1837J 



F A flM ERS' REGISTER 



645 



For tlic l';iiiii(.rs' Uc^'ister. 

 OiV BfAXURES, SOILS, &C. 



(Subject continued from page 9, volume v.) 

 Nelson county. 



A gall isoneoflhc most striking Oi' the dis- 

 eased s|)ots, spoken ol' in my last coininiinication, 

 wliicli is unable to cover itself with vetrelation, 

 througli Its own unassisted eH[(.)rts. Tin; earili 

 seems to have lost its cohesion. The sur- 

 face consists of a fine, powdery matter, which is 

 blown oti" by the windsV and readily washed away 

 bv rains, until a iruily ol'ten is Ibrmed. Wiien that 

 is the case, the disease increases, the gully be- 

 comes wider and deeper, other gullies tbrm near 

 it, where the gall is extensive, and often whole 

 acres are ruined, lor all purposes useful to man. 

 And yet the sub.soil, before the o-all or gully 

 reached it, possessed the principles of ttjriility, and 

 if thrown to the surface by excavation, and ex- 

 posed for a year or two to the atmosphere, would 

 have covered iiseif with a rich coat of vegetation. 

 The writer, some years since, had occasion to cut 

 a road from the base to the top of a hill, worn out. 

 (in the janauage of the country,) and liaving ex- 

 tensive galls on its surface, of some years' dura- 

 tion. The road ascended at an angle of fi'om five 

 to six degrees vv'ith the plane of the horizon, and 

 the excavation, on the upper side, was, conse- 

 quently, several feet deep. In two or three years' 

 afterward, tfie earth, thrown from the upper side of 

 the road, was covered with luxuriant green- 

 sward, (poa viridis,) and presented tlie appear- 

 ance of a ricli fringe, along the lower side of the 

 road, whilst not a particle of that grass was seen 

 any where else on the f"ace of the hill. 



The earth, taken from cellars, in the red clay 

 region, although raised six or eight feet below the 

 surface, is known to be highly fijrlile, after a few 

 years' exposure to atmospheric influence. But 

 the bottoms and sides of gullies at all depths, and 

 alter every exposure to the atmosphere, produce 

 nothing in a similar .soil, without the aid of stimu- 

 lating manures. The generally received opuiion 

 is, that vegetable matter is produced, exclusively, 

 by seed deposited in or on the earl h. But there 

 seems great difficulty in regarding this as the onl}'' 

 source of vegetation, when the facts come to be 

 examined. 



If a spot of land is cleared in the forest, far re- 

 moved from any other that is open, it puts up 

 weeds and grasses of entirely a new character to 

 tlieir location, which could not have sprung 

 from seeds recently derived ii'om a distant cultiva- 

 ted country, and which, if derivetl from seed pre- 

 viously deposited in the soil, must have remained 

 in a dormant state for many hundreds, perhaps 

 thousands of years, before the moment of spring- 

 ing into life. Now, we know of all the seed vve 

 are acquainted with, that unless buried very deep 

 in the earth, and beneath the influence of vegeta- 

 tion, it either rots or comes up, within a short 

 space of time, in a genial climate. In the case, 

 however, of land cleared in the wilderness, (if we 

 imagine the weeds and grasses to be derived fi'ora 

 seed), we nmst also suppose this apparently uni- 

 versal law of nature reversed, and that the seed re- 

 mains near the surface for ages, in a dormant state, 

 until the fiivorable moment occurs for vegetating. 



In this part of the country, the locust, (rohinia 

 pseudo acacia,) is rare as a forest tree : but 

 Vol. V— 70 



when the land is cleared, it at once springs up in 

 great numl)ers, and grows with such extreme ra- 

 pidity, HI the intervals between the hoed crops, as 

 to recjuire considerable labor to keep the land in a 

 state of proper sid)jection to the plough. But as 

 the land begins to be reduced by cultivation in a 

 considerable degree, when the surfiice soil is much 

 washed, and galls and gullies become abundant, 

 the disposition to put uj) the locust is changed ; 

 another species of growth, a dwarf pine, makes 

 its appearance, although nothing of the pine kind 

 had grown on or near the land before ; and if per- 

 mitted to remain undisturbed, will cover the 

 ground with dense thickets. 



This seems to be a provision of nature, to re- 

 medy the evils which may be inflicted by any of 

 the circumstances that destroy the surfiice soil. 

 The pine first appears on some spot where a little 

 tiM-tility is left. It sheds its long and round leaves 

 profusely, which are not blown away by the winds, 

 as the leaves of other trees, but adhere to the spot 

 where they fall, and catch other things that move 

 over their surface. Their decay produces some 

 amelioration, and soon more pines appear. The 

 process advances with proportionate rapidity, and 

 the injured land becomes covered with a pine 

 thicket. The leaves are lodged abundantly m thd 

 gullies. Their liariher deepening is arrested ; 

 they begin to fill, and, after some years, the land is 

 rendered fit again for cultivation. The capacity 

 to throw up pines, is withdrawn, as the land is 

 enriched ; poplars, dog-wood and other growth, 

 indicative of fertile soil, then grow where pinea 

 alone were seen before. On the farm of the wri- 

 ter, there is a triangular sjjot, covering about an 

 acre and an half of ground, and extending from 

 the base towards the summit of a hill, of gentle 

 (ieclivity. This spot, twenty years since, was co- 

 vered with galls and small guilies partly filledj 

 and had a Ihick growth on it, of small pines^ 

 The ground, on the hill above it, bore a lofty and 

 dense growth of oaks and other trees, and was 

 excellent soil, as was also the land generally 

 around. The spot in question, had probably been 

 the site of a hunter's or squatter's cabin, in the 

 early settlement of the country ; but no certain in- 

 formation could be obtained how the land had 

 been injured. The ground, above the pines, was 

 cleared tor tobacco, and the pines on the exhaust- 

 ed spot, cut down, and sufiisred to lie, that their 

 decay might produce some improvement. An in- 

 tention was entertained, at the time, of adding 

 other manures ; but that was neglected. After 

 some years, the ground was covered with another 

 crop of pines ; but its other productions, such as 

 weeds and grasses, indicated improved fertility. 

 This second cover, was cut down also, and permit- 

 ted to remain where felled ; and, during the pro- 

 gress of its decomposition, the ground received 

 some aid by the washing of the soil from above, 

 (but in a very slight degree,) during the cultiva- 

 tion of the tobacco, which was tilled there every 

 fourth year. Now there is a dense cover again 

 springing up, where the pines were, but it eonsista 

 of poplars, dog-wood, walnut, oak, sumach, &c.: 

 not a pine is to be seen. The land seems so far 

 ameliorated, that with a slight manuring on a few 

 spots weaker than the residue, it may be added 

 for the purpose of a crop, to that which is conti- 

 guous. 



Strongly stimulating manures, will produc« a 



