A Book of the United States. Various
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Among the Rocky Mountains are sheltered and fertile valleys, though their summits are of course rocky, sterile, and covered with snow the greater part of the year. The timber in the mountains is pine, spruce, fir, and other terebinthines. Though deficient in timber, the terrace plains below have generally a fine soil. The prairies, like those in the Mississippi valley, are covered with coarse grass and a variety of beautiful flowers. Among the prairie plants are two or three kinds of roots, which furnish food to the savages. Wild sage is found in abundance; it grows of the size and height of a small tree, and on these extensive plains is one of the principal articles of fuel. For a considerable distance into the interior, the seashore is skirted with deep and thick forests of evergreen. On the whole, it is believed that few countries on the earth have a more fertile soil, than the valleys west of the Rocky Mountains.
‘In estimating the quality of new lands in America,’ says Dr. Dwight, ‘serious errors are very commonly entertained, from want of due attention to the following fact: Wherever the forest has been undisturbed by fire, they have accumulated, by shedding their foliage through a long succession of ages, and by their own decay, a covering of vegetable mould from six to twelve inches deep, and sometimes from eighteen to twenty-four. This mould is the best of all soils, and eminently friendly to every species of vegetation. It is, indeed, no other than a mere mass of manure, and that of the very best kind, converted into mould; and so long as it remains in considerable quantities, all grounds produce plentifully. Unless a proper allowance be made, therefore, when we are forming an estimate of the quality of soils, for the efficacy of this mould, which, so far as my observation has extended, is not often done, those on which it abounds will be of course overrated. On the contrary, where it does not abound, the quality of the soil will, in a comparative view, be underrated. Hence all maple lands which, from their moisture, are incapable of being burnt, are considered as more fertile than they ultimately prove; while oak, and even pine lands, are, almost of course, regarded as being less fertile. The maple lands in Ballston are found to produce wheat in smaller quantities, and of a worse quality, than the inhabitants, misled by the exhuberance of their first crops, expected. Their pine lands, on the contrary, yield more and better wheat than, till very lately, they could have been induced to believe. The same things severally are true, as I have already observed, of the oak and maple lands in the county of Ontario.
‘From this source it has arisen that all the unburnt new lands in the northern, middle, southern, and western states, have been, and still are, uniformly valued beyond their real worth. When the tract on the mountains in Massachusetts was first settled, the same luxuriant fertility was attributed to it which has since characterized Kentucky. About the same time it was ascribed to the Valley of Housatonic, in the county of Berkshire. From these tracts it was transferred to the lands in New Hampshire and Vermont, on the Connecticut; and from thence to those in Vermont, on the western side of the Green Mountains. From these regions the paradise has travelled to the western part of the state of New York, to New Connecticut, to Upper Canada, to the countries on the Ohio, to the south-western territory, and is now making its progress over the Mississippi into the newly purchased regions of Louisiana. The accounts given of all these countries, successively, were extensively true, but the conclusions which were deduced from them were, in a great measure, erroneous. So long as this mould remains, the produce will be regularly great, and that with very imperfect cultivation—for the mould in its native state is so soft and light, as scarcely to need the aid of the plough. But this mould, after a length of time, will be dissipated. Where lands are continually ploughed, it is soon lost; on those which are covered with grass from the beginning, it is preserved through a considerable period. At length, however, every appearance of its efficacy, and even of its existence, vanishes.
‘The true object of inquiry, whenever the quality of a soil is to be estimated, is the nature of the earth immediately beneath the vegetable mould, for this, in every case, will ultimately be the soil. If this is capable of being rendered, by skilful cultivation, regularly productive, the soil is good; if not, it is poor. With this object in view, I have formed the opinion expressed above, concerning the country under discussion. Throughout most of this tract, the earth beneath the mould is an excellent soil. The mould itself will speedily be gone. It is wisely and kindly provided by the Creator, to answer the immediate calls of the first settlers. These are of course few and poor—are embarrassed by many wants and difficulties, and need their time and labor to build their houses, barns, and inclosures, as well as to procure, with extreme inconvenience, many articles of necessity and comfort, which are obtained in older settlements without labor or time. To them it is a complete and ample manure, on which whatever is sown springs with vigor, and produces, almost without toil or skill, a plentiful harvest. But it was not intended to be permanent; it is not even desirable that it should be. To interrupt, or even to slacken, the regular labor of man materially, is to do him an injury. One of the prime blessings of temperate climates is this, that they yield amply to skilful labor, and without it yield little or nothing. Where such is the fact, energy and effort will follow, and all their inestimable consequences. Where countries are radically barren, man will despair.’
We will now give a brief description of the soil of each of the states, commencing with the north-eastern divisions. The soil of Maine in general, when properly fitted to receive the seed, is friendly to the growth of Indian corn, rye, barley, oats, peas, hemp, and flax, as well as to the production of almost all kinds of culinary roots and plants; wheat is also grown, but not in large quantities. Excellent potatoes are raised in great quantities. For the most part, the lands are easily cleared, having very little underwood. The natural productions consist of white pine and spruce trees in large quantities, suitable for masts, boards, and shingles; and also of maple, beech, white and grey oak, and yellow birch. The land between the Kennebec and Penobscot rivers is well adapted to the purposes of agriculture, and is excellent for grazing. With good cultivation, land of average quality yields forty bushels of maize to the acre, from twenty to forty bushels of wheat, and from one to three tons of hay. Apple, pear, plum, and cherry trees, flourish; the peach tree does not thrive.
The soil of New Hampshire, near the seacoast, is in many places sandy; on the banks of the rivers it is generally good, and in the valleys among the mountains, which are rich on the brows, and usually covered with timber. The river land is most esteemed, producing every kind of grain in the utmost perfection; but it is not so good for pasture as the uplands. In the uncultivated parts of the state, the soil is distinguished by the various kinds of timber which grow upon it; thus, white oak land is hard and stony, the undergrowth consisting of brakes and fern; black and yellow birch, white ash, elm, and alder, are indications of a good soil, deep, rich and moist, which will admit grass and grain without ploughing; red oak and white birch are signs of strong land. Agriculture is, and always will be, the chief business of the people of New Hampshire. Apples and pears are fruits the most commonly cultivated, and no husbandman thinks his farm complete without an orchard.
A large portion of Vermont state is fertile, and adapted to the various purposes of agriculture. The soil is generally deep, rich, moist, of a dark color, loamy, and seldom parched with drought. On the border of the stream it is alluvial, and the richest in the state; though some of the uplands almost equal it in fertility. Wheat is extensively cultivated, particularly on the west side of the mountains. Barley, rye, oats, peas, flax, and potatoes, flourish in all parts of the state. Indian corn also thrives, and apples are abundant. Much of the land among the mountains is excellent for grazing, and great numbers of cattle are annually sent out of the state for sale.
No extensive alluvial tracts occur in Massachusetts; although limited patches of this stratum are sometimes found on the banks of every stream, and, with the adjoining elevated woodland and pasture ground, constitute many of the richest farms in the state. There are numerous uncultivated swamps, however, for ages the reservoir of rich soil, that may be reclaimed with considerable labor and expense, which they will amply repay by their singular fertility. The soil of Massachusetts is chiefly diluvial, of all soils the most unfriendly to rich vegetation, though capable of being made rich by clearing away its stone, and the extensive use of manure. The diluvium is most abundant in the south-east parts of the state, almost entirely overspreading the counties of Plymouth, Barnstable, Duke’s and Nantucket. Toward the extremity of Cape Cod, and on the Island of Nantucket, this stratum is composed almost entirely of sand. The most extensive tertiary formation in the state is