Note 29 — CHAP. V. Of Tillage.
Reading edition
Tho’ it may be impossible for the Plough to reduce the whole Staple into so fine Powder, yet the more internal Superficies it makes, the more Dust will be made by the Atmosphere in Proportion; and great Clods perhaps are of no Use to Plants, but by that Dust they let fall, being thence extricated by the insensible Ferment of the nitrous Air; and the Surfaces of this artificial Dust must receive such Operations from the Air, before the utmost Fertility be obtain’d.
[30]But I take harsh uncivil Clay to be the least profitable of any to keep in Tillage.
[31]To this Dust, Namque hoc imitamur arando ought to be apply’d, and not to Putre Solum, which itself needs Tillage, as well as strong Land: But it seems the Antients did not observe the Difference between natural Pores (or Hollowness) and artificial ones, tho’ it is very great; as is shewn in Chap. of Pasture of Plants: ’Tis easier indeed to imitate this artificial Dust in hollow than in strong Land.