150 ' Effects of Climate and Soil 



like climate wards off the effects of drought in summer. This is the nat- 

 ural, or rather was the natural, condition of things ; but, since so much of 

 the woodland his been cut away, the climate has become changed ; and 

 often during the winters the ground is exposed to the frost when in a dry- 

 condition, and the long summer droughts also injure the roots that lie so 

 near the surface : and to these causes we may attribute the short lives of 

 the orchards that have been planted since this new condition of things. 

 I might add one other cause ; and that is the too high culture of the trees 

 in the nursery. 



Tile-draining in New England is of great value to the orchard, as it 

 deepens the soil, lowers the level of stagnant water in spring and autumn, 

 and, to some extent, induces the roots of the trees to run more below the 

 surface. As we cannot plough the orchard deep, we must resort to shal- 

 low culture, such as the cultivator will accomplish. If we would keep the 

 orchard cultivated, it must be done on the flat system, and the surface only 

 must be stirred. Under such a condition of things, we need not be sur- 

 prised at the seeding-down of orchards to pasture or meadow, and of the 

 necessity of hea\y top-dressings of artificial or natural manures. 



To trench-plough the heavy clays of New England is not desirable, for 

 the subsoil contains little of the elements of plant-growth ; and to mix it 

 with the soil has an injurious effect. On the other hand, deep tillage by 

 subsoiling and tile-drainage is of great benefit by allowing the surface-water 

 to pass off through the subsoil. If we plough in lands, say of the width 

 of orchard-rows, twenty-four feet, turning the furrow constantly towards 

 the row of trees, we shall expose the subsoil and the roots of the trees, 

 and thus injure the tree and deteriorate the soil ; and we are compelled to 

 fall back on flat culture, shallow ploughing, surface-manuring, and tile- 

 draining. 



The New-England orchardist who removes to the West, very naturally 

 continues the same practice, and, not succeeding according to his anticipa- 

 tions, lays the blame to the climate or to the soil. 



The soil of the prairie, and also much if not all of the timber-land, is 

 composed of drift, — soil deposited by the ocean, or of vast fresh-water lakes. 

 What is called the Basin of Upper Egypt in this State is the bed of a large 

 fresh-water lake, into which the Missouri poured its floods of muddy water, 



