GKEENE COUNTY. 687 



3. The next group to be treated constitute a much larger portion of the 

 surface than either of the others already described. It comprises the light- 

 colored clays, whitish or yellow, which make the common upland soils of 

 the country. Being generally derived from the bowlder clay, nothing 

 more needs to be said in regard to their mode of origin, as this topic has 

 already been considered. They are strong and durable to a high degree, 

 but under unwise or negligent husbandry they become stubborn and un- 

 productive. On the other hand, there are no soils of the State that respond 

 more kindly to a rational system of tillage. Their great lack is that of 

 organic matter, which is needed even more to ameliorate their physical 

 condition than to supply plant food. The system of farming, however, 

 to which these clays are generally subjected robs them as rapidly as pos- 

 sible of the small amount of vegetable mold with which they are sup- 

 plied at the outset. In this way their color is bleached to whitish, from 

 their usual yellowish tint. 



The native forest growths of these soils consist largely of oaks of vari- 

 ous species, among which the white oak largely predominates. It gains 

 here a magnificent growth, and supplies the country with invaluable re- 

 sources in the way of staunch timber. , 



Several analyses are appended of this most important division of the 

 soils of central Ohio. 



The first of them, No. 5, is of a white clay on an overtaxed and tem- 

 porarily exhausted farm (McClure farm, Mad River township, Clarke 

 county). It is to be added that the soil of this area was never equal to 

 that which immediately surrounds it. 



The next analysis, No. 6, shows the composition of the subsoil of these 

 same white clays, taken at a depth of fifteen to eighteen inches below the 



surface. 



In examining these analysis, it will be noticed that the organic matter 

 in the soil but slightly exceeds that in the subsoil (2.85 per cent, against 

 2.58 per cent.). It is safe to say that any process which should double the 

 amount of organic matter in it would increase its productive power in a 

 high degree. There is no lack of phosphoric acid, of potash, soda, or sul- 

 phur in either, the vital elements of all soils. On the contrary, the pro- 

 portions which these substances attain in them would give them place 

 among the fertile lands of the State. It is to their physical condition, 

 principally, that their want of fertility must be ascribed. It is certainly 

 assuring to find that even the poorest and most stubborn clays of the 

 State possess untold capacities for the service of man. They hold, how- 

 ever, these treasures securely locked until a wiser system than ours shall 

 find the key. 



