The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1879-10-09

4
these fragments and release their prima ~
elements. For al, nature ia colossal chem
ical labratory In which the work Of anal.
vsls or destruction and recombination o.
formation and growth is constantly and eve
rywhere going on. There is no SUCK thing
as rest in nature. All is ceaseless activi ty.
and even. death is but char &c in chem ical
formation and arrangement Of atoms which
never cease to exist. Modern as this idea is
supposed to be, and modern 1t unquestiona-
bly, is in popular and scientific acceptation,
1t was part OF the Pythagorean philosophy
according to Ovid, who in the fifteenth book
OF his rMetamorphoses, makes the Samian
sage declare these propositions and illustrate
them BY natural examples Nothing per-
lshes in this world; but things merely vary
and change their form. To be born, means
simply that a thing begins to be something
different from what it was before; and dy-
ing Is ceasing to be the same thing. Yet,
although nothing retains long the same Image,
the sum Of the whole remains constant. =
In this at least have we travelled around
the circle, and Spence and Stewart meet
Pythagorus across twenty four centuries OF
wandering argument.
Here is a boulder Of granite gneiss washed
down from the mountains. which, eternal as
they seem, once lowered thousands of feet
higher than now. Look at it through a
glass and study it. We find it composed Of
chrystals Of quartz, feIdspar, mica, hornblende
and iron pyrites or sulphuret of iron, Of
varied colors and degrees Of hardness. The
torrents and frosts gradually breakiti in pieces
The -salphuret Of iron produces sulphuric'
acid which with carbonate acid, brought
by air and water, decompose It into the
soft, clayey soil at our feet. Besides
chemical. Ingredients present in small.
er quantities we have here silica, alumina,
lime and potash-indispensable articles OF
plant food. But in addition to the great
staple Of granite gneiss we find through this
Piedmont region bands Of limestone, often
crystalized into marble, beds OF chlorat ic
and clay states, and highly epfdotic rock or
greensboro. The latter forms the mass Of
Southwest mountain and the Coast Range
generally, and weathers into yellow and
red soil OF remarkable and enduring fertil-
ity. Hard and tough as this rock Is, its de-
composition in Virginia is wonderful. In
New York and New England we find 1t
bare of vegetation and apparently I'M
touched by the hand of time. Here it is
so decomposed, sometimes for a score of feet
in depth, as to cover the rocks with its soft
and brilliant hued soil and luxuriant vege-
tation, making Theological study difficult,
save where the streams have cut deep chan
ne!s throughthem. This remarkable differ
ence in chemical action, particularly impor
tant in its agricultural results, we can attri-
butte only to the difference in climate.
But speculation upon remote causes, though
possessing certain interest, is OF less prac-
tical value than the definite results We have
before us. Here are the ancient primary
and metamorphic rocks which compose
Piedmont Virginia, and here are their result
tant soils Of similar chemical composition.
In them are sometimes found more than ten
per cent. OF lime besides several per cent.
OF potash and alumina. Prof. Rodgers says
that the epidote rocks, from which the best
soils are formed, often contain twenty -four
per cent. Of lime. They vary, Of course,
but there is very little soil in all this Piedmont
belt that can properly be called poor
There are grayish and yellowish soils, less
fertile than the darker ones, and some red
soils which contain no epidote but an excess
Of iron snIphurets and are comparatively
sterile. The red OF these latter, however,
is Of different hue from the rich and Of
ten chocolate colored soils which bear the
palm over all others and the one shOu d not
be mistaken for the other. Than these high
" epidotic soils, / know Of none SO
kindly in their nature, that respond so
we'll or so quickly to good treatment. Yet
| they show bad management almost as read
| lily, and so soft and almost soluble are they
that care must always be taken to prevent
washing, even when in sod, il the slope be
great. Sedge grass, too, is quick to invade
old fields for, contrary to the general opinion,
! broom-sedge is no proof Of poor land
| Referring to the Piedmont soils as whole,
therefore, Rogers and Hotchkiss are fully
justified in speaking Of them as ''nndoubted-
~ among the most fertile known" and pro-
! ductive of "a great variety and abundance
of crops.'' They are excellent soils fer
wheat and other small grains, and unsnr-
passed for corn. They produce the most
| luxuriant tobacco / have ever seen. Though
not considered natural grass lands In the
same sense as the silurlan limestone soils OF
the Great Valley and the basins of Kentucky
and Tennessee, the wonderful bluegrass
regions, they produce under fair treatment
such crops OF the cultivated grasses as
have rarely seen elsewhere and Fauqufer,
now fine stock and grazing county, has
shown that blue. grass will do as well as 9th.
err varieties. 1t is in stock.raising that the
future prosperity Of this region must lie. In
other words, the time has come when the
Virginia farmer must cease the impoverish-
| ment OF his land by continual cropping and
selling off the products without renewing
the elements Of fertility, True 1t is that
one. half Of Virginia has never known the
plow. and more than half Of this region
OF Piedmont and the Blue Ridge 10 still vlr-
| gin soil, bearing original forests of massive
timber. And it is equally true, as Horace
Greeley pointed out years ago, that $50 faI
from having exhausted Virginia, her cult.
vators have hardly yet dug down to her. !"
for her agriculture has been tminently super
fetal. Bu.' the race for prosperity now Il
keener and it's conditions more rigorous thar
half century ago, and the day is coming
and coming fast, spite Of all obstacles, whel
Virginia will supports population ten-folt
/ its present mum Der. Ia agriculture therefore
as in State finances, there must be no more
wasteful, extravasant mismanagement,fe lead
ing to bankruptcy, reputation and dishon
or, but economy, prudence and wise redec
ton must govern instead.
/ It is indeed marvellous that the old ruinou
system Of Virginia agriculture, which an
=