134 TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



Rising above these secoud bottoms by geutle slopes, in which remains of the gravel beds appear, are the 

 uplands, which are in the main highly productive, but have not the original strength of constitution of the soils of 

 the first and secoud bottoms. Sometimes these lands are stubborn, and when there is a predominance of clay they are 

 sterile. Bowlders lie scattered in considerable quantities even upon the highest points, and in such abundance in 

 some places as to preclude cultivation. The yellow, gravelly clays often form the main element of the drift, and are 

 regularly stratified. There are also beds of blue clay underlying these, as well as the forest beds, 20 feet below the 

 surface, in which stumps of ancient trees are still found, with roots firmly fixed in the hard pan. 



Near the "divide", in the upper part of the valley, the soils are divided into 



1. Clayey soils, well adapted to the production of wheat and tobacco. This is the soil of the uplands and higher 

 portions of the region. Its color varies from yellow to red and brown, but upon the water-sheds it is almost white. 

 Free and porous usually, it is sometimes compact, tenacious, and difficult of tillage. The physical condition of the 

 darker soils makes them produce more kindly, but they are not more durable than the white soils of the ridges. 



2. The secoud class of soils is alluvial, generally confined to the river basins. Greenville and Stillwater creeks 

 are bounded by wide stretches of these soils. They are usually dark in color, very loamy and friable, on account 

 of the large admixture of sand or gravelly deposits, are rich in vegetable mold, and produce very large crops of 

 corn. 



3. A third class is ashen in color, light and friable, with a clayey subsoil. This soil is generally found in well- 

 drained, low situations. Its excellence results from the character of the subsoil and from the large amount of 

 decayed vegetable matter which has been incorporated with the clay by the untiring industry of insect life. 

 Though limited in extent, this peculiar soil is held in very high esteem for the production of wheat, tobacco, hay, 

 and corn. It will probably produce a greater diversity of crops than any other in this section. 



4. The peat deposits are enumerated as constituting a fourth class of soils. They occupy depressions supposed 

 to be the beds of marshes or ancient lakes, and the half-decayed vegetable remains, when well drained and aerated, 

 become highly productive. Tobacco is sometimes planted upon these peat beds, but never until they have been 

 relieved of superfluous water, when it is said to grow well and to exhibit qualities of high excellence. The material 

 which makes up the peat beds is often used as a fertilizer, and when properly combined with stable manure it acts 

 with readiness on all standard crops. 



The soils in Shelby county are composed largely of vegetable matter, and are not all alluvium. Mr. John 

 Hussey, of the geological survey, asserts that in some of the tributaries of the Miami the width of the bottoms is 

 disproportioned to the size of the streams, the latter being very small and the former very wide. He attributes the 

 width and the exuberant fertility of the lowlands to the fact that before the clearing away of the forests, owing to 

 the very slight fall toward the streams, the water was impeded by rubbish and underbrush and stood on the ground 

 for at least a portion of the year. The consequence was a large accumulation of vegetable mold, the vegetation 

 which produced it growing up in swamps and along the sluggish courses of the streams. This soil is very fertile 

 and very durable. 



There are two classes of upland soil :. first, the black soil, composed of the clay of the drift, intermingled with 

 vegetable matter in a state of decay ; and, second, the light-colored, thin soil, with but little vegetable material in 

 its composition. The dark soils are of a kindred nature with the bottom soils, and result from the accumulation of 

 vegetable matter in low places. In due course of time the vegetable matter became intermixed with the clay, and 

 formed a rich, dark-brown loam. The clay of the light-colored, thin soils is very compact, is composed of a fine- 

 grained material, which sheds water readily, and is deficient both in limestone pebbles and in greenstone bowlders. 



Montgomery county is the center of the tobacco interest of the district, and Miamisburg and Dayton furnish the 

 largest primary markets, much of the tobacco produced in adjoining counties finding its way to these markets. 



Probably the. proportion of the clayey uplands and gravelly soils is somewhat less than in several of the counties 

 of the valley lying near the "divide" between the waters of lake Erie and the Ohio river, with a corresponding 

 larger proportion of second bottoms and black upland soils. The yellow and the black loamy soils are preferred for 

 tobacco, and when in good tilth, and not partially exhausted by overcropping, they are very friable and produce kindly. 

 A large preponderance of clay, unless ameliorated by turning under green crops, clovering, or high manuring, 

 makes the soil too stiff, and, though some crops are grown with success on such soils, tobacco proves a comparative 

 failure. 



The timber trees, named in the order of their predominance, are sugar-tree, hickory, white ash, white oak, 

 red oak, burr oak, walnut, beech, elm, blue ash, poplar, hackberry, Hun, red maple, sycamore, butternut, dogwood, 

 ironwood, and buckeye, all denoting a very high fertility ; indeed, it is to be doubted if any other equal area can 

 be found in the United States where so many kinds of trees grow, all indicative of the very best soils. 



We find in the drift almost every variety of hard rock to be found on the continent, and a metamorphic 

 series feldspar, hornblende, diorites, schists, quartz, sandstones, and limestones, argillaceous clays tinged with 

 the protoxide and the peroxide of iron mingled in a thousand varying proportions, form the base of the soils. 

 To these the leaves and decayed trunks and branches of a myriad generation of deciduous trees have been added, 

 making a combination filled with all the elements of plant food. 

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