GREENE COUNTY. 685 
growth of the first or lower bottoms. The excessive amount of carbonate 
of lime found in them (50.87 per cent.) will be noted. It is almost a 
matter of surprise that vegetation of any sort could be borne by such 
a mortar bank. The large amount of phosphoric acid will, however, give 
them high rank, so far as this priceless element of fertility is concerned, 
and the quantity of the alkalies (potush and soda) is also ample for all 
demands of vegetation. 
Analysis No. 2 is of the Buck Creek bottoms (prairie lands) from the 
same locality. The large proportion of organic matter here (29.34 per 
cent.) will attract attention. A soil so loose as this must necessarily be, 
would hardly enable trees to stand against our south-west winds, and it 
may be that its nakedness is due to such a cause rather than to any 
natural want of adaptation to the production of forests. The amount of 
lime falls considerably below that shown in No. 1, but is still excessive 
(35.85 per cent.). The other substances which constitute the fine gold of 
every soil, viz., the phosphates, sulphuric acid, the alkalies, are all here 
in large amount. The lime present, however, renders the land unfit for 
tillage. All crops burn out in the summer months. The application of 
this soil to the uplands would carry to them just what they most need. 
The lime in it would make it a full equivalent for shell marl, while the 
organic matter, which makes almost one-third of its entire substance, 
would wonderfully ameliorate their stubborn texture. There is little 
doubt that, load for load, this bottom land would prove, on many areas, a 
full equivalent for stable manure. 
Analysis No. 3 is of the subsoil of No. 2, taken from a depth of two 
feet below the surface. It will be seen that this subsoil has all of the 
characteristics of a model soz. Its only obvious deficiency is in the soluble 
forms of the alkalies. Aside from this it would be hard to say what 
should be added or what taken away to increase its adaptations to all the 
uses of agriculture. 
The proportion of carbonate of lime shrinks from more than fifty per 
cent. in the soil to four per cent. in the sub-soil. As both soil and sub-soil 
are supposed to be derived from the same source, viz., alluvial deposits, it 
may be asked how this great disparity is to be accounted for. In reply, 
it is suggested that, like many other important facts which at first sight 
have no connection with the cause assigned, it will be found traceable to 
the clearing of the country. By the clearing of the land, evaporation has 
been greatly promoted along all of the drainage courses, and the streams 
now sink toa point never known in the early history of the country. As 
they fall, pools of water, small and great, are left along their courses, which, 
when evaporated by asummer’s sun, give rise to large amounts of calcare- 
