294 QUARTERLY JOURNAL. 



Letter V. 



Camillus, September 25, 1845. 

 My Dear Sir — I closed my last letter, in speaking of the effect of 

 cultivation in increasing the compactness of soil ; and undoubtedly 

 the conclusion there expressed is true, aside from the main fact 

 upon which Mr. Geddes founds his opinion. The same result had 

 been witnessed by myself; but I had attributed it to the loss, first, 

 of vegetable matter, which is always removed from a new soil in the 

 course of a few years cultivation, unless indeed it is abundant as in 

 that of the Western States ; and, secondly, to the infiltration below 

 of the calcareous salts. Both these causes operate lo bring about 

 the result we are speaking of ; and when they are combined with 

 the one above indicated by Mr. Geddes, a very decided change 

 must inevitably be produced in the texture of the soil. 



On a little reflection, it occurs to me that this one fact will ex- 

 plain, or at least will go far to explain, some others. We know, for 

 instance, that in the early settlement of many parts of New- York 

 and New England, several kinds of fruit were cultivated with suc- 

 cess. Peaches, for example, grew well in Berkshire in Massachu- 

 setts ; and I am informed, also, that even in Pompey and Niles and 

 the towns in that range in this Slate, and farther south upon the 

 Hamilton and Chemung shales, they grew in great perfection. Now, 

 however, they are not andean not be raised, or at least not with the 

 success that attended their first cultivation. This fact may stand 

 connected with the very change above alluded lo in the condition of 

 the soil. It is in that state which is usually termed cold : it is so < 

 compact, that the water, though it by no means stands upon the sur- 

 face, yet does not pass ofT with sul^cient rapidity, but is retained so 

 long, and so near the surface, that its evaporation keeps the tempe- 

 rature slightly below what it formerly was. If this theory is correct, 

 a general deep draining will remedy the difficulty, and bring the 

 soil back to the porous and warm condition it originally possessed. 



This subject is one of great interest, and worthy of careful in- 

 vestigation. Against the opinion I have expressed in regard lo the 

 cause of those changes which now prevent the cultivation of the 

 peach, it may be urged that the temperature is reduced by the clear- 

 ing of the country ; or rather that the destruction of the forests has 

 opened it to the inroads of bleak and cold winds, or removed those 



