Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1869-06-04

MiNJRss.
This subject Is given the prominence
it, Importance demands. We quote = '.'
troductory section entire. but canr ne d..
space for any the a pages Of '' aA'-''
cal details more iraci'
% While soils arc rern;
their natural state or s ted 10 remain ln
iir;Ie or NJ l,'"D and u cd caiy FIR --a.,.
their .b,r.1,c- pcrceptible ei.l.r iu
sli~' , cta,,.,s OF productive powers. Il
~ I'M = ho' sever gradually wrought
,,L;.s die an capacity or production.
80 oily rev called Do. t'- lapse Of cent?
-. he eieva ed mouuts "a, , side and the
~ declWtic of hills ,aup.ri vegetation
mayv "r less luxuriancc; anI portion ct
dis, together with the broken twigs. and
even the wasting matter af ALLEN trees. arc
carried down by the rains and become rich
addition % the loWer soils on which thcv ul-
timatclv res. Besides the vegetable matter
thus annually removed from one spot and p
cumuhted upon another. many of the f
lizing salts. which the action of the 70
exposure TO the atmosphere has rend W.
luhle and the fine particles Of ea ~
the alterations Of heat and frost L'n VIM
drought. have reduced TO dust. i'-I. '--''
Ell out Of the higher soils az are ''7o
the plains and valleys bel ~
lees. was once the c1ndi- " ouch' uou'.
-. Ia ,-b; ION of those second
- H.. ,i.h 5s, ch for ages probably
h., ,rh-,., ,.rcsc,-+s osi,s from other soils
80 10 av+rco tuati0ns elevated beyond
~ 49, binary rise Of the river
-. = near. show some radical al
.auon "a n cir respective levels, by whiei
lization.,
ne soils being well stored with th'
I" d Of plants and frequently TO O grea
deIth viii bear large successive crops for :
long period; and they have, in many in
star .ces been treated by their first occupants
as if they were Inexhaustible. of this dis
rpti0n were the James river and other allu
vial lands in Virginia, some of which wer,
continued in uninterrupted crops of corn anC
tobacco for more than a century without tn,
addition Of manures. But they have Ion;
since become exhausted. and the more care
ful planters are now endeavoring to resuscI
tate those worn out lands. which ought neye
to have become impoverished OF the sam,
character are most Of the secondary bottom
on the Connecticut, the Scio;o. the Miami
and other rivers The frst. although under
consequence of its division among intelligent
farmers has fully maintained its productive
ness AID the latter il if properly managed, art
capable Of perpetual fertility. Although but
little more than half a century has elapsed since
these last have been subject to the white
man, they have already in too many instances
been severely cropped. The winter has seen
fields, which he was assured bare borne sixty
seven large successive crops of corn, and ex-
clusively from their own resources. A more
careful tillageis however becoming general.
The lower alluvial bottoms that are fire.
quently overhoWed, and thus receive large
coatings Of manures which are fully equiya-
lent to the products taken of, are the only
soils which viii permanently sustain heavy
crops without the aid of man. Such are the
banks Of the Nile and thea Gnges, and manv
Of our own rivers, which by the overAowing
Of their waters above, have continued to Weld
large annual burthens. the two former, ioI
more than 5000 years; but they are thu.
supported at the expense of natural drain,
age Of Thousands of acres, which by this