Chap. XL Appendix, No. 4.

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the whole salutary effects of flooding to this cause. There canbe no doubt, however, of the effects of flooding ; it is left to thepublic to ascertain the causes, and to decide to which of the abovenamed they may be chiefly ascribed. Probably all of them may betaken into the account.

Section IV.

All kinds of Water are not equally fit for this purpose.

It may be of service to attend to this distinction, otherwiseboth money and labour may be thrown away in attempting toflood waste lands with water unfit for the purpose. To preventthis, it may be proper to point out those waters which can serveno good purpose, and then such as may be used with safety andsuccess. In general, it may be observed,

In the first place, that most waters that issue from mosses, areunfit for flooding waste land ; especially such as are impregnatedwith a considerable portion of bituminous oil. In place of im-proving, they must injure any soil over which they are permittedto run.

For a similar reason, waters that issue from any soil impreg-nated with pyrites, must be injurious. Many- mosses and stub-born clay soils are of this description: the sulphur and sulphuricacid, with the metallic salts it forms, are generally vegetable poi-sons. Chalybeate waters, too, of all kinds, are unfit for flooding;and all such as are impregnated with antiseptic qualities of anykind, are of a similar description.

In the second place, all soft waters which wash well, or readilydissolve soap, will serve the purpose of flooding waste land.Spring water, if pure, may therefore be used with advantage ; asa proof of this, we uniformly observe, that wherever it is permit-ted to overrun any part of a waste, the heath and coarse herb-age disappear, and sweet pasture grasses occupy their place.

Muddy waters in general may also be used ; but they are notall equally beneficial. Much depends on the earthy ingredientswith which they are impregnated ; sometimes sand, -at other timesclay; sometimes carbonaceous, and at other times calcareousmatter, constitutes the ingredients of such waters ; and for themost part, muddy water contains a portion of all these earths,though in general one preponderates more than the rest. Ofcourse, different waters are adapted to different soils ; if the wa-ter be impregnated chiefly with sand, or siiicious matter, it willnot serve a soil of the same description, though it may be ofgreat service in a mossy or clayey soil. On the contrary, if clayforms the chief ingredient in the water, it is peculiarly suited toa sandy soil. Calcareous matter in the water, will improve anysoil ; and all these ingredients combined, will consolidate andenrich any loose mossy soil.

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