The Soil We Cultivate [pp. 719-723]

THE SOIL WE CULTIVATE.
collector of statistical data. I brought it distinctly before the
public in my work on North America.* And a striking proof
of the correctness of my views is afforded by the subsequent
returns of the United States census of 1850. From these it
appears that, while the produce of wheat in the New England
States in 1840 amounted to 2,014,000 bushels, it was reduced
in 1850 to 1,078,000 bushels. So rapidly, even now, is the
influence of human agency on the natural tendencies of the soil
continuing in these countries to manifest itself.
'But the influence of man upon the productions of the soil is
exhibited also in other and more satisfactory results. The im prover takes the place of the exhauster, and follows his foot steps on these same altered lands. Over the sandy, forsaken
tracts of Virginia and the Carolinas he spreads large applica tions of shelly marl, and herbage soon covers it again, and
profitable crops. Or he strews on it thinner sowings of gypsum,
and as if by magic the yield of previous years is doubled or
quadrupled.t Or he gathers the droppings of his cattle ard
the fermented produce of his barnyard, and lays it upon his
fields-when, lo! the wheat comes up luxuriantly again, and
the mnidge, and the rust, and the yellows, all disappear from
his wheat, his cotton, and his peach trees!
But the renovator marches much slower than the exhauster.
His materials are collected at the expense of both time and
money, and barrenness ensues from the easy labors of the one
far more rapidly than green herbage can be ma(le to cover it
again by the most skilful, zealous, and assiduous labors of the
other. But nevertheless, among energetic nations, this second
tide follows inevitably upon the first, as they advance in age,
in wealth, and in civilization. Though long mismanagement
has, in a minor sense, desolated large portions of northeastern
America, a new fringe of verdant fields bas already begun to
follow towards the west, though at a long interval, the fastretiring green belt of the virgin forests. A race of new cultivators, taught to treat the soil more skilfully, to give their due
weight to its geological origin, to its chemical history, to the
conditions of climate by which it is affected, and to the reckless
usage to which it has so long been subjected-this new race
may-will, I hope, in time-bring back the whole region to
more than its original productiveness. Both the inherited energy of the whole people, and the efforts which State agricul JVotes on.NAorth dmerica, vol i. chap. xiii.
t For examples of both these results, see the Essay on Calcareous Manures, by
Edward Ruffin, the publication of which in Virginia, in 1832, marks an epoch in
the agricultural history of the slave States of North America.
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