EDUCATED FARM LABOR. 63 



and ground down the hills. And when the ice-king lost his 

 hold and the southern portion melted away, icebergs broke loose 

 from their mountain moorings, and floating away southward, 

 bore with them rocks and stones, and dropped them along the 

 valleys and on the hill-tops. And the moving waters swept on 

 the fine sand, the gravel, and the rounded pebbles, and formed 

 an immense bed of loose material all over this valley. 



The sand and gravel at the bottom of the moving waters, was 

 thrown into banks and bars, and hollows, like the snow driven 

 by the wind, and the retiring waters left lakes and ponds, pent 

 up in their cavities. Some soon broke through their sandy bar- 

 riers, some only after ages had passed away, and some still 

 remain. This great bed of loose material, modified by the 

 retiring waters and the flowing streams, has been called, by 

 those who classify your soil, diluvium. 



Now commenced the more immediate preparation of the 

 valley for the residence of man, the formation of the alluvium. 

 Under' the influence of a genial sun, the peat moss started in 

 the muddy lake — fish were created in the now transparent 

 waters, lichens grew upon the rocks, and tliese dying, mingled 

 their decomposing fragments with the sand, forming a soil for 

 larger plants, which, in their turn, came into existence. Then 

 were created animals feeding upon these plants, then those which 

 preyed upon each other, and all, plants and animals, when they 

 had fulfilled the first object of their creation, dropping their 

 organic remains upon the bosom of mother earth, mingled their 

 elements with the soil and prepared it for more luxuriant 

 growths. The maple, the chestnut, and the oak came to cover 

 the hills, and the pines stood thick over the plains. Then man 

 appeared and built his hut and made the plant, the fish, the 

 beast, all contribute to his happiness. But, it is not only said 

 in Holy Writ, " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread," 

 but the soils teach us that the labor of the head and the labor 

 of the hand must be expended upon them before they will con- 

 tribute very much to the production of human happiness. God 

 has given us heads and hands, and placed before us rock, and 

 sand, and clay, and mud, and marl, and peat, and says unto us, 

 " work." 



The soils, as a general principle, are derived from the rocks 

 that underlie them, and are therefore of the same chemical 



