Elements of practical agriculture; comprehending the cultivation of plants, the husbandry of the domestic animals, and the economy of the farm / By David Low.

  • David Low
Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Elements of practical agriculture; comprehending the cultivation of plants, the husbandry of the domestic animals, and the economy of the farm / By David Low. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    28/880 page 4
    If the subsoil be rocky, it is desirable that it be calcareous rather than siliceous,—chalk or limestone, for example, rather than quartz. Sometimes the subsoil contains matter which is injurious to the growth of plants. This matter is generally found to be metallic, as iron or copper in certain combina¬ tions. Subsoils of this kind are frequently distinguished by deepness of colour. Soils, then, it is seen, are affected in their properties not only by their own texture and composition, but by the texture and composition of the subsoil; and they are divided into the Stiff or Clayey, and the Light or Free. The distinguishing characteristic of the Clayey Soils consists in the adhesiveness of their parts ; and this property alone will enable even the inexperienced to discriminate them. A stiff clay, when dried either by natural or artificial heat, becomes so hard as to resist a considerable mechanical pressure. On account of the tenacity of such soils, they are tilled with more difficulty than the freer soils. They require, to fertilize them, a larger quantity of manures ; but they retain the effects of these ma¬ nures for a longer time. They are better suited to the culti¬ vation of plants with fibrous than with fleshy roots or tubers. Soils of this class, as of every other, possess many degrees of natural fertility. The poor clays form, for the most part, an unprofitable soil, because, while their powers of production are inconsiderable, the expense of tilling them is great. The clayey soils of this character are generally of little depth, and rest upon a retentive subsoil, similar in composition to the soil. The natural herbage they produce is coarse and little nutri¬ tious, and they are not well suited to the production of the cul¬ tivated grasses and other herbage plants. They are little fitted for the growth of turnips, or other plants with large roots or tubers. Such soils have every where local names which suffi¬ ciently denote their qualities. They are termed, by not an im¬ proper figure, cold soils ; and sometimes they are classed under the general name moor, which term is often used to denote soils, whatever be their nature, of a low degree of fertility. Very different in their value and nature are the richer clays.
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3