THE CROPS AND THK PRICKS. 



f peaks of soils in this happy "natnraJ condition" 

 which needs not drainage and snhsoiling'. He savs ; 

 In a country thoronghly underdraineii to the depth 

 of three feet, and deeply subsoiled, neither drouths 

 or excessive rains are much feared by the cultivator; 

 a large proportion of the ivater that falls is treasured 

 up in his subterranean reservoirs, and any excess is 

 carried off by his draina iSome districts of country 

 have a soft, mellow soil, just clay enough, and just 

 sand enough to give it proper consistency, and then 

 this soil underdrained perfectly by an open gravel or 

 ^helly rock. 



This is the natural condition of most of that part 

 of this State that has been denominated by the geol- 

 ogists the " Onondaga Salt Group." It is a narrow 

 strip of land, but little obsened east of Madison 

 county. It widens westward, and crosses the Niag- 

 ara river at (^rand Island. Most of this soil is 

 drained just enough ; but in some cases the sbald; 

 comes Si) near to the top of the ground that the 

 drainage is excessive, until by deep cultivation the 

 underlying soft rock has been brought to the action 

 of the frosts and atmosphere, and thus disintegrated 

 aud softened down and made soil. In other cases — 

 as saucer-shaped vallies where the soil has washed 

 from the surronnding hill sides — it is so deep over 

 the shale, atid made tenacious of water by being 

 packed tight in the process of transportation and de- 

 posit, that draining is necessary. In some localities 

 clay predominates, so as to require subsoiling and 

 draining, but these are exception.'. In many other 

 parts of the State there are soils that neither require 

 underdraining or subsoil plowing, and the owners of 

 these districts should be careful not to be carried oil 

 the balance of their own good judgment by the re- 

 ports they see of the great utility of underdraining 

 in Seneca county and other places, where a tenacious 

 soil is underdrained by a tenacious rock or clay. 

 Enough has been said in the previous pages ot this 

 article to show the utility of deep cultivation and 

 thorough draining, where it is demanded by the na- 

 ture of the soil, and it w^as thought equally necessa- 

 ry to warn the reader against the folly of laying out 

 money in tho.se cases where it would do no good. 



Mr. (jtEDnEs' farm, which, as to productiveness and 

 permanent fertility, is one of the best wo ever saw, 

 is on this formation called the "Onondaga Salt 

 Grouii." In repeated visits which we have had the 

 pleasure of making to it, we have observed the great 

 advantages of the physical texture of the soil to 

 which he alludes. We invite particular attention to 

 Mr. G.'s remarks, that this, as well as some soils in 

 other districts, "neither requires imderdraining or 

 suljsoil plowing." The caution which he interposes 

 on this subject should be heeded by all farmers who 

 design to use their brains in regulating their opera- 

 tic ns. Let " deep cultivation and thorough draining' 

 lie practised "where it is demanded by the nature of 

 ike soil." 



In the follo^\ing extract Mr. Gedoes describes a 

 state of things which we have frequently witnessed. 

 The remarks will apply with special force to much 

 of the land in the west part of Vermont, along Lake 

 Champlain, of which our readers may recollect we 

 have lately spoken: 

 Some soils do not appear to suffer from an esce3- 



.sive supply of water, when fir.st pot under cultivation' 

 that afterwards require draining. This was the case 

 in some parts of Onondaga county. When the soil 

 was fii'st put under the plow, it was lighter and more 

 porous than it was after repeated cultivation — jost 

 as earth, by being removed from a cutting, in tliu 

 construction of a road, to an embankment loses a 

 part of its bulk; so that it is computed l>y engineers 

 that it takes ten yards of earth, measured in a cnt- 

 tiug, to make nine yard; after it has settled in an em- 

 bankment. Whoever has been engaged in the con- 

 struction of po&-t fences has observed this tendency 

 of earth to pack together when it is moved. It is 

 connnonly said that a jjost csm be put in the hole, 

 and then all the earth that was dug out of it can be 

 put in too. Perhaps another reason that these soils 

 when new are dry enough, and aflerwards require 

 drainiiig, is that the cavities and water courses pro- 

 duced by the roots of trees arc tiiliid up by cultiva- 

 tion. 



THE CHOPS AND PEICES. 



Potatoes, — At Sjracuse, potatoes aie selling fbr 87 

 cents a bushel. 



We lit-ar that one of our bou^eholdefs has contracted for 

 his potatoes tlie coming jear, at Jiftemi ctnits per Wsht;!. — 

 iSyracHie ^taiiifard. 



And we are informed that a party in this tsity has con- 

 tracted for several iluiosand t>iishels in Monroe couiitv, at 

 ftniTteeu cents per bushel. The daj of hij^h prices of jiro- 

 tisions is fast passing awaj. — Albuity Ex/fress. 



Such articles as the above meet us at every torn. 

 We scarcely open a city paper, but we find that the 

 editor has heard or been informed that flour will be 

 cheaper than it has been for a century, and that po- 

 tatoes will not be worth the digging. There appears 

 to be a settled deterjniuation on the part of edilors 

 to lurite down the price of j>rovisions. Perhaps they 

 have entered into a conspiracy for this purpose. V^e 

 need not inform our readers that all such reports as 

 the purchase of potatoes in this couotry at fourteen 

 cents a bushel, are false. We think the price of pro- 

 visions must and should come down, but they will not 

 decrease in value as fast, or become as low as many 

 are led to suppose, from these false reports. We 

 copy a very good article on this subject, from the 

 Rvral ]Vew Yorker: 



"The neirspaj/ers, with their accustomed dillgeEoe 

 in the pulilic service, sae hurrying up "good 

 reports " of the present wheat crop. I have reason 

 to remember that they did the sauio thing lust year. 

 and as 1 was then some thirteen Imiar months young- 

 er than I now am, 1 believed them! Editftrs, as a 

 class, are celebrated for poverty and a sanguine tem- 

 perament. Twelve dollars a barrel lor Hour does not 

 comport well with the piivo of new.«papers. We 

 ought not to think it strange that the men of the 

 (juill have hoped themselves into the belief th-it 

 "J!ovt must eome doiirn." But uitl it? That is the 

 question. "Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee — the South 

 aud \Vost generally, have bountiful harvests." " AH 

 other sections the same," By a singular stretch d' 



