102 ANNUAL REPORT OF NEW- YORK 



characters the investigation of the second. There are soils 

 whose texture, situation, degree of moisture, kc.^ are appa- 

 rently faultless, which are nevertheless unproductive; they lack 

 some necessary form of food for the growing plant. There are 

 other soils which reveal by chemical analysis the presence of 

 every substance needed by the plant as food, and prove to contain 

 them all in sufficient quantity, and yet are not productive, or not 

 regularly so; they may give a fair crop one season and entirely 

 fail the next. These soils have some physical defect which nul- 

 lifies their excellencies of composition. 



An advanced, and rational or scientific system of farming, keeps 

 in view both the chemical and the physical qualities and wants of 

 the soil, and reclaims and improves the lands under its control, by 

 a judicious combination and succession of appropriate chemical and 

 physical agencies. Thus in England and Scotland, countries 

 which are the world's example in agriculture, the first thing that is 

 done with a soil by a thorough farmer, is to inquire into its 

 physical condition, and to correct the same when necessary and 

 practicable. The British farmer will have his soil just so dry, 

 just* so deeply tilled, just so finely pulverized, before he feels 

 warranted in putting seed into it, or manure upon it. In this 

 country, however, where nature has favored us with a climate 

 in some respects better, comparatively little attention is bestowed 

 on the mechanical preparation of the ground, the usual routine 

 of ploughing six inches, more or less, harrowing and rolling a 

 traditional number of times, being all that generally succeeds the 

 removal of forests and of stones. Beyond this simple preparation 

 of the ground, which is uniform for nearly all soils and all crops, 

 the farmer if he go farther, expends his strength in efforts to 

 raise the fertility of his fields by chemical means — by the appli- 

 cation of much and many manures. 



It is quite plain, on a moment's thought, that physical improve- 

 ments of the soil deserve to come first in order of time, because 

 where they are needed, and not supplied, chemical improvements 

 (manures) must fail to give the full effect proper to them. It is 

 of the utmost importance for the farmer to Idc able to judge 

 accurately how favorable to his purposes are the physical charac- 

 ters of any soil he proposes to occupy, and to know how to 

 maintain these qualities of a new soil in their original excellence. 



