72 Miscellaneous. 



A Premium Essay on Practical and Scientific Agriculture, by 

 Prof. G. C. Swallow, State Geologist, Missouri. 



This Essay has been published by the Missouri District Agricul- 

 tural Society, and is prefixed to the Report of their Second Annual 

 Fair. In looking over this report we are struck with the vigour 

 and wisdom of our Western cousins. They have awarded $5466 

 in premiums to competitors for excellence in every conceivable de- 

 partment of agriculture and of arts which contribute to the com- 

 fort and elegance of civilized life. The Essay opens very appro- 

 priately with a few words in praise of a rural life, and its happy 

 moral influences. The learned Professor then defines what scien- 

 tific and practical agriculture is. He shows that geology and 

 chemistry are the sciences, a knowledge of which is of most im- 

 portance to the agriculturalist. The application of these sciences 

 to the agriculture of the State of Missouri he also treats with 

 brevity, point and skill. The following account of the geological 

 formations upon which the soil of this State depends, may be in- 

 teresting to many of our readers. 



As the most essential properties of the soils of Missouri depend upon 

 the Geological Formations on which they rest, this science is destined 

 to give us material aid in understanding the nature and durability of 

 our soils, and in determining the best method of developing their re- 

 sources and preventing that deterioration so detrimental to agricultural 

 pursuits. 



The alluvial bottoms of our large rivers usually furnish a light sandy 

 calcareous soil, which contains more or less of the clay and humusjle. 

 posited in the beds of those ancient lakes and sloughs, now converted 

 into rich savannas by the accumulated sediment and decayed vegetable 

 matter. This soil possesses in an eminent degree all the properties 

 essential to the highest degree of fertility. The fine sands and humus 

 render it light and porous ; the humus gives it the power to imbibe and 

 retain moisture ; its sand and dark color prepare it to receive the heat 

 of the sun ; while the clay and vegetable mould enable it to absorb car- 

 bonic acid and other fertilizing gases from the atmosphere. 



These alluvial deposits have rendered this soil as durable as it is pro- 

 ductive, by furnishing a loose subsoil, rich in all the elements of fer- 

 tility. A soil thus productive and durable and so admirably adapted to 

 the productiou of our great staples — hemp, corn and tobacco — and 

 covering an area of more than four millions of acres, is destined to exert 

 a vast influence over the future wealth and prosperity of our State. 



But this variety of soil is surpassed in value and extent by that based 

 upon the silicious marls of the bluff, where that formation is best de- 

 veloped, as in Platte, Lafayette, Jackson, Buchanan, Clay, Saline, 

 Chariton, Howard and several other counties of the State, — The light 



