Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1881-03-11
Agricultural.
OLD TIMES.


HEND MEETING OF THE STATE BOARD OF AG-
R1cULTURE.
It is not usual believe, to give us names
before we are born. Naming my topic few
days ago with only vague idea of what l
might say of it, may have done something
of that kind. "Old Times" as the phrase is
frequently used, refers to a time within the
memory of elderly persons, hardly reaching
beyond the recollection of that well-known
character ''the oldest inhabitant." more
extended Specification may take us back to
the legends or the facts of history not only
of the people that have gone before us, but
of the earth that we till, of its physical char
acter, of its vegetation and of its animal life.
While we are chiefly concerned with that
which is present and directly practical, time
is not altogether lost when we look back to
the past. There are facts that are valuable
rs a matter of knowledge, not measurable by
a money stsndard-facts not less valuable to
us as farmers than to those in the learned
professions A portion of the worlds history
is traced in the rocky crust of the earth, and
in the soil which we cultivate. Its study is
not the privilege of any exclusive class. If
the history of the soil is an object of interest
to men of liberal culture not connected with
the farming interest, it should be no less so
to those who derive their support from its
cultivation.
Whence came the soil? What was its
condition in past ages? What is its his
tory What are these pebbles What is this
sand? What is this handful of dust ? How
was it made The answers to these questions
alone might well fill volume. In the limit
ed time that propose to occupy, 1 can only
hint at some general facts that might each
be the subject of a discourse. The history
of the soil has been written on the rocks, and
men having the inspiration of knowledge
have read it. Not wholly written, it may be,
not always read with absolute accuracy,
yet sufficiently SO 10 demonstrate facts of
wonderful interest. How was it made The
readers of Uncle Toms Cabin will recollect
the familiar question asked the colored girl
"Topsy" respecting her origin, drawing out
from her untutored mind the reply II specs
growed" Here is principle that applies
to all earthly things as far as our knowledge
extends. Everything has grown the earth
itself is probably no exception. It's substance
may have been accumulating from the inf
mite regions of space for millions of years be-
fore it assumed its present form and dimen-
sions. But perhaps this is going back to
times that are too old for this occasion. 1t is
sufficient for our present purpose if we go
back to time which every geologist will ad-
nit has been, when neither vegetable or an
imal existed on the earth. If we take one of
the later periods in this stage of the earth's
progress, a permanently solid crust had
formed over the great ball of molten fluid,
and the history written in the rocks was be-
gun. There was yet no beast or bird, no
herb or tree-no trace of life. Ages passed
and waters overlooked the original crusts.
In portions of the earth's surface and at
certain seasons or periods, the heat of the
sun and the internal heat of the earth COM
bined, may have raised the water to high
temperature or converted it into vapor. Parts
of the rock dissolved and held by the water
in solution, parts of it abraded by the waves
and currents, were deposited as sediment up
on the original crusts, and in process of time
these sedimentary deposits became strsti6ed
rocks. This was the period of the dawn of
life. Other and successive formations accu-
mulated above the first. Organic life, at first
in its lowest forms, appeared, leaving a rec
ord of its existence in the remains distinguish
able in the rocks. 1t is probable that the
first appearing forms of vegetable life were
hardly disitinguishable as plants Perhaps
something similar may be seen in the green
onhokaVoa khof IN tNOpHo Or in
the Jelly like matter that is sometimes found
in damp places after a long storm of rain.
Even the least developed of the fossils found
in the first rocks containing organic remains,
were probably preceded by lower forms, the
structure of which and their minuteness pre-.
vented their leaving any trace of their exis
tence in the rocks. Only marine plants are
found in the older series of fossiliferoui
rocks. Had other plants of higher order
existed, their remains would appear in the
rocks of the period with greater distinctnesi
than those of a lower order.
The same may be said of the existence of {
higher class of animals the remains of
horse, had horses existed in those periods
would be more surely found than the form O.
worm. In the first formed of the stratifeC
rocks containing organic remains, no relic O.
animal life appears higher than the crusta
cea, a class of animals having shells like tn
lobster or crab. The remains of animal
having shells have been preserved since thei
first appearance in all the geological forma
tions of the different life periods The rock
in which only marine plants occur and onl,
animal remains of a low order, include sever
al distinct geological formations each one o
which may have been thousands of years. no
to say millions, in process of formation
Thousands of ages might have passed sine
the dawn of life, and yet up to this perio
there was no bird or quadruped-not even
fish nor a land-growing plant. The deposit
from overlooking waters continued, and othe
formations gradually accumulated over thos
described, with new species of plants and an
imals of a higher development In thes
formations the bones and teeth of fish ar
found, and fossil remains of land plants. Blu
the plants of this period are all of the cryI
togamous or non. Towering kind as the licheni
moses, fungi, etc. In the rocks formed u
to the period when the fossils OF Ash an
land plants first appear many hundred dil
tinct species OF animals ana plants have bee
identified by their fossil remains.
Ages upon ages intervene and other gee
logical formations accumulate to the thicl
ness of many thousand feet-slowly, perhaps
possibly not more than fraction of an inc
in year. New and progressive forms {
life appear-plants of more perfect struc
ure, and animals in greater variety; sti
there is no bird or quadruped or fruit-bea
ing tree. Passing again over several life p
RODS that may include another incaloulab
lapse of time, we come to the epoch next pr
ceding the alluvial or present formation.
the rocks of this period the fossils of moi
keys, of carniverous and of herbivorous an
mails first appear. Traces of birds are four
in some Of the previous formations, as oil
towering plants and remains of trees simil