262 
the ragwort, the Zotus corniculatus, the Orobus tu- 
berosus, and the Viola montana, are found to predo- 
minate in moor-grounds, though these piants are 
mixed with heath, the ground, if stones or steepness 
prevent not, may be improved by cultivation; but 
where the heath is found mixed with rein-deer moss, 
and the plants above specified absent, the soil and 
subsoil is sterile, and will not pay the expense of 
culture, and might be planted with the larch and 
Scotch fir to afford shelter and materials for fences to 
the neighbouring grounds. The following plants in 
moors indicate a wet retentive subsoil,—dwarf silky 
willow, Salix repens, butterwort, Pinguicula vul- 
garis, round-fruited carex, Carex pilulifera, moss- 
bush, Juncus squarrosus, scaly-stalked club-rush, 
Scirpus cespitosus, Lancashire narthecium, /Varthe- 
cium ossifragum, and grass of Parnassus, Parnassia 
palustris. On dry moors, containing a considerable 
proportion of peat earth, are, needle or petty whin, 
Genista anglica, mat-grass, Nardus stricta, yellow 
mountain violet, Viola lutea, common tormentil, 
Tormentilla officinalis, and mountain cudweed, 
Gnaphalium dioicum. — Marshy soils are found in 
their natural state to produce ragged robin, Lych- 
nis flos-cuculi, fringed buckbean, Menyanthes trifo- 
lata, marsh marygold, Caltha palustris, brook-lime, 
Veronica beccabunga, marsh cinquefoil, Comarum 
palustre, and marsh bed-straw, Galium uliginosum. 
And near the sea, sea arrow-grass, Triglochin mari- 
timum, sea-marsh grass, Poa procumbens, pale carex, 
Carex pallescens, and great common carex, Carer 
riparia. When such marshes are dried, as they fre- 
quently contain a large proportion of decayed aquatic 
plants, they prove highly fertile, and few weeds ap- 
pear after they are broken up. The most trouble- 
some to farmers, are such as are introduced amongst 
seed grain, as goosegrass, Galium aparine. When 
the marsh is incumbent on marl, the common colt’s- 
foot, Tussilago far fara, and the common butter bur, 
Tussilago petasites, are not easily rooted out. It 
may be remarked, that these plants are so partial to 
calcareous soils, as to form a signal to the natives of 
the lower valleys of Switzerland where to sink for 
marl.— Peat, or what is provincially termed moss, is 
often found without many plants covering the sur- 
face. Where the surface is dry, the cross-leaved 
heath, Erica tetraliz, and the Agrostis canina, ac- 
quire an establishment. In the hollows are found, 
cotton grass, Eriophorum polystachion, and orange 
berry, Vaccinium oxycoccus. When moss is reduced 
to a state of cultivation by draining, the annual plants 
appearing are, soft brome grass, Bromus mollis, field 
scorpion grass, Myosotis arvensis, and wild oats, 
Avena fatua, and the Galium aparine, when its 
seeds are introduced amongst oats or barley seeds.— 
In the dens wholly inaccessible to the plough, and 
which are intended for plantations, the following 
plants, the natural productions of such dens, may as- 
sist in selecting suitable trees to the soil:_-Where 
the great brake or fern, Pteris aquilina, is found in 
abundance, the oak will be found to succeed. The 
great wood rush, Luzula maxima, and the herb Paris, 
Paris quadrifolia, delight in tenacious soils, suitable 
to the hazel and the elm. The red campion, Lych- 
nis dioica, the pilewort, Ranunculus ficaria, the dog’s 
mercury, Mercurialis perennis, indicate a good soil 
for the maple and the ash. The wood anemone, 
Anemone nemorum, grows on a soil suitable to the 
birch. The water avens, Geum rivale, and the 
Geranium pratense, are found by the sides of rills, 
where the alder and Huntingdon willow will ac- 
quire a rapid growth. 
The Improving of Soils —The bringing of waste 
or barren lands into a state of cultivation is 
effected in various ways, according to the nature 
of the soil, the facilities of the situation, and the 
SOIL. 
resources and objects of the reclaimer; and itis 
discussed in some of its most important bearings, 
in the articles ImpRovemEeNT oF Lanp, HEata- 
Lanps, Waste Lanps,and Boas. The ameliorating 
of the herbage and the increasing of the luxuriance 
of grass lands are accomplished by methods spe- 
cially adapted to soil and circumstances; and are 
discussed in the articles Grass Lanps, Meapow, 
Pasture, and Irrigation. The reclaiming and 
ameliorating of all sorts of wet lands, whether 
waste, grass, or arable, by the abduction of their 
excess of moisture, either along the surface or by. 
taps or by subsoil ducts, are fully discussed in 
the article Dratnine. The neutralizing of acidity 
and of noxious oxides, the reduction of inert vege- 
table matter, the accelerating of the decomposi- 
tion of stubborn organic manures, and the resolv- 
ing and recombining of some mineral substances 
into available food for plants, by means of the 
well-known practice of liming, are discussed in 
the article Lime. The correcting of an excess of 
one chief mineral constituent by the intermixing 
of another, and the restoring or enriching of ex- 
hausted soils by the addition of plant-feeding 
substances in which they have become deficient, 
are discussed in the article Manure. The prompt 
removal of a great excess of coarse vegetable 
matter, or rather the prompt conversion of it into 
manurial principles, together with a concomitant 
ameliorating of the texture of the land which it 
has encumbered, is discussed in the article Par- 
Ing AND Burnine. The artificial obtaining of an 
entirely new soil, in the form of a fresh deposit 
of alluvium, on low-lying lands, by the side and 
beneath the flood-level of rivers and estuaries, is 
discussed in the articles Conmata and Warpine. 
The deepening of arable soils, the increasing of 
their porosity, and the renovating of their sub- 
stance by means of additions or inversions from 
below, are discussed in the articles TRENcHING 
and Sussoiz-PLoveHine. The removing of foul- 
ness from arable lands, the accelerating of their 
mineral reduction, the full exposing of them to 
the chemical actions of the weather, and the sea- 
sonal subjecting of them to the completest possi- 
ble course of tillage, are discussed in the article 
Fatitow. And the ordinary and current con- 
servation and increase of the fertility of arable 
lands, by the best routine practices of tillage and 
culture, are discussed in the articles PLoyeuine, 
Driti-Husspanpry, Hor, Horse-Hor, Harrow, 
and GRUBBER, and in the articles on all the prin- 
cipal field crops. 
The Cultivation of Soils—Any soil, in order to be 
suitable for cultivation, or to possess the requi- 
sites of fertility, must contain all the mineral 
matters which yield the ashes of the plants 
destined to be cultivated upon it, in such a con- 
dition as to be available by the plants, and in 
sufficient quantity to enable the supply to be 
kept up by some economical mode of cultivation ; 
it must consist of a due admixture of impalpable 
matter, and larger sized particles, so that it may be 
