PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



The object of this essay is to investigate the peculiar features and qualities 

 of the soils of our tide water district, to show the causes of their general unpro- 

 ductiveness, and to point out means, as yet but little used, for their etlectual and 

 profitable improvement. My observations are particularly addressed to the cul- 

 tivators of that part of Virginia which lies between the sea coast and the falls of 

 the rivers, and are generally intended to be applied only within those limits. By 

 thus confining the application of the opinions which will be maintained, it is not 

 intended to deny the propriety of their l>eing further extended. .On the contrary, 

 I do not doubt that they may correctly apply to all similar soils, under similar 

 (?5rcumstances ; for the operations of iXature are direcied by uniform laws, *ind 

 like causes must every wliere produce like edects. But as 1 shall rely lor proofs 

 on such facts as are either sufficiently well known already, or may easily be 

 tested by any inquirer, I do not choose to extend my around so far as to be op- 

 posed by the assertion of other facts, the truth of which can neither be esta- 

 blished nor ovei thrown by any available or sufHcifnt tcstimo,:y. 



The peculiar qualities of our soils have been little noticed, and the causes of 

 those peculiarities have never been sought ; and though new and valuable truths 

 may await the first explorers of this opening for agvicultural research, yet they 

 can scarcely avoid mistakes sufficiently numerous to moderate the triumph of 

 succes'*. lam not blind to the difficidties of the investigation, nor to my own 

 unfitness to overcome them ; nor should I have hazarded the attempt, but for the 

 belief that such an investigation is all-important for the improvement ol' our soil 

 and agriculture, and that it was in vain to hope that it would be undertaken by 

 those who were better qualified to do justice to the subject. 1 ask a deliberate 

 hearing, and a strict scrutiny of my op'nions, from those most interested in their 

 truth. If a fhani'e, in most of our lands, from hopeless sterility to a high state 

 of productiveness, is a vain fancy, it will be easy to discover and expose the fal- 

 lacy of my views ; but if these views are well founded, none deserve better the 

 attention of farmers, and nothing ran more seriously aHect the future agricul- 

 tural prosperity of our country. No where ought such improvements to be more 

 highly valued, or more eagerly sought, than among us, where so many fauses 

 have concurred to reduce our products, and the prices of our lands, to the lowest 

 state, and are yearly extending want, and its consequence, ignorance, among the 

 cultivators and proprietors. 



In pursuintr thi; inquiry, it will be necessary to show the truth of various facts 

 and ofiinions which as yet are unsupported by authority, and most of which have 

 scarcely been noticed by agricultural writers, unless to be denied. The number 

 of proofs that will be required, and the discursive course through which they 

 muit be reached, may probably render more obscure the reasoning of an unprac- 

 tised writer. Treatises on agriculture ought to be so written as to be ckarly 

 understood, though it should be at the ext)ense of some other requisites of good 

 writing ; and, in this respect, I shall be satisfied if I succeed in making my opi- 

 nions intelligible to every reader, though many might weil dispense with such 

 particular explanations. Agricultural works are seldom considered as requiring 

 very close attention ? and therefore, to be made use'ul, they should be put in a 

 shape suited to cur-;ory and irregular reading. A truth may be clearly established 

 — but if its important consequences cannot be regularly deduced for many pages 

 afterwards, the premises will then probably have been forgotten, so that a very 

 .particular reference to them may be required. These considerations must serve 

 as my apology lor some repetitions — and for minute explanations and details, 

 which some readers may deem unnecessary. 



The theoretical opinions supported in this essay, together with my earliest 

 experiments with calcareous manures, were published in the ' American Farmer,' 

 (vol. iii., page 313,) in 1S21. No reason has since induced me to retract any of 

 the important positions then assumed. But the many imperfections in that pub- 

 lication, which grew out of my want of experience, made it my duty, at some 



