14 D. A, Wells on the Soils of the Scioto Valley. 
In the examination and analysis of these soils of the Scioto 
Valley, several points of interest were noted by me, which I con- 
sider worthy of especial attention. Their reputation for fertility 
is extensively known, as well as their general character and chem- 
ical composition, but I am not aware that any extended and 
thoréugh examination of a suite of specimens, from known lo- 
calities, has heretofore been made by any chemist. 
The first and perhaps the most interesting fact noticed in the — 
examination of these soils was the remarkable degree of fineness — 
of their constituent particles. In this respect I venture to assert — 
that they are not surpassed by any other alluvial deposits upon — 
the surface of the earth, some of the soils being little else than — 
impalpable powders. In commencing their examination, it was 
at once seen, that a mechanical division of these soils by means 
of the sieves ordinarily used in soil analyses, would not afford a 
fair indication of the minuteness of their particles. I therefore 
rocured a sieve of the finest gauze, the largest meshes of which 
hy accurate measurement did not exceed one-sixtieth of an inch 
in diameter. ‘The soil was then broken in a porcelain mortar, 
care being taken that only the dried particles were crushed, with- 
out triturating any of the silicates or earthy matter. One hundred 
rts of six samples so treated, were sifted upon the sieve before 
described, and left the following small quantities of coarse residue ; 
of this residue, it should be stated, that it was composed in part 
of vegetable fibres and undecomposed organic matter. Of soil 
No. 1, seven parts in one hundred remained upon the sieve; of 
No. 2, one and six-tenths parts; of No. 3, a subsoil, from twenty 
to thirty parts; of No. 4, six and three-tenths; of No. 5, one and 
