precipitated from the agitated waters when they arrive at a quietbed in any land-locked creek. With these the powder of triturat-ed shells and grains of fine sand are blended. This gives a dur-able improvement wherever it is applied.
The preparation of earthy composts is found to be a very o-perose employment; but the benefits attributed to the applica-tion of them to the soil are very important. They communicatea durable amelioration to thin and sterile soils—correct the faultsof those which are of defective construction—and occasion acloser and sweeter turf, and more frequent reproduction, whenthe land is laid to grass. When lime only is mixed with mould,half of the lime which would be used alone is sufficient; and thecompost promotes an increased fertility where the full quantityby itself would have no effect. The compost of peat-moss isstill more beneficial, as it augments the quantity of manure four-fold or more of equal quality. Moss, being a vegetable substance,after undergoing fermentation, becomes capable of being dissolv-ed slowly, and going to the food of growing plants. In the meantime it mends the consistence of dense soils by separating theirparticles, and aids dry porous soils in retaining moisture, till itbe dissolved.
The economy of Scotch husbandry, by which a regular alterna-tion of white and green crops, of corn or other tillage crops, andgrass or pasture ones, is observed, acquires to the soil a stock ofspontaneous manure in addition to what is administered by hu-man industry. It is evident to every observing eye, that allgrowing plants attract a part of their subsistence from the at-mosphere, by means of their loaves; and hence those which havethe broadest space of leaves must derive the greatest proportionof their accretion from that source. When broad-leaved plantsare cultivated, as the growth proceeds, new le;ives are still form-ing ; and the earlier, giving way to the later, fail down and roton the surface. Thus some share of manure is acquired, evenwhile industry is exerted to draw the greatest possible productfrom the soil. But when land is again left at rest in grass, notonly the benefit of folding is partially derived from the excre-ments of the animsds which feed upon it, but the lower leaves ofgrass which, though narrow are numerous, still drawing part oftheir aliment from the atmosphere, escaping the mouths of pas-turing animals, full dovyn and enrich the surface with their spoils.When other plants cease to vegetate, the Musci, to which na-ture has denied a rostel to penetrate the soil, and draw their sus-tenance thence, raise their heads, and ’patten on the atmosphericbanquet, which no competitor appears to dispute. These acqui-sitions of a few years, the returning plough mixes with the soil;and an augmentation of fertility is obtained; which is altogetherlost where land is kept in perpetual grass.
piese arc the various pieans employed by the agriculturists of