1890.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 303 



country the trees are frequently subjected to violent over- 

 turning, by which the soil is rudely inverted, somewhat in 

 the manner in which that process is deliberately accom- 

 plished by the plough. The result is, that in general, in 

 natural soils, in the course of long ages the vegetable matter 

 penetrates through all the detrital material to which the 

 roots of the plants may have access. 



Taking any soil in the region south of the glacial belt, 

 as, for instance, in the southern portion of the Ohio 

 valley, we may generally assume that the process of com- 

 minirling veo-etable waste with the detritus has been going 



coo o o 



on for many geological periods. Such soils, indeed, com- 

 monly represent the work of many million years. In the 

 glaciated districts, however, owing to the fact that the ice 

 has passed away from their surfaces within a period of a 

 few tens of thousands of years, this commingling of 

 vegetable matter with the rocky material has been most 

 imperfectly accomplished. In general, we may say that 

 the relative duration of the time in which this work has 

 been croini; on in uno;laciated soils differs somewhat, in the 



O O O ' 



proportion of one hundred to one. The result is, that the 

 pseudo-soils of the glaciated district have not been sub- 

 jected to the effective preparation for the uses of plant roots 

 which has taken place in the soils of regions which have not 

 recently escaped from the glacial envelope. It is doubtful 

 if the glaciated soils of New England have been repossessed 

 by vegetation, since the close of the glacial period, for more 

 than a few thousand years. The time has been altogether 

 insufficient for the adequate preparation of the glacial detri- 

 tus for the best uses of plant life. The detrital matter is 

 there, and generally in a state of division which fjivors the 

 formation of the soil. This preparation of the soil coating 

 is now going on in a geologically rapid manner ; but it will 

 be profitable to the tiller to recognize the fact that he can 

 advance his interests by hastening the rate of the process of 

 preparation. 



In considering the needs of our soils in glaciated districts, 

 we have to bear in mind two facts which have an important 

 bearing on the economic problem which the farmer has 

 before him. In the first place, scarcely any soils within the 



