323 



F A RMERS' RE G I S T E R . 



[No. 6. 



addition to his scientific attainments as a chemist 

 and mineralogist, his botanical knowledge, if pro- 

 perly applied, would have thrown much light on 

 this subject. I have no doubt but hereafter the 

 character of soils, as to possessing calcareous mat- 

 ter abundantly, or being destitute of that ingre- 

 dient, will be determined with certainty by the 

 presence or absence of many different plants. Dr. 

 Clarke gives a catalogue of many of the plants ob- 

 served in his journey, and of them a few are stated 

 to have been found on the steppes. These are 

 copied below,* that others who have some know- 

 ledge of botany, may be able to state whether 

 these plants are confined to calcareous soils or not. 

 If the author had stated that sheep sorrel was a 

 common growth of the steppes, I would at once 

 admit, from that solitary fact, that the soil must be 

 destitute of calcareous earth. In like manner, if 

 the soil is highly calcareous, some of the. plants 

 which he observed there, cr which may be found 

 on the prairies, would afford as certain proof of 

 that fact, as the presence of sorrel would of the 

 reverse. These suggestions are thrown out for 

 the consideration of investigators who have the 

 knowledge and opportunities requisite to put them 

 to use. It is a new field for botanists, which pro- 

 mises a sure and valuable harvest. 



The next extracts which are from Toolte's View 

 of the Russian Empire, will give more full infor- 

 mation of the steppes. 



"Arable Land. — Under this head we musl « 

 various tracts of land, especially, 1. Those that are 

 kept in constant cultivation and tillage, such as are 

 every where seen in Great and Little Russia, in 

 the provinces bordering on the Baltic, and many 

 others. 2. Such as are only used at times, and 

 left quiet for a great length of time. In some 

 regions, for instance, in Little Russia, about the 

 Don,t &c. where they are looked upon as steppes, 

 which if merely ploughed and then sown, would 

 be productive; in others, for example, in Livonia, 

 Ksthonia, and Ingria, where they are rendered 

 fertile by fire, and are called by the countrymen 

 bush-lands. \ On such parcels of ground, which 

 are either allotted into particular possesions, or 

 without a proper owner, villages might be gradu- 



*"Centaurea Frigida, northern knap weed — on the 

 steppes." "Centaurea Radxata, rayed knap weed — on 

 the steppes near Koslof. The sheep feed on it in win- 

 ter, and it is supposed to give them that gray wool so 

 much valued by the Tartars." "■Crocus Sativus, au- 

 tumnal meadow-saffron — steppes near Achmetchet." 

 "Geranium Sylvaticum, wood crane's bill — steppes." 

 "Silene Quadrifida, tour-cleft catch-fly — steppes, near 

 Perecop," "Sisymbrium Loesclii, Loesel's hedge-mus- 

 tard — steppes near Perecop." "Statice Tngona, three- 

 sided lavender — in the steppes, very frequent." " Vescia 

 Pannonica, Pannonian vetch — steppes.; "Stipa Een- 

 nafa — in all the steppes." Many other plants are na- 

 med in different parts of the work, as found in the re- 

 gion of steppes, but it is not certain that they were al- 

 ways from such soil, and therefore are not added to this 

 list. 



t The Don Kozak takes, in whatever part ol the 

 steppe he chooses, a piece fit for cultivation, and, be- 

 stows his labor upon it as long as he thinks proper or 

 as long as its visible fertility will amply reward his la- 

 bor. 



| See Hupel Liefl. and Esthl. vol. ii. 



ally erected. In uninhabited districts these tracts 

 are most frequent. 3. Those that are proper lor 

 agriculture, but lie totally unemployed: they wait 

 only for industrious hands. There are still plenty 

 of these vast tracts, where millions of men might 

 find work and profit, especially in fruitful steppes, 

 and in numberless large forests. 



"The fertility of all these tracts is very different 

 according to the quality of the soil. In Livonia 

 and JEsthonia, from good fields they reap 8, and 

 in successful years from 10 to 12 ibid; from indif- 

 ferent ground about only 3, but from better, at times 

 16 or even more than 20 fold. The harvests about 

 the Don are commonly 10 fold; but towards Tomsk 

 on the Tshumush, and in the whole region be- 

 tween the Oby and the Tom, many fields afford 

 an increase of 25 to 30 fold;* and at Krasnoyarsk 

 the failure of a crop was never heard oii of winter 

 corn they reap 8, of barley 12, and of oats 20 

 Icld.t . 



u ln Little Russia, on the Don, and in many other 

 places, the fields are never manured, only plough- 

 ed once, just to turn up the earth, afterwards har- 

 rowed, and then sown: more culture, especially 

 dunging, would push the corn up too luxuriantly 

 or parch it, and so hurt the harvest, as the soil is 

 sufficiently fertile of itself: Of equal goodness is 

 the ground in great part of Siberia: fin- example, 

 on ili:' Samara., on the Ufa in the country of the 

 : ' irs; here and there in the Baraba,or the Bu- 

 rabinian steppe; also on the Kama, whence a 

 quantity of corn is sent to the northern comless 

 dwelling- places on the Dvinaand Petshora. In like 

 manner too in the government of Isetsk the soil gen- 

 erally consists of a black earth to the depth of 

 an ell, consequently is proper for tillage, for mea- 

 dow-land, anil garden ground. On the Oby near 

 Barnaul, "the black earth docs not indeed go very 

 deep, hut the marly clay\ that lies under it, fer- 

 tilizes it so much as to make it, in some places, 

 yield plentiful harvests, without, manuring, for 

 t wenty years successively.§ At Krasnoyarsk, the 

 fields will bear no manure whatever, and yet con- 

 tinue fruitful for 10 or 15 years, if only suffered to 

 lie fidlow every third year. || When the fertility 

 ceases, the boortakes a fresh piece from the steppe. 

 On the Selenga, in the district of Selenghinsk, 

 the fields are hilly, and yet will bear no manure, 

 as it is found on repeated trials to spoil the corn. ''II 



Speaking of the meadow land, the same author 

 says— 



"Some steppes produce the best meadow-grass 

 for provender, and yield seed for making artificial 

 meadows; such as the esparcelte the alpine 

 hedysarium, clover, various kinds of artemisia, 

 pulse, starflower plants,** and fine grasses that 

 will bear any climate. 



* Pallas, vol. ii. p. 650 & seq. 



t Ibid. vol. iii. p. 6. 



\ A dark-gray earth, about a foot deep, beneath 

 which runs a layer of clay, and is field in many places 

 to be fine arable land. 



§ Pallas, vol. ii. p. 611. 



|| Ibid. vol. iii. p. 6. 



H Ibid. p. 1G8. 



** Ibid vol. ii. p. 75. 



