SOIL ANALYSIS. 453 



The " Scioto Yallej lands," are often summoned as witnesses 

 against the value of analysis. These soils are extremely fer- 

 tile, and are apparently inexhaustible, — having yielded immense 

 crops of corn for twenty years in succession ; yet when ana- 

 lyzed, are found to be very similar in their constituents to 

 comparatively sterile soils in Massachusetts ; — the chief diflfer- 

 ence being the greater pulverulence of the Scioto soil, which is 

 like to ashes for fineness of its particles. 



Two neighbors — farmers — agreed to carry through the 

 winter, as an experiment, a dozen head of cattle, each, on a 

 given quantity of hay of similar quality. The one cut his hay 

 fine, and fed out to his cattle regularly, as their wants required. 

 These cattle thrived, and spring found them sleek and hearty. 

 Farmer Two turned out his herd to supply themselves, as best 

 they could, from a well-settled old hay-stack. The hungry 

 beasts gnawed at the stack steadily ; 



" They fell upon what'er was offered — like 

 A priest, a shark, an alderman, a pike," 



at times getting their fill ; and, at times, gaining new appetite 

 from their exertions. These, also, survived the winter, but 

 they were gaunt, hide-bound, and wretched. 



Farmer Two, of course, found fault with the hay ; but we 

 opine that the difference lay in the mode of feeding. And so 

 we say of Scioto Yalley lands. The soil is pulverulent — the 

 food is chopped up — and always ready in the best state for the 

 demands of the crop ; while in Massachusetts, the tender 

 rootlet is forced to contend for its food ; now with a rock; 

 and with a little less hard-hearted lump of soil, that gives 

 grudgingly, and only on compulsion. 



We have now stated two — and those the most serious — of 

 the objections taken to the value of soil analysis ; and have 

 given our "reasons for the faith that is in us," of its impor- 

 tance. To show its bearing upon farming operations would 

 cumber this address, and consume more time than any of us 

 would willingly now spare. Let it suffice, now, to say that — 

 its value conceded — it becomes the prime counsellor of the 

 farmer in his ploughing, and in his manuring ; it tells whether 

 or not, and in what way best, to disturb the subsoil; whether 



