Noe 200.) 
193 
tion of vinegar, or any 6f the mineral acids, a fact which every farmer 
ought to know, in order to be able to make the most of the beds of clay 
on his farm. In fact, it is easy for any one, though not much practis- 
ed in chemical manipulation, to ascertain nearly the quantity of lime in 
100 parts of clay, simply by dissolving out the lime by warm vinegar 
or muriatic acid, which is better, and then weighing the remainder care- 
fully, after a thorough drying. 
From what has been said of the soil of this county, it is easy to an- 
ticipate the application of the facts in a general way. It is certain, 
too, that on the sandy lands, carbonate of lime is an element wanting 
to ensure their actual improvement; and when the clays beneath are 
combined with this element^ that that is material to be employed; as, 
while it gives greater firmness, and confers retentiveness to the soil, at 
the same time, adds an earth essential to the vegetable economy. It is 
hardly necessary to say, that each of the two classes of soil, are the mu- 
tual correctives of faults possessed by the other, as the first, which is al- 
ways too loose and open when unaccompanied by the other, so the other is 
too close and too impervious of itself, a due mixture of the two being es- 
sential in the cultivation of the useful vegetables; not that one uniform 
mixture is to be sought or desired, as it is well known that the culti- 
vated vegetables flourish the best, some in soils in which clay predomi- 
nates, others where sand is in excess. There is one fact which is ra- 
ther remarkable in the soil generally of the northern counties; it is the 
thinness of the vegetable mould. In those places where it would be 
expected to have a thickness of eight or ten inches, it is not more 
than two or three. It is also singular, that peat is wanting in the low 
lands, as it would be inferred that the climate possesses the requisite 
temperature to ensure its formation and growth; but, judging from the 
examination of many swamps and places, natural for its production, I 
presume it does not occur in the county. I have not met with it in a 
single instance. These two facts, so far as they go, prove the compa- 
rative newness of most of the northern counties; that is, it is geologi- 
cally speaking, only a short period since the lower portions of the 
country were elevated above the ocean. For, had it been covered with 
vegetation a great length of time, the vegetable mould would have been 
thicker; and peat bogs would have formed, as they have to a great ex- 
tent, in the southern counties, and in many parts of New-England.* 
In the marshes and low grounds generally, we come immediately upon 
the clays and gravels, after removing an inch or two of vegetable mould, 
* Or the former peat bogs and layers of mould have been removed by moving currents of 
water. 
[Assem. No. 200. J 21 
