Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1881-06-16
4arm aaS 5cassbo!a.
FOR thr Am moan
Soils.

A sou Is that part OF the ground which
can be titled. II j, made up Of different
kinds of earih-the earth beiag made up OF
different kinds Of rock \ soil, be 1t PIN
gravel or plastic clay, is simply crushed rock
crushed or ground bv a Titanic ice mill
which exerts direct pressure of one ton
upon every square inch of surface beneath.
The various kinds Of rock thus ground and
intermiXed make oil->uhstance of great
completely; in il. as many sixty three diff
ferent substances have heen found. Some
twelve Of these give fertility to soils. others
are metals, and are found only As ores.
For which breed Of cattle and what kind Of
crops the soil j. best adapted. j. determined
by its origin and composition, and no sub
iect which relates to the complex art Of
farming require, more intelligent study
/, is the magnesium soil of Nova Scotia
which gives her the bc>, Of potatoes. Aroo>-
took has a cdicareous soil. hence. it j. the
wheat field of New England. \ s},rrou,
soil gives to Hancock it, cranberry land,
4 soil. be j, >iliciou, t>andl. arsillaccou,
(clayl, calcareou> tlimel. or an admiNturc.
was originally rock, however large the de-
mand such an assertion ma, make upon our
credence or the 434 kind, of simple
minerals which constitute the crust Of the
earth, with seven or eight Of them onl, .
need the unscientifc farmer become fam.l-
lar. lie should be familiar with quartz
which constitutes nearly one-haf Of the
crust Of the earth. with limestone which T.,
about one seventh. with feld,par which is
about one tenth. with mica which j. about
one fifteenth, with hornblcudc which j.
about one twentieth, and With tale. chloritc.
serpentine, and Gypsum the only other
minerals CT kinds Of rock which form amy
considerable portion Of the soil.
In handful Of earth atienti,cly examin-
ed, can be discovered the Kind Of rock from
which it came. lin il are >panglc, Of m.ea.
grains Of quartz. particle. Of feld~par and
finely pulverised powder toNide Of from. it
is disen;egrated granite. If il contain, a
large proportion Of mica. j; is dccompu>cd
gneiss. or mica slate. If the predominant,
ingredient is fine whitish sand. il j. from
gneiss. Greensboro trap-rock forms
brown loan. soft. sPongy. bat not adhesive.
Names best potatoes are grown in such
soils The tough blue clay river banks are
decompo>ed slate rocks. Talcose slate.
which contains silicate Of megnesia, forms a
light, brown. good grass soil. At the Head
Of the Bay in the town Of Pcnob>cot. is an
immense deposit Of dccompo,ed talcu,c
slate. Could \ way be devised to rid the
tale Of It's magnesIa, the deposit would have
& high value a. "tailor'> chalk" or for
Terra Gotta" ware \ calcareou, >u.l
is derived from limestone. it j. unusually col
ored. having an admixture Of oxide Of iron.
The soil Of Brooksyilie oyerlics a bed Of
ferruginous (ironl lime rock Granite sand
and tale constitute considerable portion Of
the superficial soil covering Of Ellsworth.
The mcfarland horseback" at North Han
cock. is mostly pul,erized quartz. stained
with brown oxide of iron.
Although every soil /, a compound of diff
ferent rocks, each soil is strongly marked by
some peculiar feature, the formation being
chiefly granite. sienite, gneiss. porphyry
and schist. or those Of a slaty character
Clay, sand and lime, constitute the basis
of all soils. A soil is good or bad. just in
proportion as anyone Of the three is in
creased or diminished Not one Of the
three forms, by itself. good soil. A soll
without its quota Of sand, will not bear corn,
nor clover if wanting in lime, nor hold ma
nure if deficient in clay.
Clay with IL to 60 per cent. sand makes
loamy soil with less than 30 per cent.
sand il is a clay loan; with more than 81
per cent sand, it becomes sandy loan; a
cdrboRdeeons ioam when il contains suf-
fcieut vegetable matter to dark-color the
soil. A caleareous clay, sand or loan, con-
tains more than 20 per cent of lime. The
strongest soils overlie calcareous sub-soil.
IE4ucpdi tAt VI tl4E u4Aliti ais lbAAlu III
granite, sienite. gneiss, porphyry and mica
slate, has three varieties. potash feldspar
(orthociose), soda feldspar (aibitel and lime
feldspar (Iabradorite). Clinkstone is only
q compact variety.
Gravel is a sort Of coarse sand. Grayelly
soils are apt to be formed in large part, OF
quartz pebbles When the pebbles and
sand are cemented by fine clay, it becomes
"pin-gravel-" Members of the spade
brigade" know pin-gravel like book"
The soils of Hancock County are mostly
diluyial-ice-transport drift, the detritu,
of granite and gneiss, argillaceous, talcose
and mica slate, while the intervales, river
margins, clay banks and sand hills. form
the water formed alluyial. The high bould
ers piled and poised by some mighty powe
at the ''Craigs", Ellsworth Fails, tell ''tal'
oferosion. the boulders all pointing, the.
do, to Dedham for their parent rock, testif,
to the truth of the glacial theory of Agassiz
and the ice-burg theory of Lyell.
Upon the farm of Luther Lord, at Eas
Surry, is a remarkable glacier deposit
high conical mound. The formation, peb
bles, pin-grayel, and sea-shore cobhle stones
rounded and smoothed, as if emery polish
sd-a monumental, and infallible evidence
of drift-period in the worlds history. Fo
ages to come, as in ages past, it will def
the abrading storms which assail. NJ
nonsenoe of "a speedy "secOnd coming" dis
turbs its repose.
A knowledge of the relation between geo
logical formation and the yield of farm
products, would upset many a foolish no
tion. A soil from gneiss, has the look o
poverty, yet our best grass fields are in re
gions where gneiss prevails. In nature