Chap. XII. Appe.vdix, Part 4. No. 1.

121

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earth below will consolidate, and the defect of a thin soil on animpervious bottom will, in some degree, be experienced. Topreserve a sufficient depth of soil is, therefore, in all cases, ofvast importance, and has perhaps been too little attended to inthe practice of modern husbandry. Much ingenuity has beenemployed to facilitate the execution of field labour; various formsof the plough, to operate with less resistance, have .been con-structed ; and the work has been executed by the application ofless power. This is no doubt a great step in improvement, whenthe purpose can be equally well attained. It is pleasant to seethe ploughman conduct a pair of well trained hordes to the field,and, in a masterly manner, perforin the work which formerly re-quired the aid of an awkward ploughboy, and a number cf un-wieldy animals: and when the implements are well constructed,the horses powerful, the soil pliant, the bottom not obdurate,and the ploughman intelligent and dexterous, this, no doubt,may be done. But the passion for imitation is strong; fashionoverrules judgment; and two feeble animals, ill appointed, areexpected to perform what is task sufficient for the most power-ful—the surface is slightly scratched—attention to preserve thedepth of the soil disregarded—and the progress of fertility re-tarded. * * It would seem proper, therefore, to pay a due regardto this important branch of Agriculture, and employ poweradequate to the resistance, so as to stir the ground to such adepth as a healthy vegetation requires. This, however, is pecu-liarly necessary where a thin soil on a dense bottom is to be im-proved. The soil should be turned over to the bottom, and apart of the hard subsoil along with it. When this sterile sub-stance is mellowed in the air, a good dose of earthy compost,mixed with it, will give it the property of a fertile soil, and, byincreasing the depth, will prove a greater and more durable im-provement, than additions on the surface alone.

There are thin soils, lying on bottoms faulty in the oppositeextreme, which may be improved in the came manner. Whenthe soil h.as, immediately under it, a bed of sand and gravelwhich cannot retain water, the crop upon it soon sickens in thesummer’s drought. By turning up a part of this porous matter,and mixing it with compost formed of tenacious earth, the soilwould be made more retentive of water, and the defect greatlypalliated, -j-

* This stricture perhaps is not popular; but, it is to be feared, it is not theless just. There are people living who remember fields, formerly ploughed t*

* Swat depth, by the joint force of horses and oxen, and bearing large crops,which now, scratched by two sorry jades, yield very scanty ones. Other symp-toms might be stated, and much more said to the same puqtose; but it may bethought a digression to enlarge on aration, the subject of a prior chapter.

f When the soil is of a favourable construction to a sufficient depth, there"d 1 . be no need for mixing earthy matters with the manure. Heterogeneoustortures: of unconsumable matter arc apt to excite an undue porosity, and fora