JOHN P. NORTON'S ADDRESS. 223 



confine myself to one part of this great subject — the structure, 

 the physical properties, and the chemical composition of the 

 soil. This may seem to some a narrow limit, but there will be 

 no difficulty in proving it far too broad for the limits of a single 

 address. 



The soils which now exist upon the face of our earth, have 

 been produced by a variety of agencies ; the chief of these have 

 been, the gradual decomposition and. crumbling down of the 

 rocks themselves, and deposition by water. We know that the 

 external outline of the earth has undergone most extensive 

 changes. In some places, it has sunk, in others risen. Some- 

 times it is evident, from the present conformation of the surface, 

 that violent currents of water have swept across strata of rocks, 

 wearing away the uppermost, and transporting their ruins to fill 

 up depressions elsewhere. We often find strata upheaved and 

 dislocated by action from below, and, in many cases, see the 

 inferior rock presenting itself on the surface, having burst up- 

 wards in a state of fusion, in despite of every obstacle. Scarce- 

 ly a region can be found which does not present striking 

 evidence of the throes, convulsions, and changes, which took 

 place before man became an inhabitant of this planet. It is for 

 geologists to decide, if they can, how long a time was occu- 

 pied in these changes ; suflUce it for our present purpose, that 

 they have taken place, and that they seem to have been espe- 

 cially ordered for our benefit. Had the stratum last deposited, 

 or formed, continued unbroken and unchanged around the whole 

 earth, we should have had none of the beautiful variety of 

 scenery which now greets our eyes on every side ; no alterna- 

 tion of hill and dale, mountain, plain and valley, with the at- 

 tendant variations of climate and production, which now so 

 often remind us of perfection itself. 



The soil would have been identical in composition over vast 

 districts, if not over the whole earth, being all formed from, at 

 least, allied species of rocks. Now as few rocks contain all the 

 material for a good soil, this soil would doubtless have been 

 imperfectly fitted to sustain most of the plants necessary for our 

 existence and comfort. When exhausted too, we should have 

 had no stores of mineral substances in forms convenient for 

 supplying the deficiency. 



