NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 69 



f Carbonate of lime, 62.00 



Sulphate of lime, 7.15 



Phosphate of lime, 13.66 



Oxide of iron, 3.99 



Garb, of magnesia, with traces of chloride of sodium, 2.00 



Silica, .... 11.20 



100.00 



The steep water in which flax is rotted contains a small 

 amount of matters dissolved out of the flax, but neither the 

 addition to the soil of this water, nor the refuse of its dress 

 ing is sufficient to restore the soil to the state it was in prior 

 to the growth of the crop. 



41. Various methods are adopted to supply the waste in 

 fertilizing matter, or to diminish it during cultivation. One 

 of the cheapest methods is to allow as much of the crop to 

 decay upon the field as possible. 



This course is adopted when a planter ploughs in the stalks 

 of indian corn, cotton, or the stubble of rye and wheat. There 

 is an advantage in ploughing in the stubble of all cereals. 

 Another method has been adopted. The stubble is first burn 

 ed and the ashes have been strewed over the field under the 

 impression that they contain all the fertilizing matter. This 

 method, however, has never proved successful. This is due 

 in part to the nature of the ash. All silicious sterns, when 

 heated to redness and burned, undergo, so far as their silica 

 is concerned, an important change, which consists in convert 

 ing the soluble into an insoluble silica, and is therefore not 

 immediately available to the plant ; when ploughed in entire 

 and allowed to waste in the soil, all the soluble silica is pre 

 served in a condition to meet the wants of the growing vege 

 table. 



The plants which belong to the corn family, however, are 

 not so profitably employed as fertilizers as clover, buckwheat 

 and the pea. This fact becomes obvious from an inspection of 

 the composition of the corn stalk, or the stubble, or straw of 

 wheat, and comparing it with the composition of the latter. 

 Still, the use of the corn stalk is highly important. I have 

 found it composed of the following elements : 



