JOHN P. NORTON'S ADDRESS. 233 



is arrested, and various acid vegetable substances begin to ac- 

 cumulate. If water still stands, and stagnates, the soil becomes 

 so unfavorable to the cultivated crops, that they do r.ot succeed 

 and the artificial, valuable grasses are gradually replaced by 

 swamp grasses, or rushes. The water now becomes dark col- 

 ored, owing to its holding in solution a small quantity of these 

 vegetable acids. In tropical climates, the heat is so great, that 

 vegetable matter decomposes, even when immersed in water, 

 and consequently there is no entire arrest of decomposition : in 

 temperate regions, there is a gradual accumulation, and, after 

 we pass a certain degree of latitude, this accumulation is very 

 rapid. From such causes, result the peat bogs, and morasses 

 of all northern climates. When once commenced, these have a 

 peculiar growth of their own, and increase from year to year, 

 until, at last, they sometimes reach the thickness of twenty 

 or thirty feet. Now, it is to be observed, that the elements in 

 these quaking, hopelessly barren swamps, are the same as those 

 which exist in the most fertile soils ; the difficulty is, that they 

 are here, as it were, locked up, so as to be worse than useless, to 

 any valuable plant. 



The remedy for this state of things is simple ; a few drains of 

 tiles, or small stones, placed at proper distances, and cut to a 

 proper depth, will be found an infallible specific. The super- 

 fluous water is carried away, and, as it retires from the surface, 

 air and warmth follow ; then the work of decomposition com- 

 mences, and, after a time, a soil of uncommon fertility is ob- 

 tained. 



But the evil eflect of much water upon the soil is seen, not 

 in bogs and swamps alone, but also, in a great number of our 

 cultivated fields. In such places, water is not present to the 

 extent before described ; the soil may be even, perfectly firm 

 and dry at midsummer, but still, there is so much water during 

 autumn and spring, that neither grass nor cultivated crops suc- 

 ceed well. The action here is, so far as it goes, similar to that 

 already mentioned. A quantity of vegetable acids are formed, 

 owing to the imperfect access of air, sufiicient to check, if not 

 to entirely arrest, the growth of crops. The farmers ordinarily 

 call such land cold and sour, and, by so doing, they express ex- 

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