Vol. XIV, No. 7 



WASHINGTON 



July, 1903 



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THE UNITED STATES; ITS SOILS AND 

 THEIR PRODUCTS* 



By H. W. Wiley, Ph. D., LL. D. 



Chief Chemist, U. S. Department of Agriculture 



DR DAY, in saying that I had 

 come to take the place of the 

 Secretary of Agriculture, re- 

 minds me of the remark of Oliver Wen- 

 dell Holmes, on an occasion when by 

 reason of the illness of Emerson he was 

 sent to one of the lyceums to fill Emer- 

 son's appointment. The president of 

 the lyceum stated that they had ex- 

 pected to listen to Mr Emerson, but by 

 reason of illness they would not have 

 that pleasure. However, Mr Holmes 

 had kindly consented to fill his place. 

 Whereupon Mr Holmes on rising re- 

 marked that he hardly hoped to fill the 

 place of Mr Emerson, but would at- 

 tempt to rattle around in it a little ; so 

 to-day I cannot hope to fill the place of 

 the Secretary of Agriculture, but will 

 make as much noise in the large space 

 unoccupied as possible. 



ORIGIN OF THE SOIL 



One of the oft-repeated theories con- 

 cerning the origin of our earth is that at 

 a remote period all the matter of which 



the earth consists at present was a part 

 of the incandescent gas which filled the 

 space now assigned to our solar system. 

 As the cooling of this mass of gas pro- 

 gressed vortex rings were formed of 

 gaseous matter. These on further cool- 

 ing broke and rolled together, forming 

 the sun, the planets, and the satellites 

 of our present system. The next con- 

 dition of the incandescent gas was in- 

 candescent liquid, which came in due 

 season as the time rolled by. Finally, 

 by the further process of cooling, a 

 crust was formed upon the surface of 

 these liquids which was the beginning 

 of the solid surface of the earth. This 

 crust would naturally be of the same 

 composition as the liquid matter from 

 which it was formed — practically ho- 

 mogeneous in character and consisting 

 of the mineral matters which could only 

 exist at that temperature. 



In speaking of the soils of the United 

 States, I would like to trace briefly their 

 evolution from this primeval crust, 

 which was the first ice formed on this 



* Address before the National Geographic Society, FebrAiary iS, 1903 



