TT94, 7P5] PASTURAGE IN THE PINE WOODS. 361 



794. The ingredients furnished by the decayed Pine straw being in an 

 available or soluble condition (H42G), it is desirable to render the soil as retentive 

 as possible, in order that these Substances may remain within the reach of plants, 

 Wherever there is a clay subsoil, therefore, this ought to be mixed with the 

 surface soil. This consideration would seem to afford a clue to the transient 

 productiveness of the Pine Hill soils; when first taken into cultivation, they 

 often produce quite vigorously for 2 to 3 years, then suddenly give out alto- 

 gether. It is more than probable that this is owing to the supply of soluble 

 nutriment furnished to the surface soil by the Pine straw ; and with a retentive 

 soil, it would seem tint the fertility of the surface layer would be constantly on 

 the increase, through the annual access from the fall of leaves. But the ashy 

 Pine Hill soil is unable to retain a supply of soluble nutriment greater than 

 will be appropriated by a few years' crop ; what is over and above, goes to the 

 subsoil and is thence once more absorbed by the roots of the Pines. 



It will be perceived, therefore, that in making use of the Pine straw as a 

 manure, we can concentrate on a small space the fertility of the soil and subsoil 

 of a large tract, which is thus collected for us by the Pines. It is manifest that 

 it will be better policy for the " Piney Woods" planter, to keep one quarter- 

 section in a high state of cultivation, by means of the straw collected from the 

 remaining three-quarters, than to till the whole section (IT -480), exhausting the 

 sin ill supply of nutriment contained in the surface soil, within a few years. 

 The Pines will bring up for him, in an available condition, the fertility of a 

 subsoil stratum which his plow could never reach. 



I do not mean to say that such a method would be rational for all time to 

 come. The withdrawal of the nutriment contained in the leaves would finally 

 cause the Pines themselves to languish, by exhausting the soil. This, however, 

 is centuries ahead, and it is to he hoped that before that time, a general system 

 of rational agriculture will render less important the resort to the forest leaves 

 as fertilizers. 



795. Pasturage in the Pine Woods. — In their natural state, 

 as received from the hands of the Indians, the Pine Woods were 

 one great pasture — as, in thinly settled regions, they still are. Nor 

 is it, generally, the ranging of cattle which has destroyed the 

 pasturage in other regions, but simply the injudicious burning of 

 the woods, at seasons when the fire would destroy not only the dry 

 leaves, but also parch the heart and the roots of the grasses. It 

 would seem that in a region comparatively poor in agricultural 

 resources, the maintenance of pasturage should be considered a 

 matter of national importance. The Swiss, being unable to culti- 

 vate profitably their mountain slopes, have converted them into 

 pastures ; these form the basis of their national wealth. Why 

 this should not be so with the inhabitants of the Pine Woods, I 

 have been unable to discover ; it is certain, however, that the 

 pasturage of that region is disappearing before the fires at a fearful 

 rate, and that those who heretofore have relied on the range, during 

 all but a few weeks in winter, for the support of their catile, will 

 soon be compelled, as many are now, to raise feed for them on their 

 poor soil, which, at present, will but just furnish comfortably the 

 prime necessities of life for the population itself. The beautiful, 

 park-like slopes of the Pino HilLs are beiug converted into a 

 smoking desert of pine trunks, on whose blackened soil the cattle 

 seek more vainly every year, the few scattered, Sickly blades of 

 grass, whose roots the fire has not killed. 



