90 AGRICULTUKAL REPORT. [March, 



the centre of the ridges. Little hope of success is to be enter- 

 tained in the cultivation of winter wheat without provision 

 against standing water upon the field : and to spring wheat it 

 is of almost equal importance. 



Deep Cultivation. — But I pass to a point more material 

 than any other to the success of the wheat crop as the most 

 decisive experiments in this country and abroad seem fully 

 settled ; that is, the furnishing to the wheat crop deep cultiva- 

 tion, dry cultivation, and a fresh soil. The earthy constitu- 

 ents of the soil are, under certain qualifications, of little con- 

 sequence, provided there is a sufficient tenacity to retain mois- 

 ture, though not to excess, which would be positively inju- 

 rious ; and provided likewise the soil be reduced to that fria- 

 ble and permeable state that the roots can fix and spread 

 themselves freely, and light, and air, and moisture have free 

 access. The beneficial agency of light upon vegetation after 

 the germination of the seed has been completed, has been 

 established in the most decisive manner ; and the part per- 

 formed by air and moisture is too well settled to be brought 

 into discussion. Several plants are known whose roots never 

 touch the ground, and whose whole dependance is upon air 

 and moisture.* A soil composed of one simple earth, wheth- 

 er pure clay, or sand, or chalk, is unfavorable to vegetatioUj 

 though plants will live aud grow in them where they are 

 abundantly supplied with air and moisture. The intermixture 

 seems most favorable of sand enough to render the clay per- 

 meable, and of clay enough to be tenacious of moisture. 

 The growth of any vegetable must depend, in a great meas- 

 ure, upon the amount of decayed vegetable or animal matter 

 in the soil ; and of this, undoubtedly, light, air, and mois- 

 ture, are the most powerful solvents. Nothing can be taken 

 up by the roots of the plants unless it be in a state of perfect 

 solution, and nothing can be absorbed by the leaves or the 

 stems of the plant unless it be in a gaseous form. The 

 great agents of vegetation then are not the earths — though 

 these perform their parts — but air, light, heat, and moisture 



" Ajipendix J 



