m 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



than these; and while the ladies are studying the 

 agreeable little works we have just named, we recom- 

 mend their husbands and brothers to become equally 

 familiar with Mr. Morton's Plandbook. They may 

 back this with advantage by a perusal of a lecture 



recently delivered at Faringdon by Mr. Edward Little, 

 of Landhill. His subject was " the Dairy Manage- 

 ment of North Wilts," and the paper appears in the 

 Farmers' Magazine for April. 



STUDIES OF THE SOIL. 



BY WILLIAM EDSON. 



The two sciences, as such, geology and chemis- 

 try, from which must arise in a more or lest direct 

 manner all theory in relation to the formation and 

 treatment of soils, are but little understood among 

 practical men, and are commonly treated by them " 

 as subjects entirely aloof from their duties ; yet 

 every intelligent working man, and especially the 

 farmer, is both a chemist and a geologist, and de- 

 pends, in a degree, for his success, upon his. prac- 

 tical knowledge of these sciences. 



Aside from the merely business view of this 

 knowledge, there is another in which its value is 

 greatly enhanced : I refer to its eflfect upon the 

 mind of the recipient. We all live in two worlds, 

 the world of mind and the world of matter. It is 

 the lot of most to labour in one or both of these. 

 Necessity requires us to labour in one, the world 

 of matter, which is the labour of the hands. Man- 

 liness and Christianity urge us to labour in the 

 other, which is the work of the mind. Life cannot 

 be truly enjoyed independent of either health of 

 mind or health of body, and as health of body de- 

 pends directly upon bodily exercise, so health of 

 mind depends directly upon mental exercise. 



All agree that, in the duties of the intelligent 

 farmer, the labours of the hand and brain are most 

 harmoniously blended, and that it is for him to 

 enjoy that rarest of all blessings, " a sound mind 

 in a sound body." 



The farmer, as he follows the plough, may not 

 be wholly engrossed in mere manual labour — every 

 clod that the plough turns up, will give him a lesson 

 in geology, and every rootlet a lesson in botany ; 

 let him be ever so indifferent, nature will insist 

 upon his learning some one of her many secrets; 

 she will give him something to treasure up for his 

 future use or pleasure. By this almost involuntary 

 study has the farmer's storehouse of knowledge 

 been filled : by it the rude chance-farming of the 

 ancients has advanced to the present state of 

 intelligence and certainty. 



Until quite recently, the term "scientific farm- 

 ing " was not used, and we now hear it oftener as 

 a term of reproach than otherwise ; but it cannot 

 be denied that science, even as put forth by the 

 most impractical, has done the agriculturist great 

 good, and is destined to do still more. Perhaps 

 one of its greatest benefits, up to the present time, 

 is that arising from the strong feeling of emulation 

 among farmers of the old school, to prove by their 

 crops and profits that they can excel the theorist; 

 urged by this feehng, they have eagerly sought 

 for improvements, and applied them with a skill 

 which only the good old-fashioned farmer is 

 capable of. It has also caused discussions, and 



excited a thirst for experiment and inquiry which 

 cannot result otherwise than in good for all. 

 These are only some of the incidental benefits 

 arising from the application of science to agricul- 

 ture ; the true value of this department of scientific 

 knowledge cannot be estimated, since much more 

 is now known than has yet been generally and 

 skilfully applied ; and again, there is much of agri- 

 cultural chemistry which is yet in so vague and 

 imcertain a state as to be almost, if not quite 

 worthless, as far as practical farming is concerned. 



If it were true, as some have the hardihood to 

 assert, that no practical good, as far as crops and 

 profits are concerned, arises from scientific research 

 in this department, yet its benefits upon the mind 

 of the farmer v/ould be incalculable, as it raises 

 his thoughts to the contemplation of the laws of 

 nature, giving him one of the most stable of all 

 pleasures, and health of mind, the crown of 

 " green old age." 



Assuming that every farmer is both a practical 

 chemist and geologist, since the most common 

 duties of the farm require a knowledge of these 

 sciences, I with to call attention to the chemistry 

 and geology of the surface stratification. 



For the sake of simplicity in the treatment of 

 the subject, I will divide the varieties of soil into 

 three classes, namely, 1, mechanical ; 2, chemical ; 

 3, vegetable. This general classification may strike 

 the geological reader as novel and perhaps inade- 

 quate; but for the ordinary discussions of practical 

 men, I think it will be found not inappropriate, 

 if we bear in mind that the terms used are not 

 intended to indicate by what agency the materials 

 of which the soils are composed were brought into 

 their present positions, but simply to express the 

 present condition of the soil itself. Thus, by 

 mechanical, I would designate all earths which 

 bear evidence of not having undergone any great 

 chemical or vegetable change since being deposited 

 in their present position — that is, the mixture of 

 the different materials of which they are composed 

 is simply a mechanical one; by chemical, all that 

 indicate by their strata and composition that some 

 important change in their qualities has taken place 

 since their deposition ; and by the last term, all 

 that are principally made up of vegetable matter. 



The first of these formations, or classes of for- 

 mations, to which I give the name mechanical, may 

 be found in nearly all positions, though perhaps 

 oftener in low than high grounds. IJnder this 

 head will be classed moraines, sand-hills, and bars, 

 ancient river-beds, and all such surface strata as 

 bear evidence of having been dejjosited by some 

 violent mechanical action. 



