234 A TREATISE ON THE CONNECTION OF

soils are peculiarly fitted for the application of alkaline salts, that the vegetable matter which had become oxy- genated and inert, by frequent culture and exposure of fresh surfaces to the air, may by these means be dis- solved. Notwithstanding the fertility of this black soil, it still requires the aid of manure or urime, as appears by Mr. Epwarps’s observations on the soil of Barbadoes; and in his remarks on the soil of Jamaica, he says, ‘¢ the urine of cattle is the best of all manures;” which practi- cally corroborates the Author’s theory on the action which the volatile alkali, contained in urine, has in dis- solving oxygenated peat, or oxygenated vegetable matter, and of which, so large a proportion is contained in many of the soils in the West Indies. The prevalence of this black, or vegetable soil, supercedes the necessity of sending to the West Indies the preparations of peat formerly re- commended, this soil requiring only alkaline salts as a sub- stitute for the urine of cattle, which is by no means to be had in such quantities as the ground would require, to in-

sure abundant crops.

Mr. Epwarps’s remarks are very judicious as to sub-

stituting coal for boiling the sugar, and the distillation of

“a een