Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/796

736 OHIO Glacial deposits is not in all cases as conspicuous as in the States to the east of Ohio, but even where it is least distinct soil and vegetation unite to mark the limit of glacial advance very plainly. The moraine passes through the counties of Columbiana, Stark, "Wayne, Richland, Holmes, Licking, Fairfield, Ross, Highland, Adams, and Brown, as recently determined by Professor G. F. Wright. Soils, Forests. The division of the State into a drift- covered and driftless region coincides with the most im portant division of the soils. Below the line of the ter minal moraine these are " native," or, in other words, they are derived from the rocks that underlie them, or that rise above them in the boundaries of the valleys and uplands. They consequently share the varying constitution of these rocks, and are characterized by considerable inequality and by abrupt changes. All are fairly productive, and some, especially those derived from the abundant and easily- soluble limestones of the Upper Coal-measures, are not surpassed in fertility by any soils of the State. Large tracts of these excellent native soils are found in Belmont, Monroe, Noble, and Morgan counties. Among the thinner and less productive soils, which occupy but a small area, are those derived from the Devonian shales. They are, however, well adapted to forest and fruit production. The chestnut and the chestnut oak, both valuable timber trees, are partial to them, and vineyards and orchards thrive remarkably. The native soils of the Waverly group and of the Lower Coal-measures agree in general characters. They are especially adapted to forest growth, reaching the highest standard in quality of timber product. When these lands are brought under the exhaustive tillage that has mainly prevailed in Ohio thus far, they do not hold out well, but the farmer who raises cattle and sheep, keeps to a rotation between grass and small grains, and does not neglect fruit can do well upon them. The cheap lands of Ohio are found in this belt. The other great division of the soils of Ohio viz., the Drift soils are by far the most import ant, alike from their greater area and their intrinsic excel lence. Formed by the commingling of the Glacial waste of all the formations to the north of them, over which the ice has passed, they always possess considerable variety of composition, but still in many cases they are strongly coloured by the formation underneath them. When any stratum of uniform composition has a broad outcrop across the line of Glacial advance, the Drift beds that cover its southern portions will be found to have been derived in large part from the formation itself, and will thus resemble native or sedentary soils. Western Ohio is underlain with Silurian limestones, and the Drift is consequently limestone Drift. The soil is so thoroughly that of limestone land that tobacco, a crop which rarely leaves native limestone soils, is grown successfully in several counties of Avestern Ohio, 100 miles or more north of the terminal moraine. The native forests of the Drift regions were, without exception, hard -wood forests, the leading species being oaks, maples, hickories, the walnut, beech, and elm. The walnut, sugar maple, and white hickory are limited to warm, well-drained limestone land ; the white oak charac terizes the upland clays, while the red maple, the elm, and several of the oaks stand for the regions of sluggish drainage. This noble growth is rapidly disappearing, but several million acres still remain. Climate. There is a difference of at least 40 Fahr. be tween the average summer and winter temperatures. A central east-and-west belt of the State is bounded by the annual isotherms of 51 and 52, the average winter tem perature being 30 and the average summer temperature 73. Southern Ohio has a mean annual temperature of 54, and northern Ohio 49. The annual range is not less than 100, and sometimes 130, the extreme of summer heat reaching 100 in the shade, while "cold waves " in winter may depress the mercury to 30 below zero. Extreme changes are liable to occur in the course of a few hours, especially in winter, when the return trades are violently displaced by north-west winds. In such cases the tem perature sometimes falls 60 Fahr. in twenty-four hours ; changes of 20 or 30 in a day are not unusual. Still the climate proves itself excellently adapted to the finer growths of vegetation, while its effects on human life and on the domestic animals favour a symmetrical development and a high degree of vigour. The rainfall varies between an average of 46 inches in the Ohio valley and an average of 32 inches on the shore of Lake Erie (spring 10 to 12 inches, summer 10 to 14 inches, autumn 8 to 10 inches, winter 7 to 10 inches). The annual range is considerable. In some years there is an insufficient supply and in some there is a troublesome excess, but disastrous droughts on the large scale are unknown, and disastrous floods are rare. 1 The vast body of water in Lake Erie favourably modifies the climate of the northern margin of the State. The belt immediately adjoining is famous for the fruits that it produces. Extensive vineyards and orchards have been planted along the shore and on the islands adjacent, and have proved very successful. The Catawba wine here grown ranks first among the native wines of eastern North America. Melons of excellent quality are raised in almost every section of the State. The peach is the least certain of all the fruits that are largely cultivated ; there is rarely, however, a complete failure on the uplands of southern Ohio. The winters of Ohio are very variable. Snow seldom remains for thirty days at a time over the State at large, but an ice crop rarely fails in northern Ohio, and not oftener than once in three or four years in other por tions of the State. In the southern counties cattle, sheep, and horses often thrive on pasture grounds through the entire winter. Population. The following table gives the population from 1840 to 1880: POPULATION. Density Total. Males. Females. mile. 1840 1,519,467 784,100 735,367 37-3 1850 1,980,329 1,016,808 963,521 48-6 1860 2,339,511 1,190,162 1,149,349 57-4 1870 2,665,260 1,337,550 1,327,710 65-3 1880 3,198,062 1,613,936 1,584,126 ; 78-5 In 1880 the coloured population numbered 2i per cent, of the whole, and the foreign-born 12J per cent, (from Germany 6 per cent., and from the United Kingdom 4| per cent.). Ayricultiire. This is the leading industry, employing in 1880 397,495 persons, or about two-fifths of the total number reported as engaged in occupations of all sorts. In 1881 nearly 50,000,000 bushels of wheat and nearly 112,000,000 bushels of Indian corn were produced, the total production of cereals in the State for that year being 188,933,067 bushels, an average of sixty bushels to each inhabitant. The reported orchard products of the year would furnish ten bushels of fruit to each inhabitant, and the dairy products an average of 26 ft). The domes tic animals reach a total of 10,000,000. In number and quality of thorough-bred cattle Ohio is scarcely second to any State ; in the average of its herds it ranks second to 1 Quite recently, however, the Ohio river has twice attained a height unprecedented in its former recorded history. In February 1883 the water rose to a height of 66 feet 4 inches, and in February 1884 to 71 feet Of inch above the channel bar at Cincinnati, the last rise being nearly 7 feet in excess of the highest mark recorded previous to 1883. These great floods covered the sites of large and prosperous towns, swept away hundreds of dwellings, and inflicted deplorable losses ou the residents in the great valley.