574 Indications of Fertility or Barrenness of Soils. 
Indications of Fertility. 
From repeated observations I long since satisfied myself that, 
in the vegetable creation, there are certain plants which sponta- 
neously grow and flourish on certain soils which do not spon- 
taneously grow and flourish on other kinds of soils differently 
constituted ; and those plants, thus electing to grow or not to 
grow, are certain indications of the barrenness or fertility of the 
soil. To test the truth of this proposition became at once a 
matter of great importance, because I could easily see that it 
would require more than the simple belief of any individual to 
render it of any value, if true. I therefore resolved to follow up 
a series of observations on the quality and kind of herbage of ail 
the lands I could spare time to visit, particularly the land of 
districts that were notorious for barrenness or fertility. Since 
the year 1825 the valuation of not less than 300,000 acres of 
land has come under my observation, situated on all kinds of 
soils, and on almost all the various geological formations ; and, 
whenever practicable, such has been made the ground-work of 
my observations, and rendered subservient to the necessary proof 
of the before-named proposition. Where I found the normal 
value to be high, J anticipated that the land would be found to 
be fertile ; and, on the contrary, where low, I expected to find 
the soil barren. I did not hesitate to adopt the extremes as the 
proper representatives for the time being of barren and fertile 
soil, then believing that land which was high must he fertile, and 
that which was low must be barren. After thus adopting the 
extremes, which had been fixed by parties whose experience and 
judgment in the value of land cannot be doubted, I visited the 
fields with the view of examining the herbage and geological 
character of the soil, and of ascertaining the names of the most 
prevailing plants and grasses. I very soon found that I had set 
myself a most difBcult task, and, what was more serious than all, 
I was totally unable to master the difficulties I encountered at 
every step. For a while in many of my excursions I amused 
myself with observing the changes from barren to fertile, and the 
contrary. I did not long remain satisfied with what appeared to 
amuse rather than inform, but, after some consideration, deter- 
mined to suspend all operations whatever for a more dry and 
severe undertaking, namely, the study of botany and geology. 
Having in some few months made a little progress, and but a 
little, in those sciences, I resumed my pursuits with considerable 
zeal, and, by dint of perseverance, after about a dozen years' 
practice and observation, I at length succeeded, or thought so at 
least, in surmounting most of the difficulties that lay in my way. 
I commenced collecting together from a great variety of memo- 
randums such observations as appeared to be of import.ince, and, 
after some trouble, succeeded in condensing them into something 
