252 
loams, and are subdivided into orders and spe- 
cies, on the same principle as before. In the 
next or fourth class, under the denomination of 
loamy lands, are ranged those soils which con- 
tain from 10 to 20 per cent. of clay,—the remain- 
der, with the exception of the small per centage 
of limestone and humus they may contain, con- 
‘sisting of sand. The fifth class, designated as 
sandy, includes all those soils in which the pro- 
portion of clay does not exceed 10 per cent.; and 
here again the same subdivisions are adopted. 
Hitherto, the amount of calcareous matter pre- 
sent is not supposed to exceed 5 per cent.; but 
in the next class, that of marly soils, the above 
ingredient ranges in a proportion varying from 
5 to 20 per cent. of the whole. Marly soils are 
to be distinguished into five orders, of which 
the first, called argillaceous, contains about 50 
per cent. of clay; the second, loamy, from 30 to 
50; the third, sandy-loamy, from 20 to 30; the 
fourth, loamy-sandy, from 10 to 20; and the fifth 
is distinguished by the larger proportion of hu- 
mus, which exceeds in quantity 5 per cent. of 
the whole, and is therefore denoted as humous 
marl; which last is divided into three species— 
viz., argillaceous, which contains about 50 per 
cent. of clay; loamy, which contains from 30 to 
50 per cent.; and sandy, possessing from 20 to 
30 per cent. of the same ingredient. We next 
arrive at that class of soils which contains more 
than 20 per cent. of carbonate of lime, and which 
is therefore distinguished as calcareous. These 
are subdivided according to the proportion of 
clay they may contain: when this earth exists 
in the proportion of more than 50 per cent., they 
are to be called argillaceous; when it is from 30 
to 50, loamy; when from 20 to 30, they are said 
to belong to the sandy loams of the calcareous 
class; when from 10 to 20, to the loamy sands; 
and when either destitute of clay altogether, or 
containing at most only 10 per cent. of it, they 
are called sandy. Lastly, a calcareous soil which 
contains more than 5 per cent. of vegetable mould 
belongs to the sixth order, that of humous cal- 
careous soils, of which there are three species— 
namely, the argillaceous, the loamy, and the 
sandy, characterized as before, by the larger or 
smaller proportion of clay present in them. The 
last class, that of humous soils, is distinguished 
in the first place, into three orders. The first 
consists of soluble mild humus—that is, of that 
description of vegetable mould which is in a fit 
condition to nourish the plants which grow in | 
it; the second, of acid humus, namely, contain- 
ing a free acid, which by its presence is highly 
destructive to most kinds of vegetation; a 
third order consists of fibrous vegetable matter, 
such as peat, which, though not acid, is yetina | 
condition little fitted for imparting nourishment 
to plants. These orders are again subdivided 
into argillaceous, loamy, and sandy, according to 
the proportion of clay present in them; and 
lastly distinguished into two species, the one 
containing, the other destitute of, calcareous | 
matter.” 
The following table can readily be understood 
and used by any farmer, and ought to put anend || 
to the loose and ambiguous phraseology which |, 
prevails in the popular nomenclature of soils, and | 
might be of great service to the agricultural com- 
munity till a better classification shall be made. 
But it is defective, as to the aids it should afford 
both to experimenting and to current farming, in 
not noticing the gradations of sand and gravel 
with respect to the size of their fragments and 
granules,—in not noticing the condition of the 
lime, whether powdery and artificially supplied, 
or in the state of natural chalk, or in the state | 
of limestone gravel, or in the state of gypsum,— 
in not noticing the presence and proportions of 
the rarer and most fluctuating ingredients which 
play a main part in the nutrition of crops, such 
as the alkalies, the phosphates, and the nitrates, 
and in not noticing the mighty modifications 
of the several soils, or the wide varieties in their 
existing fertility. which result from subsoil, 
situation, climate, drainage, cleanness, and agri- 
cultural treatment. 
