NATURE'S ROTATION. 267 



problem to be solved, if the theory of fixed adaptation of plants 

 to soils is true, is the succession of vegetable growth on the 

 same soil, or nature's crop rotation. 



The dense primitive forest of pine, on its native granite soil, 

 being removed, is invariably succeeded by oak, maple and 

 chestnut. The primitive crop of oak, chestnut, birch and 

 maple on a soil best adapted to it, when destroyed, is succeeded 

 by a growth almost exclusively pine ; and this rotation occurs 

 on soils of clearly-marked geological character. Notwithstand- 

 ing these indisputable facts of plant-distribution and rotation, it 

 is yet true that plants, to a limited degree, partake of the 

 nature of the soil in which they grow, and chemical science and 

 observation prove that only in a soil characterized by their own 

 mineral constituents, can they find food for their perfect devel- 

 opment. Rye, native on the granite soil of the Crimea, when 

 removed, brings forth its best proportions, and in perfection only 

 on a similar soil, though it grows finely on most soils that are 

 not destitute of silica. The willow seeks the water-courses, and 

 many grasses and plants are found native only on the margin 

 of streams, or in the vegetable deposit of the muck-swamp, 

 while others are found on light silicious loam or arid sands. 

 The grape receives its flavor, to some extent, from the soil on 

 which it grows, and with an identical aspect and elevation, local- 

 ities but a short distance apart, but of different soil, produce a 

 very different quality of fruit of the same variety. Seeds of 

 wheat, produced by a forced growth on soils deficient in lime, 

 are found deficient in the best qualities for animal nutrition ; 

 and if soluble silica is wanting, its straw has not the necessary 

 hardness, and it falls and fails to ripen. Many other plants are 

 changed in color, in general appearance and intrinsic perfec- 

 tion by the soil which nourishes them, and others still, when 

 removed to an uncongenial soil, sicken and die. The seeds of 

 the pine, lodged in the marsh or on the mountain, with a mixed 

 soil-bed, take root and flourish in a greater or less degree of 

 perfection, according as they find in abundance or otherwise 

 their peculiar mineral constituents ; but nature shows its true 

 home to be on the granite soil of the sandy plain, as seen in the 

 primitive pine tracts of New -England and the Carolinas, or of 

 Russia and Siberia, and wherever found as the prevailing or 

 exclusive growth, indicates a soil of light silicious loam, with a 



