738 [Assembly 



on my farm I put it deep, and in a drought I find the effect excel- 

 lent. I do not put it so deep in stiff clay soil, nor in a cold soil. 

 When the manure is deep, the first growth of plants is slow, but soon 

 appears the vigorous influence of the manure below. It has been ob- 

 served a long time that there is a peculiar vigor in the vegetation in 

 grave yards; and it has also been observed, that in such yards when 

 old, no interments having been made in a long time, they become 

 sterile. And it has been noticed that where sand has been carried 

 upon rich valleys, that land soon becomes fertile, the fertilizing ele- 

 ments ascend ! Place a thin covering of straw over poor land, and 

 the places covered are found soon to become rich. The covering 

 arrests the ascending elements of fertilization, and confines them to 

 the surface of the soil. In North Carolina it was remarked that when 

 the soil was covered by leaves of the pine tree, it was rapidly en- 

 riched. So a coat of clover arrests the flight of the fertile elements 

 and enriches land. All that is fertilizing in manure is soluble or ga- 

 seous. What would be the thickness of soil in primitive forests, if 

 fertility should never ascend? Yet we find it on the levels where it 

 has never been washed away, but about eighteen inches! The ele- 

 ments do not ascend as rapidly in clay soils, as in porous, sandy 

 land. 



I covered a sandy field with a coat of clay, and found great bene- 

 fit to the soil by it. For the purpose of putting our manures deep, 

 it is necessary that we should plough deep. The justly celebrated 

 Buel strongly recommended it. The salts, &c. in solution in the soil, 

 ascend by capillary attraction to the surface. A fall of snow late in 

 spring has been remarked to cause fertility; grasses especially show 

 this power. I covered my orchard with clover, and it enriches the 

 ground, and I find more vegetable mould there than there was before. 

 Our clear sky and great solar heat, cause a great loss in the fertility 

 of our soils. In a cool, moist climate, like that of England, the re- 

 sults, are not the same; a top dressing of manure is good in Eng- 

 land, but almost worthless under our sun. Long Island farmers 

 should put the manures deep in their porous, sandy soils. In what 

 is called a cool season here, ice always r^ise the best vegetables: Not 

 only do the fertile elements rise, but caloric rises also. I have found 

 ice half an inch on the ground in my orchard, and yet the apples on 

 the trees entirely untouched by frost. This is due to the rising of 

 caloric in the body and limbs of the tree during the night. 



Mr. Meigs observed that Dr. Underbill's remark on the thickness 

 of soil in primitive forests, recalled to his mind an observation made 



