128 THE CULTURE OF FARM CROPS. 



marked by the utmost diversity and irregularity of charac- 

 ter, as may well be supposed from their origin. Beds of 

 gravel or of sand; interspersed with patches of coarse 

 boulders, or of mixed soil covered with the hard heads, 

 which can scarcely be broken, overlie hard pan of gravel 

 packed so firmly as to resist the passage of water, and these 

 alternate so frequently that at times a 10 acre field has sev- 

 eral kinds of soil in it. The action of the drift and of the 

 ice, which has been explained, necessarily produces such a 

 condition of soil, which is the effect of the currents and ed- 

 dies made by the varying circumstances of the continually 

 changing flow of water. Thus the drift soils are mostly of 

 inferior character and offer few advantages for the farmer, 

 who should scrutinize closely, when he is in search of a farm, 

 the soil which he expects to cultivate. 



Another inferior class of soils is derived from sandstones, 

 which consist mostly of quartz cemented together with si- 

 licious matter. These soils are exceedingly light and po- 

 rous, and while they are easily cultivated, their porosity is a 

 serious disadvantage, and with the absence of the more val- 

 uable minerals required to form a fertile soil, render them 

 undesirable for general farming. These soils are excellent 

 for gardening, and when underlaid w r ith clay which is in 

 reach of the plow, they produce the finest quality of wheat 

 and corn, but are not suitable for grass. In general a far- 

 mer should reject land of this character unless there are 

 some special circumstances which go to mitigate the unde- 

 sirable character of it. 



One other class of soils remains to be mentioned viz. the 

 alluvial "bottom lands" so called because they occupy the 

 low level grounds on the borders of rivers, and have been 

 formed by deposits brought down from higher lands by pe- 

 riodical floods. These lands are generally of the richest 

 character, formed as they have been of the surface soil of 

 the higher lands along the banks of the rivers which has 

 been washed down by the rains. The soil thus formed is 

 exceedingly rich in organic matter and potash, and indeed 

 in all the soluble compounds of both organic and inorganic 



