Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1869-04-02

50, and has once fallen as low as SO
bushels per acre. The crop 1867 was
4 the lowest average acre in the last
eight years.
The. hay crop, which in 1858 reached
e an average of 1 33-100 tons per acre, has
never since exceeded that amount, and
I | only in 1860 has eqaaled it. In 1868 the
crop declined to 90-1OO tons.
Thus it appears that the producing
power of our soil, for all of the great
! staple crops Of which we have statis-
tics, for the past ten or twenty years,
has made a palpable and, in the case of
wheat, an almost ruinous decline.
I This is a phenomenon by no means
peculiar to Ohio, and the very fact that
it has been experienced in so mild a
degree, after so long a period of cul-
ture, speaks volumes in praise of the
l great natural fertility of our lands
The farmers of the rich valleys of the
Mohawk and the Hudson once thought
their lands inexhaustible, but a decline
of their wheat crop to an average of
five bushels per acre, many years ago,
dispelled the delusion. OF as new and
fertile State as Missouri 1t was said
long ago as 1855 that many of the
farmers had seen their crops grow
gradually less, from year to year, until
exhausted lands were a sad reality.
The State Geologist, on examining the
soils of the State, at once discovered
that great benefits would result
from sub-so1 plowing, and his sugges-
tlons were put into practice with Won
derful success, the increase of each
crop being estimated at from twenty
Portions of Virginia, once thriving
and fruitful, it is well known, have
reIapsed into a condition of barren
ness, and are overgrown by matted
! jungle, given up to wild beasts and
] sqalid poverty. I have myself often
traced the furrews of the plOw among
the thick pines-the only vegetation
that could possibly derive nOurish-
/ ment from the sterile clay.
Like results have been experienced
/ in other States and countries. To the
Roman Empire the evil of soil exhaus-
I ton was matter of continual concern
/ and frequent public enactment.
| Spain, under the Roman dominion,
| was one of the richest countries in
the world, and under the Moors the
most thickly populated country in
| Europe. LiVY and Strado make par
| ticular mention of the rich harvests |
| of Andalusia, which yielded hundred
| fold. Yet Tarragona, which was the
| second city in the Roman Empire, and
numbered then over a million inhabi- |
tants, has now but fifteen thousand. |
Several of the Spanish provinces now
yield only one crop in two years, ,Anda- !
lusia yielding but one in three years,
To the same cause has been attribu- !
ted the rapid depopulation of Asia |
Minor, Greece, Italy, and other coun- |
tries bordering on the Mediterranean. |
With these facts before US, itrequires |
no far-sighted craftsmanship to dis !
cover the problems forcing them |
selves upon our attention. One of the |
first in order is that of arresting the |
impoverishment ofour land, and if we |
shall not, to the best of our ability, |
call into use all the means which ma |
ture and science have contributed for |
this purpose, we shall be recreant /
IV7Cond tn the tr1stG committed tn /
keeping.
I am now advocating a geological |
survey as the best means of accom- |
plishing this object.
To stop the decline in the productive |
faculty of the soil, as well as to increase |
its fertility, we must analyze its ingre-
dents, and put into it what has been
taken out by cultivation. We h1t1st /
understand the adaptations of the un- /
lying strata for purposes of drainage, /
which is one of the most essential /
requisites for successful culture in
large sections of the State. We must,
furthermore, carefully study the cen
ditions and combinations of the nutri-
tive elements most favorable to pro-
ductiOn.
The advantages of analysis are so
plain that it is scarcely necessary to /
point them out. Without it we are
almost as ignorant of the properties of
our soils and their APPROPRIATE meth
4
sence Of a geological survey, Of the
extent and usefulness of the
minerals which lie beneath them. By
means of analysis we ascertain what
our soils contain, and what they need.
They may, for example, be unproduc-
tice by reason of poisonous ingredi-
ents, or from lack of nutritive ele-
ments, or from excess of certain
ingredients which IN different and
smaller proportion are nutritious. In
either case, analysis is necessary to /
point out the dihcultry and the reme-
dy.
On the other hand, there may be a
mixture purely mechanical, having no
effect whatever on nutritious elements
which may make all the difference be-
tween fertility and barrenness. The
soil may be unproductive for want of
cohesion, for being too coarse, loose or
open. The same result may be expe-
rienced because the cohesion is too
great, and the water is retained too
long, or the air not allowed to pen
citrate. These are mechanical cOndi-
tions as applied to which geological
science becomes of the utmost utility.
I. While analysis shows what fertili-
zing ingredients our soils need, geOlo-
gy points out how and where those if-
gradients may be supplied. Every
kind of vegetable soil was once rock,
and it is generally conceded that all
plants are of a mineral nature. 1t has
vegetable manure, or humus, applied
to soil by no means restores to it all
the elements of which it is drained by
cultivation. It is therefore of the ut
most importance that we should have
an accurate knowledge of the mineral
manures, consisting of gypsum, marls,
phoSphates, and lines, known to eX-
ist in Ohio, and some of which are eX-
tremely rich in fertilizing quail
ties. Indeed, it seems strange that,
I, - Nf !
mares and their utility to agriculture,
we should have so long remained igno-
rant of their location and extent, and
neg1eetful of their application.
In a report favoring geological sur
vey, made to this House in 1886, it was
very properly observed that ''in those
parts of the country where limestone
prevails, the soil will be highly
charged with lime, and might be i'm
proved bY the addition of clay or sand,
or both. On the other hand, where
sandstone forms the substratum, the
soil will contain. too large proportion
of clay and sand, and must be i'm
proved by the addition of lime.
If we are to judge by the experience of
other States, the time is not very far
distant when the proximity of bed of
limestone will add very materially to |
the value of a farm"
There is, probably, no State in the |
Union where limestones exists in such |
1
no way in which they may so well be |
utilized to agriculture, as well as for |
other purposes, as by a scientific ex-
animation of their location and quail
| ties.
! Other States have extensively en-
I pIoyed lime as a fertilizer, and have |
realized the most valuable results. In |
| Maryland, prior to the introduction of |
phosphates and guanos, it was almost |
| the only material used. In this State, |
our vast deposits of limestone are but |
little understood, and only to a limited |
extent have been made available to the |
wants of the farmer.
! In Pennsylvania and New Jersey, |
the use of lime has been very general |
some farmers in the latter State |
using as much as 5000 bushels per |
year. In England it is used to the ex-
! tent of 200 bushels to the acre. In |
France, also, it is freely used.
These facts, and many others that /
might be cited, show the value of our
lime deposits, and the necessity of sci |