322 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
May 4 
THE SOIL. 
Part II. 
To continue for a short time the thought 
started last week, we wish to say that 
geology teaches that the formation of 
the rocks shows that the earth's history 
is clearly divided into distinct periods or 
ages. For example, most of the gold in 
the earth’s surface seems to have been 
deposited in one period of time and 
locked up in the rocks of that age. The 
same is true of iron and other minerals— 
even the phosphate rocks which are 
used in fertilizers. There was nothing 
haphazard about all this. These de¬ 
posits were made at certain definite 
times, and with such regularity that 
geologists to-day can exactly measure 
the “ dip” of veins of coal or metal and 
tell where they end, and how far beneath 
the surface we must dig for them. As 
an illustration of this, we may take the 
formation of coal. This is undoubtedly 
of organic origin, and was originally 
composed of vegetable matter. Whole 
tree trunks are often found embedded in 
the coal in all stages, from the perfectly 
preserved wood to the coal itself. Even 
the tiny leaves and delicate rootlets may 
be traced in this way. This coal was thus 
located in what is known as the carbonif¬ 
erous age. The first air-breathing and 
land-inhabiting animals had made their 
appearance on the earth. They were 
mostly worms, lizards and low forms of 
life. 
The land was now fairly separated 
from the water, and forests of gigantic 
trees flourished. The climate was warm, 
moist and poisonous to higher forms of 
life. This rank vegetable growth fell 
down at last into the wet morasses where 
it grew. Here, excluded from the air, a 
slow and imperfect decomposition set in, 
and a sort of natural charcoal was 
formed not much unlike the peat found 
in many swamps and bogs to-day. Then 
came great upheavals of Nature. As the 
mighty heat within the earth pressed or 
bulged out the then thin crust, there 
would naturally be a deluge of water, 
and then an avalanche of mud. Thus we 
can see how, in the coal valleys, whole 
forests would be covered with new soil 
on which new trees would grow to be in 
turn covered with another layer of soil 
and rock. And so on through the ages, 
these coal beds have been forming until 
heat and pressure have forced them into 
the veins from which they are now dug 
to supply our wants. 
The great deposits of petroleum were 
formed even before the coal. Ilie oil is 
evidently a product of vegetation, and as 
it was formed, collected in the great 
caves and caverns, and is to-day pumped 
up from these natural reservoirs. 
We might go all through this rock his¬ 
tory, and show how, step by step, in a 
well-ordered plan, the rocks were ground 
up and reformed, and again ground and 
distributed, how climates changed, how 
vegetation improved and became more 
useful, and how, step by step, progress 
was made in animal life. The first form 
of animal life was found in the water— 
small, shapeless worms. Gradually fishes 
appeared, aud on land came reptiles and 
cold-blooded animals. As the distinc¬ 
tions between land and sea became more 
marked, and as the climate improved, 
and a higher class of plants appeared, 
animal life also improved, warm-blooded, 
air-breathing animals came, and so the 
improvement went on until, when man 
was at last placed on the earth after 
these distinct ages of preparation, he 
found a perfect soil, and all the plants 
and animals needed to sustain him and 
to develop the earth for his children. 
This could be made a long story, but it 
is not necessary to our purpose now. We 
only wish the farmer of to-day to realize 
how, through these long ages, Nature 
has been grinding and stirring up his 
soil by fixed and certain rules. If the 
farmer can understand more about these 
rules, we think he can cultivate his farm 
to better advantage. 
Now the first question that would 
naturally be asked is this, “ If soils are 
all produced from rock, and all rock 
came from the same source, why do soils 
differ in quality and crop-producing 
power, as we all know they do ?” 
That is a good question to start off 
with. There are two chief reasons why 
one soil may be better than another: 1 . 
It may contain more actual plant food. 
2 . Its mechanical texture may be such 
that its water supply is under better 
control. 
You will notice that man can do much 
to control these matters by manuring, 
proper rotation of crops, and tillage. 
We shall talk about that later. Let us 
first see how these differences could 
have been made by natural causes. 
