Wells on the Soils of the Scioto Valley, Ohio. 335 
not yet available for the support of the crop under ordinary 
circumstances, but which will be available at no distant 
period. Finally, after washing the soil with water and acids, 
and after treating it with caustic alkalies, a portion of organic 
matter still remains, unaltered and insoluble. This organic 
matter, usually the largest portion in a soil, is conceived to 
exist in a state allied to charcoal, or rather lignite, exercising 
no direct influence upon the plant, but of great value when 
not in too large excess for the absorption and retention of 
moisture, ammonia, and carbonic acid. In ordinary soil 
analyses the organic portion of a soil existing in these three 
several conditions, is estimated as a whole and without dis- 
tinction, thus giving the agriculturalist no opportunity of 
judging whether this portion of his soil is in a condition 
resembling a peat-bog, or in a state conducive to fertility. 
À comparison of the results obtained from the examination 
of these fertile'soils from Ohio, with those obtained by others 
from an examination of the soils of New England, seems to 
show most conclusively to the agriculturalist of this district, 
the necessity for a thorough breaking and pulverizing of the 
earthy particles, and for the preparation, preservation, and 
Proper application of organic manures, the produce of the 
farm-yard and the muck-bed. ‘These conclusions are not 
new ; they are the result of the experience of ages, and of 
the observations and experiments of every practical farmer. 
he tendency of the present day is to favor mineral manures. 
I would not undervalue them; but at the same time I wish 
that the old notions respecting thorough tillage and the value 
of the barnyard products, notions the value of which expe- 
rience has taught, and which all scientific investigations are 
now confirming, may not be undervalued or underrated. 
