368 ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



a proper proportion of sand and clay, neither too fine nor coo coarse, 

 it can, by the application of fertilizers and good tillage be made 

 productive. 



The little things, microscopic objects, pla^^ a very important part 

 in agriculture, for while during ages past, races of people, vast num- 

 bers of animals and insects yielded their remains to the soil, the 

 micro organisms have played a much more important part in soil 

 production and soil phjsics than did those of a higher type of ani- 

 mal creation. We are in the midst of a most interesting section geo- 

 logically, with the Silurian system largely between the Blue Ridge 

 and the South Mountains, a bay of Mesozoic coming in at Hummels- 

 town, the Devonian appearing about Rockville, the Carboniferous 

 about Lykens, and the Permian higher in the series. Evidences of 

 great climatic changes are in evidence in these sections, the eruptive 

 or trap rocks in Adams, Cumberland, Lebanon, Lancaster and other 

 counties, extending from Nova Scotia to North Carolina, the out- 

 pouring of molten material in a chasm of various widths, indicates 

 a disturbance in the interior of the earth of vast dimensions and im- 

 portance. The hills around Gettysburg, at Elizabethtown, Bunker 

 Hill, also in Montgomery, Lehigh and Northampton counties yield a 

 good road material, but not good soil. 



The Devonian system termed the Age of Fishes, has soils in great 

 variety, from fairly good to that of very poor quality. The Carboni- 

 ferous in the Anthracite coal field has no soil worthy of the name, 

 being composed of sand, clay and conglomerate rock unfit for culti- 

 v^ation. This is, however, a very important formation, indicating a 

 period of tropical conditions when trees like the palms flourished 

 near us and produced successive strata of coal and shale many feet 

 in thickness, furnishing the best and only fuel of its kind yet dis- 

 covered. Succeeding the Carboniferous, appeared the Glacial Age 

 when as near to us as Catawissa and Berwick, masses of sand, gravel 

 and boulders were brought from more northern sections and depos- 

 ited on the surface overspreading the coal measures, with a mantle 

 of till and debris of many feet in thickness, obstructing and chang- 

 ing the channels of streams in other directions, and producing dur- 

 ing this period all the fresh water lakes north of the southern line 

 of the Glaciated Area. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON CEREALS AND CEREAL 



CROPS. 



By a, p. Young, Chairman. 



In importance and value to the human race, the cereal crops 

 stand preeminent. They furnish in one form or another, food for 

 man and for the domesticated beasts that accompany him in all 

 climes. They are susceptible of transportation and preservation for 

 long distances and periods of time. Being less perishable, they 

 furnish a ready means of relieving distress in far distant regions, 

 brought about by failure of crops, or from any cause that may ren- 



