much of that Liquor, in some Plants, may probably hurry the Terrestrial Matter thorough their Vessels too fast for them to arrest and lay hold of it. Be that as it will, 'tis most certain there are peculiar Soils that suit particular Plants. In England , Cherries are observ'd to succeed best in Kent ; Apples in Herefordshire ; Saffron in Cambridgeshire ; Wood in two or three of our Midland Counties ; and Teazles in Somersetshire . This is an Observation that hath held in all Parts, and indeed in all Ages of the World. The most ancient Writers of Husbandry[10] took notice of it; and are not wanting in their Rules for making choice of Soils suited to the Nature of each kind of Vegetable they thought valuable, or worth propagating.
But, which is a further Proof of what I am here endeavouring to advance, that Soil that is once proper and fit for the Production of some one sort of Vegetable, does not ever continue to be so. No, in Tract of time it loses that Property; but sooner in some Lands, and later in others: This is what all who are conversant in these things know very well. If Wheat, for Example, be sown upon a Tract of Land that is proper for that Grain, the first Crop will succeed very well; and perhaps the second, and the third, as long as the Ground is in Heart, as the Farmers speak; but in a few Years 'twill produce no more, if sowed with that Corn: Some other Grain indeed it may, as Barley. And after this has been sown so often, that the Land can bring forth no more of the same, it may afterwards yield good Oats; and, perhaps, Pease after them. At length 'twill become barren; the Vegetative Matter, that at first it abounded withal, being educed forth of it by those successive Crops, and most of it born off. Each sort of Grain takes forth that peculiar Matter that is proper for its own