THE HISTORY OF THE GROUND. 33 



and buried whole forests ; and their remains, squeezed 

 between the rocks, turned to stone. Plants undoubt- 

 edly grew in great abundance everywhere they could 

 find a foot-hold, from the time the first wild storms 

 tore down the oldest rocks, and made the first scanty 

 soils and in turn helped to form still other soils. We 

 see how the rocks have contributed to make the soils, 

 but we must also remember the plants. They have 

 worked more slowly, and the proportion they give is 

 smaller ; yet it is an important part, as we shall pres- 

 ently see. Plants have flourished every summer, in 

 every portion of the earth not covered with ice and 

 snow, for countless thousands upon thousands of years. 

 We cannot even guess how long they have been grow- 

 ing. And each plant, tree, and vine has at last laid 

 down its life, and left its remains as a contribution to 

 the soil that hides the bare and naked rocks from 

 sight. It is the remains of plants that give the black 

 color to our soils, and give us the deep, soft, rich 

 soils of the West where our great crops grow. No 

 land, except perhaps parts of Russia, has such deep 

 soils as we possess in some of our Western States 

 and Territories ; and these soils have been largely 

 formed from the remains of long dead and forgotten 

 plants. 



Every living creature has also helped to form the 

 soils. Every fish and bird and beast that has ever 

 lived since the world began has left its remains in the 

 soil. Sometimes we find their skeletons turned to 

 stone ; and only by these stony pictures these fosils 



