OBSERVATIONS* 
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IX. OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRECEDING ANALYSES. 
Having stated the foregoing results respecting the soils of New-York, which we have 
obtained by analysis, we deem this the proper place for introducing a few explanatory 
remarks upon the subject which has so long occupied our attention. 
The objects which we have had in view, were to obtain a general expression respecting 
the composition of the soils in the districts which we have referred to so often ; and to 
arrive at data by which not only the capabilities of the soils might be ascertained, but the 
reason why the soils of one district were so well adapted to the cultivation of wheat, and 
another to that of maize. Other objects of importance are still before us. What are the 
deficiencies in the soil of a given district, and how may these deficiencies be supplied 1 
Observation had taught the most discerning agriculturists that their soils had undergone 
some remarkable change, in consequence of which important crops, which had once been 
successfully and profitably grown, had ceased to be so. The reason why such a change 
had taken place, became an important problem to solve. 
Wheat was once the great staple production of the Mohawk and Hudson valley ; but 
this crop has ceased to he profitable, unless it be for family consumption : it is not an 
article which goes extensively into market. What is the cause of the change I It can not 
be due to atmospheric influences : the seasons succeed each as in the days when the 
Dutch first lighted their fires, and slept safely under the guns of Fort Orange. The snows 
and rains bring down ammonia and carbonic acid as formerly, and thus furnish to the soil 
the same elements. Without doubt We may say, then, that the altered conditions which 
influence the wheat crop are to he sought for in the soil. This view of the question, 
however, could not be determined directly. If the exact constitution of the soil of this 
part of the State had been determined at the period alluded to, we have no doubt of the 
truth of the position that a full analysis of the same soil, at the present time, would 
detect the essential losses it has sustained in the successive croppings to which it has been 
subjected. But we have no analyses made thus early, and hence are constrained to pursue 
an indirect route. We may determine the constituents essential to a wheat soil, or the 
constitution of a soil when this crop is not only productive, but free from such accidents as 
rust and shrinkage. With these objects before us, we engaged in the foregoing analyses. 
They have been conducted with care, and, so far as they go, may be relied upon. The 
foregoing analyses, however, give in general the mineral constituents, or those which are 
comparatively free and soluble : they do not determine the actual capabilities of the soils, 
nor the exact proportion in which the elements exist. Considering that it was an object 
of sufficient importance to determine the amount of the elements as they exist, both in a 
free and combined state, we have engaged in a more determinate and exact method, 
which it is proper we should state in detail in this place. 
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