In a general way, rocks may be divided 
into two classes—those derived from the 
cooling of melted masses or from some 
chemical combination, and those from 
sediment or pressure. For example, 
granite would belong to the first class, 
as it is evidently a product formed by 
the cooling of a hot and melted mass. 
Sandstone, on the other hand, is evi¬ 
dently a solid mud which originally 
floated in water, and on being dropped 
to the bottom, was formed into a rock. 
A common brick is an illustration of how 
a ground-up rock may be transformed by 
heat into a softer rock than the original. 
In a general way, it is safe to say that 
something of this process is now slowly 
g’oing on down in the subsoil—that is, 
the soil at a greater or less depth, is 
being converted into rock. So the pro¬ 
cess goes on—the rocks of the first class 
being ground up to make soil, and this 
in turn being deposited and hardened 
into other l-ocks which may in their turn, 
be again ground up. 
From the very nature of the case, 
ground gi-anite may contain more plant 
food than ground sandstone, because the 
latter is a mixed product deposited from 
water that contains particles from widely 
scattered x-egions. And this bi-ings us to 
a discussion of the various processes by 
which soil was formed from the rock. 
These are mechanical and chemical. 
1. Changes of tempei'ature often affect 
the rocks. A rock like gx-anite is merely 
a collection of a dozen or so minei'als. A 
change in temperatui*e may affect one or 
more of these minerals so that the force 
that binds them together is somewhat 
weakened, and little cracks are formed 
into which air or water, or even the tiny 
rootlets of plants are forced. The mosses 
and lichens growing on the surface of 
rocks, have had a wonderful influence 
in dissolving them. Such plants were 
the first that appeared, and thus they 
supplied the first humus and niti'ogen to 
the soil. 
2. Freezing water opens and ci*acks the 
rocks by its powder of expansion, By 
fi-eezing in the little ci*acks made by the 
rootlets, or by “weathering,” the water 
splits off splintei-s or slabs. By fx*eezing 
in the lai'ge ci’acks, it may rend the rock 
into fx-agments so that it may be carried 
fi'om its original place. 
3. Moving ice or glaciers, grind rocks 
and carry them from one part of the 
country to another. A study of the 
glaciers of the present day, shows the 
immense influence they must have had 
on the earth's surface when they covered 
such an enormous area. At one time in 
the earth's histox-y, the northern ends of 
both continents were covei'ed with thick 
layei-s of solid ice, which slowly crawled 
over the land to the warmer south where 
they were melted, until at last the 
earth’s crust adjusted itself so that the 
zones of temperature were clearly 
marked. As these great ice layers 
crawled south they carried rocks and 
soil with them to be deposited in new 
places. They also gouged out valleys 
and river courses, and ground up the 
rocks over which they slid. Some of the 
glaciers in Switzerland to-day, show all 
these effects on a smaller scale. Rocks 
on the surface of these glaciers are also 
affected in another way ; during the day, 
they are subjected to an intense heat, 
while at night they are always subjected 
to frost. The result of this constantand 
sudden change of temperature is that the 
rock is more easily split and ground into 
soil, as the glacier plows its way along. 
4. Running water probably has had 
much to do with the grinding and dis¬ 
tributing of soils. Not only do brooks 
and rivers carry immense quantities of 
loose material from one point to another, 
but these particles of sand, gravel or 
pebbles seam and scratch as they go 
along, breaking up the rocks still finer, 
and grinding them anew. So great is 
this fox-ce that the Mississippi is esti¬ 
mated to detach and carry to the ocean 
each year, 3,702,758,400 cubic feet of solid 
material, while the Ganges transports to 
the sea each year 6,368,000,000 cubic feet 
of sediment. The River Thames in one 
day bears in suspension, 1,802 tons of 
minei'al matter. When this mass of 
washed-out material is deposited along 
the river beds, we have what is called 
an “alluvial” soil. All of our so-called 
“ bottom lands” were formed in this way 
of deposits from running steams, and 
they are usually far stx - onger than the 
uplands, which were mostly foi'ined from 
the stationary rocks. 
(Continued on next page). 
ill i c. c c l i a n c o u.$ 2\ ii mt i .t i n p. . 
—of the physical being is the result of draw¬ 
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