182 ADAPTATION OF 



soil and circumstances will permit ; — to drain his wet lands, 

 economize his manures, and to apply them before they 

 are half wasted, — to till well what he does till, — to alter- 

 nate his crops, — to extend his root and clover culture, — 

 to increase his stock as the products of his farm will per- 

 mit, — and to substitute fallow crops for summer fallows. 

 And the settler on new lands is admonished to adopt a 

 like course, if he would preserve the fertility of his soil, 

 and render his lands permanently productive. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



ON THE ADAPTATION OF PARTICULAR CROPS TO CERTAIN 

 SOILS. 



It is well known that certain plants are found to abound 

 most naturally in particular soils, and that some plants are 

 almost exclusively confined to such — as primitive, transi- 

 tion, and secondary ; silicious, calcareous, or argillaceous; 

 dry or wet ; rich or poor ; — and botanists pretend to deter- 

 mine, from the examination of a plant, its peculiar habita- 

 tion. It is reasonable to conclude, from analogy, that 

 cultivated plants have their preferences, as to soil, as well 

 as those which grow naturally. Indeed, we have abun- 

 dant proofs of this fact, in our ordinary farming opera- 

 tions. This subject has long engaged the attention of Dr. 

 Von Thaer, the distinguished Principal of the Prussian 

 school of Moegelin, The following table exhibits a clas- 

 sification of soils, particularly adapted to the crops designa- 

 ted, with their elementary parts, and relative value, both 

 in regard to the soils and the crops which they produce. 

 Although the real value of every rotation depends, in a 

 great measure, upon the manner in which its several pro- 

 cesses are executed, and upon the demands of the mar- 

 ket ; yet, abstractly speaking, some courses must be con- 

 sidered as better than others, because the crops may be 

 more suitable to the pecuHar qualities of the land on which 

 they are to be grown. 



