territory has not yet been much explored. That portion of it situated between the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, and the western shore of Lake Michigan, has a rich, black, alluvial soil, and is well watered. The face of the country is unbroken by hills of any magnitude.
The most striking feature of the vast Missouri territory is its ocean of prairies. A belt of partially wooded country extends from two to four hundred miles west of the Mississippi and its waters. The immense extent of country west of the two great rivers is generally level, and is covered with grass plains, and sand deserts. On the banks of the streams there is usually a line of rich soil, but as we leave them it becomes barren and dry. Much of this country is as sterile as the deserts of Arabia, though in the most sandy parts there is a thin sward of grass and herbage. The Missouri, the Platte and the Yellow-stone run through a rich soil; but in its upper courses the Arkansas waters only a barren prairie.
GENERAL REMARKS ON SOIL.
The productiveness of soils is influenced by the nature of the sub-soil, or the earthy or stony strata on which they rest, and this should be attended to in all plans for their improvement. Thus sandy soil may owe its fertility to the power of the sub-soil to retain water; and an absorbent clay soil may occasionally be prevented from being barren by the influence of a substratum of sand and gravel. Those soils that are most productive of corn, contain always certain proportions of aluminous or calcareous earth in a finely divided state, and a certain quantity of vegetable or animal matter.
‘In cases,’ says Sir Humphrey Davy, ‘where a barren soil is examined with a view to its improvement, it ought, in all cases, if possible, to be compared with an extremely fertile soil in the same neighborhood, and in a similar situation; the difference given by their analyses would indicate the methods of cultivation, and thus the plan of improvement would be founded upon accurate scientific principles.
‘If the fertile soil contained a large quantity of sand, in proportion to the barren soil, the process of amelioration would depend simply upon a supply of this substance; and the method would be equally simple with regard to soils deficient in clay or calcareous matter. In the application of clay, sand, loam, marl, or chalk, to lands, there are no particular chemical principles to be observed; but, when quicklime is used, great care must be taken that it is not obtained from the magnesian limestone; for in this case, as has been shown by Mr. Pennant, it is extremely injurious to land. The magnesian limestone may be distinguished from the common limestone by its greater hardness, and by the length of time that it requires for its solution in acids; and it may be analyzed by the process for carbonate of lime and magnesia.
‘When the analytical composition indicates an excess of vegetable matter as the cause of sterility, it may be destroyed by much pulverization and exposure to air, by paring and burning, or the agency of lately made quicksilver; and the defect of animal and vegetable matter must be supplied by animal or vegetable manure. The general indications of fertility and barrenness, as found by chemical experiments, must necessarily differ in different climates, and under various circumstances. The power of soils to absorb moisture, a principle essential to their productiveness, ought to be much greater in warm and dry countries, than in cold and moist ones; and the quantity of fine aluminous earth they contain should be larger.
‘From the great difference of the causes that influence the productiveness of lands, it is obvious, that, in the present state of the science, no certain system can be devised for their improvement, independent of experiment; but there are few cases in which the labor of analytical trials will not be amply repaid by the certainty with which they denote the best methods of melioration; and this will particularly happen when the defect of composition is found in the proportions of the primitive earths. In supplying animal or vegetable manure, a temporary food only is provided for plants, which is in all cases exhausted by means of a certain number of crops; but when a soil is rendered of the best possible constitution and texture with regard to its earthy parts, its fertility may be considered as permanently established. It becomes capable of attracting a very large portion of vegetable nourishment from the atmosphere, and of producing its crops with comparatively little labor and expense.’
CHAPTER XIV.—CLIMATE.37
THE United States are most desirably situated. Placed in the northern temperate zone, they occupy just that portion of it, which is most likely to yield a healthy climate and rich soil. Happily removed from the parching heat of the torrid, and eternal frosts of the frigid zone, the republic is nevertheless of such an extent as almost to touch upon both. The climate of a country, stretching through twenty degrees of latitude, cannot but be of great diversity. In this respect it has been divided into five regions, which may be denominated the very cold, the cold, the temperate, the warm, and the hot.
1. The very cold, in the north-east, may be defined by running a line from St. Regis, on the St. Lawrence, along the high land in the state of New York to Tioga Point, in Pennsylvania; thence to Stony Point on Hudson’s river, and thence to Cape Cod in Massachusetts. In this region the summers continue from June through August, and the winters from November to the middle of April. The extremes of heat and cold are great, and the changes sudden, but the country is, notwithstanding, healthy. To the westward, north of a line drawn from the southern extremity of Lake Huron to the Rocky Mountains, the climate is also very cold, and the northern extremity in the winter is excessively so.
The winters of Maine are long and severe, with clear settled weather, which generally continues from the middle of December, till the latter end of March; during which time, the ponds and fresh water rivers are passable on the ice. There is scarcely any spring season; the summer is short, and warm; but autumn is in general pure, healthy, and pleasant.
The climate of New Hampshire is highly favorable to health; but the winters are long and severe. Cattle are housed about the first of November. Snow lies on the ground from four to five months, and the use of sleighs during that period is general. The spring is rapid, and the heat of summer great, but of short duration; autumn is very pleasant. Morning and evening fires are needed as early as the first of September, and as late as the first of June.
The climate of Vermont differs little from that of New Hampshire, and is extremely healthy. The earth is generally covered with snow from the middle of December till the end of March; but the winter seasons may be said to continue from the beginning of November till the middle of April, during which, the inhabitants enjoy a serene sky and a keen cold air. The ground is seldom frozen to any great depth, being covered with a great body of snow, in some high lands to the depth of four or five feet, before the severe frosts begin. In this way the earth is enriched and moistened, and in the spring vegetation advances with great rapidity.
The climate of Massachusetts is perhaps more variable than that of any other of the New England states; not having the steady winter cold of those to the north, nor the general mildness in summer of those immediately south. Fires are necessary from November to May; and there are days, even in June, when they are not only comfortable, but indispensable for comfort. Cattle are housed in November. In winter, travelling is not often impeded by great falls of snow; though heavy and severe snow storms occur. The rivers and ponds are frozen three months in the year; and the harbors are usually closed a week or fortnight, and sometimes for a much longer time. As there are many cold days in summer, so also there are many warm days in winter; and the field which is at night soft enough to receive the plough, may be chained with frost and buried in snow before morning. Winter sets in late; frequently not till December, but, recently, it has gone quite through the spring months. Indeed, the most disagreeable portion of the year, is during March and April and part of May, when the east are prevailing winds. In autumn there is much weather truly delightful. Apples and pears flourish well in Massachusetts, peach trees sometimes suffer from the late spring and the early autumnal frosts. It is difficult to find an accurate description of so variable
