1837] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



206 



plo}' (tie processes of fertilizing resorted to, lor ex- 

 ample, ill Flanders ami Eiiirlaml, lie niitxht fiiul 

 his perrrct liiriiiin>j ieadiiii!,- Iiiai speedily to iiiin. 

 If, in Eniriand, twenty tlollais wonh ol'luhor is a[)- 

 plied loiin acre of land, and the produee in wheal 

 nmouiit to liirty Imsliels, the ordinary price of wheal 

 there l)ein>r two dollars a hushei, there will he 

 sixty dollars left liir the fanner, alier the expense 

 of cultivmion is deli-ayed. But, in this couriiiy. 

 aduiitiiiiiT the same amount of lahor will produce 

 ihe same result, the price is at least donhle thai 

 of Eiiirlaiui, and the price of wheat not more 

 than half It would require fljrty dollars worih ol 

 lahor to produce ibrty hushels ol' wheat, which, at 

 a dollar a bushel, (a lull averatje price with us) 

 would just pay the expense of production, and 

 noihiniT would be left to compensate lor time, 

 trouble, risk, and use of capital. It is incumlieni 

 then on its to employ, as much as poosihle, in our 

 amelioraiincj processes, agents that are cheaper 

 than human hands. Some we must employ, or 

 absolute sterility will deprive our country of the 

 power of sustaining ns. 



It may be profitable to examine, in this inquirj^, 

 by what means nature works in producirifr her va- 

 rious crops from the soil. No spontaneous cover, 

 as flir as we know, leaves the soil poorer than 

 when it began to grow; on the contrary, the earth 

 seems consianlly to become richer under its pro- 

 ductions. A Ibrest of oaks, chesnufs, &c., would 

 appear the most exhausting of all crops — for a 

 clump of such trees standing in a cleared field, 

 produces almost entire sterility for some distance 

 arounil it. livery body knows, too, that neiiher 

 grass or grain flourish well near the margin of a 

 field contiguous to the forest. This is not the ef- 

 fect of shade entirely; lor, if a ditch is cut between 

 the crops and the ibrests, deep enough to pene- 

 trate below the roots of the latter, the sieriliiy 

 in a great measure ceases. Yet, the land bearing 

 the Ibrest trees, maintains its liirtilily, and indeed, 

 is constantly improving in that respect — for there is 

 much reason to believe that the far greater part of 

 mould, which covers the surface of virgin land, is 

 derived from the decay of vegetab'e matter which 

 grows on it. We know the fruiilulsoil, which covers 

 many of the recently formed islands of the Pacific 

 ocean, is derived from their vegetable production. 

 And there seems to be a class of plants expressly 

 formed to take root on the rising coral islands, 

 when their siirfiice offers nothing hut barren sand, 

 and thus to (brni the initiative of the soil-makinir 

 process. "Tfiis family of plants (ihe Pandanea) 

 says Dr. Buckland, seems destined like the cocoa- 

 nut palm, to he among the first vegetable colo- 

 nists of new lands just emer<ring from the ocean; 

 they are found toirether, almost universally by 

 navigators, on the rising coral islands of Irojiical 

 seas. 



The seed thus stranded upon new formed 

 land, produces a plant which has peculiar provi- 

 sions lor iis support on a surface desiiiiire of soil, 

 by lonij and large aerial roots proiroded above 

 the ground, tirouiid the lower part of iis trunk. — 

 These roots, on reaching the ground, are calcula- 

 ted to prop up the plant, as buttresses surround- 

 ing the basis of the siem, so that it can maintain 

 its erect position, and flourish in barren sand on 

 newly elevated reefs, where little soil has yet ac- 

 accumiilated." Geology and Mineralogy, p. 378 

 and 379. 



We see a soil not only maintained, but actually 

 ill a great degree fbinied by the forest which 

 grows on its surface, and exacting, annually, 

 much more for its support than any crop pro- 

 duced by liiiiiian art. The exlaiusiion, occa- 

 sioned by oaks or chrsiiuls, already metilioned, 

 compared vviili that of corn, wheat, or tobacco, is 

 conclusive. The most incitdidous nuist yield to 

 suih testimony. How comes it then, that the 

 lertility of ihe forest is maintained, while our 

 arable fields become barren? 'ihe answer is ob- 

 vious. In the one case, a return is made to the 

 soil, in the annual lall of leaves, and in ihe decay- 

 ing bodies and roots of deiii] trees. In the other, 

 every thing is taken — nothing returned. Nature 

 pays her debt punctually wiih interest. Man 

 pays nothing. His doom, liowever, is the same 

 in the natural, that it would be in the moral world, 

 lor such conduct. His resources are ultimately 

 cut ofl' Ibr his laziness and li:»lly. 



We should observe, however, that, whilst na- 

 ture pays punctually, she pays with the utmost 

 economy of means proportioned to the end. All 

 her processes are of that masterly kind. Nothing 

 is wasted — her return to the earth chiefly takes 

 place at the surface; and we will find Ihe largest 

 return we are capable of making in proportion to 

 our labor, at the surlace. 



The most pov.'erlul agents, known to us, for this 

 purpose, are the grasses — the most efficient of 

 which is red clover, particularly when stimulated 

 by gypsum. With no other aids in many cases, 

 two crops may be taken in every four years, and 

 the fertility of the soil nevertheless iiicreased, as 

 the following facts show: 



Eiirhteen years since, part of a sloping hill was 

 cleared on the writer's litrm, the remainder, of ap- 

 parently equal quality, left in wood. 



This spring, the surliice was opened with a 

 spade through the loam to the clay, in the field 

 and in the wood, and the depths carefully mea- 

 sured. 



High on the hill side, on the cleaied 

 land, through the loam to the clay, 

 measured - - - - " 17 inches. 



Twenty yards wiihin the wood, at the 



same elevation, the loam measured 10| " 

 Nearer the base of the hill, wiihin the 



cleared ground, the loam meusured 24 " 

 Twenty yards within the wood, at the 



same elevation, the loam measured 10 " 

 The average difilt'rence, beiween tlie cultivated 

 land and ihe llircst, being one huridredper cent, 

 ail hough originally of ihe same quality. 

 On another hill, and a much sleeper 

 one, cleared some years later, and 

 subjected to Ihe same culture, the 

 depth of loam, near the summit 

 wiihin the cleared ground, was 13 inches. 

 Within the wood, at the same eleva- 

 tion - .... 10 « 

 The difference, between the two hills in depth 

 of loam, I attribute in part, to the steepness of 

 the latter, which subjected if to more injury from 

 washing rains, when the culture was less protec- 

 tive in that respect, than it is at present. And 

 the difference between seventeen inches and two 

 feet, the respective depths of the loam on the 

 first hill, at different elevations, was doubtless 

 influenced in some degree by the same cause. — 

 In other instances, the writer has had land cleared. 



