246 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



the ages have been prepared for the habitation of hind animals, not 

 only the rock foothold which has been constantly increasing in 

 area, but also an earth • covering out of wliiih spring all life. 

 Throughout the ages the ocean has locked within the soil that cov- 

 ers her floor, mineral and organic elements; and these were not lost 

 by the rock w^hen it rose from the sea. 



The rock waste contains all the elements that existed in the orig- 

 inal rock, and our soil is but a counterpart of that deposit on the 

 oceans' floor. The contribution of continents have successively 

 produced lime, clay or sand muds that contain all the mineral in- 

 gredients favorable for the growth of vegetation, and for ages all 

 the forces and powers of the mighty ocean have been engaged in 

 rendering them fit for such uses as man has put the soil to. As the 

 unhardeued floor of the sea is an exceedingly rich soil, the consoli- 

 dated masses of limestone, sandstone and shade, though mountains 

 of which we passed on our way to the meeting, are but condensed 

 plant food, requiring only the completion of the processes by the 

 agency of rain to create a medium into w'hich the vegetation may 

 insert its roots and from which may be extracted all the nutrition 

 requisite for its growth. 



I have no hesitation in affirming that this product of the waters 

 possesses every essential for cultivation. The poorest and most 

 stubborn clays have untold possibilities for the service of man. Of- 

 ten these treasures are securely locked and require a system wiser 

 than our own to find the key. But no soil is so lacking in fertility 

 that it w^ould noit grow a generous crop if it be kindly and wisely 

 nurtured. 



The bulletins from the Cornell Universitv, confirmed bv others 

 from elsewhere, state that almost anv soil in their State should 



7 •/ 



produce three times the potato crop it does, and would produce 

 it with proper cultivation. Why, then, is the crop not larger? Why 

 is an incipient exhaustion so marked in many of the counties of 

 this State? Is it deficiency in the soil? Is it the neglect of tillage? 

 Is it the failure to manure? Answer these questions as you may, 

 I declare that the husbandman may rotate his crop, may fallow his 

 land, may turn under his crimson clover and will have thereby a 

 richly producing tract; yet, if he fails to gain mastery over the 

 torrents that fall on his land, that remove its soluble elements, that 

 wash its fine soil mulch, the exhaustion w^hich will follow the de- 

 pletion is more certain and more rapid than that which ensues from 

 the harvesting of such crops as tobacco. He cannot expect to reap, 

 as some have, the forty-sixth consecutive planting of wheat, twelve 

 bushels to the acre, almost the average of the United States, with- 

 out the use of any fertilizer. This seems a bold proposition, but a 



