ably of its fertility. It was formerly under cultivation, and produced, according to the statement of the tenant, good crops of maize and tobacco, for several successive years, without any necessity of manure; but it is now abandoned, having ceased to produce any thing, which the tenant ascribes to a blight that once befell the crops (!)

Is a specimen of the soil covering a large portion of the flats of New South Wales. Its specific gravity is high; its colour is creamy; it is very finely granulated; to the touch it feels soft and mealy; in drought, it is raised into a fine dust on the roads; in wet weather, it is slippery and muddy; after rain, it is hard, strongly cohesive, and crusty on the surface. It is never cultivated, and produces a low,

scrubby, and stunted vegetation, with scarcely any graminæ. Specific gravity, 3.50.

This soil belongs to Mona Vale, the property of Mr. Kermode, of which, a few pages back, a cursory description has been given. It is taken from twentyfour different parts of what is called, on that farm, the "Big Swamp," which was originally a lagoon, situated on Blackman's river, and lying on somewhat a lower level than the river itself. This lagoon has been embanked and drained; it is circular in its form, and embraces an area of 470 acres. The entire soil is a decomposed mass of vegetable matter, mixed with drifts of disintegrated greenstone and sandstone, lying eight feet deep, on a bed of yellow clay. Its specific gravity is between 100 and 1.18; its colour is black; the division of its particles fine; and its con

sistence spongy, by reason of the quantity of vegetable fibre it contains. It aggregates easily in large lumps, and, when wet, is cloggy and unctuous; in drought it cracks.

It is not manured, but it is drained and irrigated. It is under meadow, grasses, and turnips, and produces five tons per acre of very fine hay. This soil, according to Mr. Kermode, is too rank and strong for grain; but turnips, rape, and grasses flourish on it surprisingly.

Belongs to the same basin as the former soil; but the site is somewhat more elevated. It forms the south extremity of the basin; and, being within the more direct range of the drift of disintegrated green

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stone, it is lighter in colour, and more tenacious of moisture, than No. 14. It is also more gritty.

This soil belongs likewise to the farm of Mona Vale. It is taken from a plain, of which the adjacent hills are greenstone, and is partly an alluvium. The plain is undulating, and is more subjected to alternate denudation and renovation, than to steady accumulation of drift. Its specific gravity is 1.70; its colour a blackish grey; its consistence coarse. It aggregates easily in lumps of some tenacity, resisting the pressure of the fingers, and feeling gritty when crushed. Its permeability is not very great; in a heavy rain it resists the percolation, and in drought it cracks. It is easy of cultivation, although it clogs when moist;

is neither manured nor irrigated; was formerly under wheat, but yielded such unprofitable crops, and so frequently suffered from frost, that its cultivation was abandoned. Its subsoil is clay and diluvium. Mr. Kermode looks upon this soil as the least productive soil upon the farm, notwithstanding its external appearance, which is promising.

Is the fourth soil taken from the farm of Mr. Kermode. It lies in the vicinity of the preceding, and partakes somewhat of its character, but on closer examination is nevertheless found to differ. It has all the appearance of an excellent soil for cultivation, yet every crop has failed upon it. it. Its specific gravity is 1·30; colour, a greyish brown; is more permeable than the preceding soil, and does not clog so much when moist. It has been neither manured nor irrigated. Its