State Convention— Geology. 
209 
and after a crop had been taken from it, to detect the substances 
that had been abstracted, and thus indicate what should be artific- 
ally supplied to stimulate the growth of the next crop ; but such 
is the minuteness of the quantity of plant food, compared with 
the mass of the soil that chemical soience has not yet, except to a 
limited extent, been able to accomplish this task. Consequently 
no general effort will be made to analyze the soils of the state; 
but if any are found that from any special peculiarity, or other 
reason, seem to require it, such analysis will be made. 
Geology is now very properly included among the studies to be 
pursued in agricultural colleges with a view to its special advan¬ 
tage in the proper cultivation of the soil—a cultivation which 
shall, without the least dimunition of its annual product, perpetu¬ 
ally maintain its fertility. Every farmer should know whether 
his land is underlaid by rocks whose disintegration is beneficial or 
otherwise; whether these rocks are of the granitic kinds, or 
whether they consist of sandstone, limestone, or shales. He 
should also be able to determine the nature of the pebbles, large 
and small, abounding in his fields, the gradual decay of which 
from year to year, by reason of exposure to weather changes, frost, 
rain, sunlight and alternate exposure to heat and cold,—will add 
useful, or useless, or even deleterious qualities to the soil. 
Limestone pebbles especially, by their gradual disintegration, 
are of the greatest value, by restoring fertilizing substances to the 
soil that would otherwise soon be exhausted by continual crop¬ 
ping. If these pebbles are of such quality as to be thus benefi¬ 
cial, the land possesses additional value; if otherwise, a larger an¬ 
nual expense for fertilizers will be required. The system of farm 
management suited to the one case would require modification for 
the other. Hence it is sufficiently apparent that some knowledge 
of geology is quite essential to the intelligent farmer, and that it 
is wise to include it in a course of studies to be pursued in our 
agricultural colleges. 
The several reports to be made to the Governor annually, in 
January, though chiefly intended to make known the progress and 
results of each year’s work, will be found to contain much that is 
of interest and value to the farmer. The publication and general 
14 
