CROPS ADAPTED TO SOILS. 2G9 



So it is in the great work of field-culture, by a wise and judi- 

 cious observation and management, the operator is enabled often 

 by slight additions to the soil, to so change its mechanical or 

 chemical condition, as to produce with certainty and in perfec- 

 tion, plants which seek a different soil. But the great success 

 with small cost accrues when nature and art combine, and work 

 in harmony for the same grand result. 



Levi Stockbridge. 



An interesting discussion followed on topics suggested by the 

 Essay, when it was laid on the table, but subsequently taken up 

 and adopted. 



An Essay was also submitted upon the 



ADAPTATION OF CROPS TO SOILS. 



BY JOHN B. MOORE. 



This is an important subject, and every intelligent person will 

 at once see the necessity of adapting his crops to his soils ; for 

 by that plan only can he succeed in uniformly producing good 

 crops. 



And why is this so ? It is for the reason that certain soils 

 contain the particular food required for the perfection of certain 

 plants, while at the same time they are deficient in some of the 

 requisites for another class of plants ; or, if they have the par- 

 ticular requisites, they are held in such a condition as not to be 

 available as plant-food. 



Now a soil to grow any plant in perfection must contain the 

 necessary food required by that plant, in such quantities and in 

 such a condition that it may be readily assimilated and taken up 

 by the minute rootlets of the plant for its use and nourishment ; 

 but still a soil may contain all the nourishment required — the 

 nitrogenous matters, the humus, phosphates, and all other 

 elements ordinarily necessary for the growth of plants — but be 

 lacking in some one particular, water, for instance, which 

 would unfit it for the growth of one variety of plants, while too 

 much moisture in the same soil would most certainly render it 

 unfit for the growth of some other plant. 



Thus we find that there must be the proper amount of mois- 

 ture, and also heat, to produce plants in perfection, as well as 

 soluble plant-food. 



