No. 6. 



Address of Algernon S. Roberts. 



191 



Address of Algernon S. Roberts, 



President of the Philadelphia Society for 

 iwomoting Agriculture, at their annual 

 meeting, Jamiary blh, 1848. 



Gentlemen, — Deeming- our annual meet- 

 ings, — when more members are usually as- 

 sembled than at the ordinary monthly meet 

 ings, — a proper occasion for addressing to 

 you a few thoughts and observations con 

 nected with the interests and objects of our 

 Society, and respecting the agricultural ca 

 pacity of this district, I must ask your in 

 dulgence for a ^e\N moments. 



It is the good fortune of those who con' 

 stitute this Society to live in a highly agri- 

 cultural country, the soil of which has been 

 tilled for almost two centuries, and a large 

 portion having lost its virgin richness, must 

 rely on good cultivation and liberal treat- 

 ment for a bountiful yield to the husband- 

 man. 



We have within a circuit of some fifteen 

 or eighteen miles around Philadelphia, in- 

 cluding both shores of the Delaware, a 

 greater variety of soil than can be found 

 within the same limits in almost any other 

 region : this variety of geological formation 

 is consequently accompanied by as great a 

 variety of productions, requiring various 

 modes of cultivation and a high degree of 

 agricultural skill to insure success. 



On the eastern side of the Delaware, we 

 have the cretaceous, or warm and silicious 

 soil, which borders the Atlantic coast of all 

 the States south of Connecticut, and whence 

 we are supplied with fruit, vegetables, &lc., 

 of an almost tropical clime — crowding our 

 markets with melons, peaches, sweet pota- 

 toes, and other luxuries peculiar to equato- 

 rial or low latitudes, and most of them too 

 in greater perfection than similar produc- 

 tions of the south; for it is a singular, and 

 I believe a well established principle, that 

 the quality and flavour of fruit, vegetables, 

 &c , improve as we proceed north, up at 

 least to a certain limit, which probably will 

 be found where the heat of the sun has no 

 longer the power of ripening, or the length 

 of the season, of maturing the respective 

 kinds. Thus, for instance, the apples, peaches 

 and pears of high latitudes, it is well known 

 are superior to the same articles raised with- 

 in the tropics, and so of the common potatoe 

 and of all the cereal grains — their yield is 

 greater and the quality better in temperate 

 or northern latitudes, than in the sunny 

 south. 



Tiie same rule is said to hold good with 

 the productions that are confined exclusively 

 to what we term the South — the cotton and 

 eugar of our Southern States being better 



than those of the equatorial South, ajid the 

 oranges of Florida superior to those of the 

 West Indies. 



Along the western shore of the Delaware 

 and in a part of the peninsula formed by the 

 junction of the Schuylkill with that river, 

 we have an alluvial soil of finely comminu- 

 ted silicious and argillaceous deposits, with 

 sufficient vegetable matter to make a fertile 

 soil, well adapted to the raising of vegeta- 

 bles. To this " river deposit," and to the 

 diluvial formation with which in many 

 places it alternates or is intermixed, we 

 owe in a great measure the high reputation 

 of the Philadelphia vegetable market. The 

 alluvial or river deposit in the lower part of 

 the "neck," and on the western shores of 

 the Delaware and Schuylkill, below the 

 city, becomes flatter; more difficult to drain 

 in wet weather, and the soil more argilla- 

 ceous and compact, which renders it unsuit- 

 able for the spade or plough, but well adapted 

 to the raising of grass ; hence the extensive 

 and rich meadows which border those streams 

 and aflbrd pasturage to the numerous herds 

 with which they are enlivened. 



The next formation that I shall notice, is 

 probably the most important in this section 

 of country, and is known to the geologist as 

 the "diluvial," or ancient deposit, consisting 

 chiefly of gravel, sand and clay — the detri- 

 tus of primary formations, either in alternate 

 layers, or intermixed and comingled, fre- 

 quently abounding with water-worn or round- 

 ed boulders and pebbles of sand-stone, flint, 

 gneiss, &c. 



To discuss the speculative theories that 

 have been advanced regarding the formation 

 of this interesting deposit, on which our 

 beautiful city reposes, would require more 

 time than is consistent with my present pur- 

 pose, and I shall confine myself to a few 

 descriptive remarks on its agricultural cha- 

 racter and influence. The diluvial forma- 

 tion in the immediate vicinity of the city, 

 consists chiefly of strata of gravel and sand, 

 over which is a stratum of loamy clay, form- 

 ing the subsoil of the surface coat or arable 

 loam — the latter being originally from six 

 to ten inches, but now depending a good 

 deal for its thickness on tillage. There is 

 much of this formation, which I doubt not 

 would be greatly benefited by under drain- 

 ing and subsoil ploughing. This system of 

 culture should, however, be cautiously ap- 

 plied where gravel or sand constitutes the 

 subsoil. 



The diluvium, or drift, as it is often termed, 

 thins off as we recede westward, and the 

 primitive formation begins to appear, con- 

 sisting of gneiss, hornblende, mica, and clay 

 slate. These primitive rocks would make 



