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ANALYSES OF SOILS. 
4. WESTERN, OR WHEAT DISTRICT. 
It is not without reason that the central and western counties of New-York are called 
wheat-bearing counties, by way of preeminence for their adaptation to this crop. Probably 
there is not another so good a district for wheat in this country ; and this is true, whether 
we take into account the amount which may be raised per acre, or the quality of the grain 
itself. It is true too that the average product is far less than many premium crops which 
are raised elsewhere ; still, we believe that no country can produce larger, if the growers 
of wheat in this district were disposed to work for a heavy crop. The truth is, what is pro¬ 
duced may be regarded rather as the spontaneous growth of the fields, than one which is 
produced by high cultivation. 
There is another point of excellence possessed by the lands of this district, which has 
been too little respected : it is the durability of the lands, or the ability with which they 
stand cropping. This does not arise from a deep vegetable mould, an accumulation of 
organic matter in the soil, the product of time and of the waste of materials once organized, 
and now going back to the inorganic state ; but it is due rather to the energies of the soil 
itself, and derived from its inorganic constituents. But even here there is no want of these 
semi-organized matters, so important to a grain-producing country. 
We have spoken of the high character of the western and middle counties of New-York, 
for growing wheat. We are not able, however, to strike out the boundaries of the wheat 
region in undeviating lines. We consider that it properly begins near the head waters of 
the Mohawk, from which a line drawn to Lake Ontario near Oswego, and then along the 
lake to Niagara river, will mark its northern boundary. The southern boundary we have 
drawn east and west through the middle of Cayuga and Seneca lakes. So far as the val- 
lies are taken into account, the wheat-growing country extends much farther ; but if the 
high lands of the Hamilton group of rocks are regarded, it may not extend so far. We 
find in this, as in many other cases, that it is difficult to define lines of demarkation ; that 
there is no such thing in nature as a straight barrier or limit where this grain ceases to be 
a valuable crop, or could not be rendered so under a proper system of cultivation ; that is, 
wheat will grow and reproduce itself, at least in a moderate crop, over the whole of the 
southern tier of counties. Yet when we examine Onondaga, Orleans and Livingston 
counties, we can not overlook the fact that there is something here which favors the growth 
of this grain, which does not exist on the Allegany and Chemung hills. 
An interesting inquiry may be started here, namely, to what cause or causes is it to be 
attributed, that this district is so well adapted to wheat, or what makes it superior to those 
lying adjacent to it I Some differences of opinion prevail on this question. There are 
some who say that the belt of limestones, which passes through this district, gives it the 
wheat-growing property ; and it has been attempted to prove, by the statistics of this crop, 
that the limestone counties exceed in productiveness those which are not based upon this 
