OESERVATIONS. 32"? 



IX. OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRECEDING ANALYSES. 



Having stated the foregoing results respecting the soils of New-York, wliich we have 

 obtained by analysis, we deem this the proper place for introducing a few explanatory 

 remarks upon the subject which has so long occupied our attention. 



The objects which we have had in view, were to obtain a general expression respecting 

 the composition of the soils in the districts which we have referred to so often ; and to 

 arrive at data bj' which not only the capabilities of the soils might be ascertained, but the 

 reason why tiie soils of one district were so w"ell adapted to the cultivation of wheat, and 

 another to that of maize. Other objects of importance are still before us. What are the 

 deficiencies in the soil of a given district, and how may these deficiencies be supplied] 

 Observation had taught the most discerning agriculturists that their soils had undergone 

 some remarkable change, in consequence of which important crops, which had once been 

 successfully and profitably grown, had ceased to be so. The reason wliy sucli a change 

 had taken place, became an important problem to solve. 



Wheat was once the great staple production of the Mohawk and Hudson valley ; but 

 this crop has ceased to be profitable, unless it be for familj^ consumption : it is not an 

 article which goes extensively into market. What is the cause of the change ? It can not 

 be due to atmospheric influences : the seasons succeed each as in the days when the 

 Dutch first lighted their fires, and slept safely under the guns of Fort Orange. The snows 

 and rains bring down ammonia and carbonic acid as formerly, and thus furnish to the soil 

 the same elements. Without doubt we may say, then, that the altered conditions which 

 influence the wheat crop are to be sought for in the soil. This view of the question, 

 however, could not be determined directly. If the exact constitution of the soil of this 

 part of the Slate had been determined at the period alluded to, we have no doubt of the 

 truth of the position that a full analysis of the same soil, at the present time, would 

 detect the essential losses it has sustained in the successive croppings to which it has been 

 subjected. But we have no analyses made thus early, and hence are constrained to pursue 

 an indirect route. W^e may determine the constituents essential to a wheat soil, or the 

 constitution of a soil when this crop is not only productive, but free from such accidents as 

 rust and shrinkage. With these objects before us, we engaged in the foregoing analyses. 

 They have been conducted with care, and, so far as they go, may be relied upon. The 

 foregoing analyses, however, give in general the mineral constituents, or those w-hich are 

 comparatively free and soluble : they do not determine the actual capabilities of the soils, 

 nor the exact proportion in which the elements exist. Considering that it was an object 

 of sufficient importance to determine the amount of the elements as they exist, both in a 

 free and combined state, we have engaged in a more determinate and exact method, 

 which it is proper we should state in detail in this place* 



