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gt gravel, that subsoil is uniformly impregnated with the bitu-minous oil and acids of the moss. This proves that these ingre-dients are partly soluble in water. Otherwise they could not bewashed down into the subsoil. Now, as these two ingredients arecertainly hostile to vegetation, is it not highly probable, that bydigging and flooding moss, these are carried off, and such a soilrendered more fertile ? And is it not equally probable that thisis another way in which water operates in reclaiming 'waste land?May not all the astringent and antiseptic juices of such soils bethus carried off? And must not the vegetable matter they con-tain be thereby better prepared to undergo the putrid fermenta-tion ? Where that process is accomplished, must not such soilsbecome highly productive ? The more vegetable matter theycontain in this state, the more fertile they must become.
Thirdly, Alternate moisture and drought, heat and cold, pro-mote the disorganization of all vegetable matter exposed to theirinfluence. And when these alternations are rapid and offen re-peated, no vegetable can long resist their operation. The solidoak will yield to such powerful agents, and be reduced to its ele-mentary principles. Or rather these elements will be set free fromtheir former combinations, and be prepared to enter into othercombinations. In this new state, this vegetable matter becomes afit soil for nourishing other plants.
Moss and many waste soils contain vegetable matter in a stateof organization. And why has it remained so long in this state ?Is it not chiefly because it has been buried under the surface, andnever exposed to these alternations of moisture and drought, heatand cold?
W hen such waste lands therefore are dug or ploughed, and thenflooded with water, both in cold and warm weather, must not thevegetable matter they contain be exposed to these alternations ?Must it not therefore, like the hardier oak, be reduced to a stateof disorganization, and form a mould like it fit for rearing othervegetables ? And may not this be another way in which floodingoperates in reclaiming waste lands?
Fourthly, Coal and some species of schistus are more analogousto some kinds of peat, than even the oak, or any recent vege-table. When these substances are newly turned up, they arehostile to vegetation. But when exposed to moisture and drought,heat and cold, and the alternations already mentioned, they crum-ble down into friable mould. When thus reduced, both coal andschistus form a soil fit for producing grass or grain. If howeverwe lend our aid to these powerful agents, and pound down thesesubstances, and water them frequently, we greatly expedite thesechanges. A piece of coal or schistus may be converted into.soilin as few weeks by these means, as it would in as many yearswithout such adventitious aid. May not digging and flooding atnossy or moorish soil, have a sin: ihr influence ? Must not these