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A DISCOURSE

Marsh and churlish earth will be civilized by the rigour and disciplineof two winters ; bis frigora , is the old methed to make the stubborn clodrelent; and, with the mixture of a little sand, if it be too close of body,it will become excellent mould.

Clay is, of all other, a cursed step-dame to almost all vegetation, ashaving few or no meatuses for the percolation of the alimental showers, orexpansion of the roots; whether it be the voracious, hungry, weeping, orcold sort. In these cases, laxatives are to be prescribed, such as drift sand,small gritty gravel, saw-dust, with marl or chalk, and continually vexingit with the spade or plough; but, above all, with sea-sand, where it maybe procured, and the burning of the ground to ashes, with all that it bears,the more the better; for by no lefs severity will this ill-natured mouldbe subdned. Rotten wood, and the bottom of bavine-stacks, is a goodingredient to this manure; and, if the land be of a cold and wet quality,Strewings of soot is good ; if very stiff, rubbish of brick, lime-stone, and

such trash, may properly be laid at the bottom, and, on the upper part,composts of dung; for otherwise no limings (which being sleeked is rawand cold) may at any hand be applied, especially to the hungry sort, which(as also most kinds of marsh-earth) is subject to chasm, and gape in dryseasons; to prevent which, a discreet mixture of ashes and sand is used;for, if it be in excefs, it over-heats the latter.

I do not reckon loams among the clays, though it seem to be but a suc-culent kind of argilla, imparting a natural ligament to the earth whereyou mix it, especially the more friable, and is therefore, of all other, themost excellent mean between extremes, fastening and uniting that whichis too loose or stony, cooling that which is hot, and gently entertainingthe moisture. The flower-garden cannot be without a mixture of it, norwell any fruit, especially the best cyder-apples, so it be accompanied witha lighter soil.

To sum up all we have said concerning natural improvements, by mix-tures of earth with earth, rather than dungs, let us hear my Lord Bacon:ID reckons up marl, chalk, sea-sand, mould upon mould, pond-earthwith chalk, and the several blendings and tempering of them; among allwhich, W'e find marl to carry the pre-eminence with his Lordship, as themost pinguid, rich, and least over-heating; next to this, sand, as the