Sheep have often been described as of “ a weakly constitution, li¬ 
able to be exhausted by fatigue, and ill able to bear the extremes of 
heat and cold, subject to many diseases, most of which are conta¬ 
gious.” Such notions are to be received with much allowance, for 
in trutli this useful race seems enabled by nature to accomodate 
itself to all the vicissitudes of climate, and to nearly the extremes of 
heat and cold, of which the husbandry, ancient and modern, of both 
northern and southern countries forms the best proof. We see 
them accustomed to brave the most rigorous of these extremes un- 
