GREENE COUNTY. 685 



growth of the first or lower bottoms. The excessive amount of carbonate 

 of lime found in them (50.87 per cent.) will be noted. It is almost a 

 matter of surprise that vegetation of any sort could be borne by such 

 a mortar bank. The large amount of phosphoric acid will, however, give 

 them high rank, so far as this priceless element of fertility is concerned, 

 and the quantity of the alkalies (potash and soda) is also ample for all 

 demands of vegetation. 



Analysis No. 2 is of the Buck Creek bottoms (prairie lands) from the 

 game locality. The large proportion of organic matter here (29.34 per 

 oent.) will attract attention. A soil so loose as this must necessarily be 

 would hardly enable trees to stand against our south-west winds, and it 

 may be that its nakedness is due to such a cause rather than to any 

 natural want of adaptation to the production of forests. The amount of 

 lime falls considerably below that shown in No. 1, but is still excessive 

 (35.85 per cent.). The other substances which constitute the fine gold of 

 every soil, viz., the phosphates, sulphuric acid, the alkalies, are all here 

 in large amount. The lime present, however, renders the land unfit for 

 tillage. All crop3 burn out in the summer months. The application of 

 this soil to the uplands would carry to them just what they most need. 

 The lime in it would make it a full equivalent for shell marl, while the 

 organic matter, which makes almost one-third of its entire substance, 

 would wonderfully ameliorate their stubborn texture. There is little 

 doubt that, load for load, this bottom land would prove, on many areas, a 

 full equivalent for stable manure. 



Analysis No. 3 is of the subsoil of No. 2, taken from a depth of two 

 feet below the surface. It will be seen that this subsoil has all of the 

 characteristics of a model soil. Its only obvious deficiency is in the soluble 

 forms of the alkalies. Aside from this it would be hard to say what 

 should be added or what taken away to increase its adaptation! to all the 

 uses of agriculture. 



The proportion of carbonate of lime shrinks from more than fifty per 

 oent. in the soil to four per cent, in the sub-soil. As both soil and sub-soil 

 are supposed to be derived from the same source, viz., alluvial deposits, it 

 may be asked how this great disparity is to be accounted for. In reply, 

 it is suggested that, like many other important facts which at first sight 

 have no connection with the cause assigned, it will be found traceable to 

 the clearing of the country. By the clearing of the land, evaporation has 

 been greatly promoted along all of the drainage courses, and the streamii 

 now sink to a point never known in the early history of the country. Ai 

 they fall, pools of water, small and great, are left along their courses, which, 

 when evaporated by a summer's sun, give rise to large amounts of calcare- 



