18 D. A. Wells on the Soils of the Scioto Valley. 
allied to charcoal, or more properly lignite, valuable in many re- 
spects, as an absorbent of moisture, etc., but taking no active part 
in the production and sustinence of the plant. In ordinary soil 
analyses, the amount of organic matter, in these three conditions 
is determined as a whole, and without distinction, thus giving the 
agriculturalist no opportunity of judging whether this portion of 
is soil is in a condition resembling a peat bog, or in a state con- 
ducive to fertility. 
ere is one other subject connected with these analyses, 
which I consider of the highest importance, and to which I 
would direct especial attention. Dr. Dana of Lowell, in the 
course of many years experience, has collected and preserved the 
results of more than four hundred analyses of soils, from the 
northern portion of this country. The analyses of the soils I 
have made from Ohio, and the analysis of all the soils resulting 
from the drift agency, do not differ materially, so far as regards 
their inorganic constituents. That is to say, the soils of Ohio, 
yielding with little or no culture from seventy to eighty bushels 
of corn to the acre, are no better so far as their mineral composi- 
tion is concerned, than many of the Massachusetts soils which 
have a reputation for sterility. Slight differences it is true, exist, 
but not to such an extent as might be supposed from contrasting 
their relative products of the different soils. In what then is 
there a reason for their difference in value to be found? It can- 
not be in the attributes in which they agree—which are their 
mineral constituents, but in the attributes in which they differ ; 
and these are the amount and condition of the organic matter con- 
tained in the soils, and the fineness of their elementary particles. 
These conclusions, if of any value, may show to the agricul- — 
turalists of New England, the necessity for the thorough break- 
ing and pulverizing of the earthy particles, and for the preserva- 
tion, preparation, and proper application of organic manures, the 
produce of the farm-yard and the muck-beds. These suggestions 
are not new; they are the results of the experience of ages, and 
of the observations and experiments of every practical farmer. 
The agricultural tendency of the present day is toward mineral 
manures ;—I would not undervalue them, but at the same time I 
wish that the old notions respecting thorough tillage, and the 
