THE*FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



167 



stroy the oxalic acid — add a few drops of a concen- 

 trated solution of carbonate of ninmonia — heat to 

 dull redness, to expel tlio carbonate of ammonia in 

 excess, and weigh; this is carbonate of lime, (o) 



Now add up the results, and if you have obtain- 

 ed all the components of the soil, and have met 

 with no loss, the sum will be exactly 100 grains. 

 If there is any considerable loss, 3'ou must take an- 

 other portion of the soil, and test it for other sub- 

 stances, and repeat the analysis. 



It is seldom necessary to make a thorough anal- 

 ysis of the matters insoluble in acids, since thev 

 have not an immediate influence upon vegetation ; 

 but to know tiie future state of the soil, it must be 

 done. In that case, you must take the dry insolu- 

 ble soil, grind it to the finest powder — weigh it a- 

 gain to be sure you have not lost any of it — tlien 

 mix it with four times its weight of pure carbonate 

 of soda, and melt it in a platina crucible. After 

 fusion, soften it with water, and dissolve the whole 

 of it in dilute muriatic acid. Evaporate to entire 

 dryness, in a glass or porcelian basin — stirring it 

 towards the end of the operation, to prevent spat- 

 tering; then, when it is entirely dry, moisten it 

 with muriatic acid, and dissolve the soluble muri- 

 ates in water. Boil — then filter the whole on a 

 double filter, as before; W/'sh it for twentv-four 

 hours with pure hot water — wliich passing tasteless, 

 remove the filter, dry, separate the two filters, burn 

 one against the other, and weigh ; the substance is 

 a pure white powder, and is silica, (h) It ought to 

 be weighed while it is warm, for it absorbs water 

 hygrometricallv. 



From the filtered solutions, you are now to sepa- 

 rate the alumina, (i) per-oxide of iron, (k) and lime, 

 (1) as bef(_\"e described ; and if your results balance 

 the amount operated upon, you have obtained all 

 tiie products. If not, test your solutions for inaff- 

 nesia, (m) manganese, (n) and for potash, (o) Test 

 your alumina also, for pliosphoric acid, (p) 



Magnesia is detected by means of the phosphate 

 of soda and ammonia solution most readily, with 

 whicii it forms a white precipitate. Manganese is 

 thrown down by carbonate of soda, from its acid 

 solutions, in the state of a white powder, which 

 becomes brownish black on burning. Potasii is 

 tested by means of tlie solution of hydro-chlorate 

 of platina and soda. 



The above is one of the most common analyses 

 of soils, and there arc so many operations required, 

 that not more than a dozen analyses could be made 

 in four months, unless we could carry on several 

 at a time, as we are able to do in a regular chemi- 

 cal laboratory. 



Besides the above method, we have also to de- 

 termine the quantity of matter soluble in water, in 

 order to ascertain the soluble salts. For this pur- 

 pose, take 1000 grains of the dry soil, and boil it in 

 a glass bottle, with a pint of distilled water ; filter, 

 and then evaporate one Iialf of the solution to dry- 

 ness, and weigh the residue — re-dissolve it and test 

 the nature of the saline matters. Test, also, the 

 other half of the solution, separate the products, 

 and weigh them separately. 



For the discovery of common salt, chloride of 

 sodium, note whether cubic crystals formed in the 

 evaporated solution, wliich is salt, (q) 



To detect the presence of any muriate, use a so- 

 lution of pure nitrate of silver. If any such salt 

 is j)r('SL'iit, you will have a thick curdy precipitate 

 of chloride of silver. Collect it, wash, dry and 

 fuse it in a counterbalanced porcelian capsule. Its 

 weight denotes the quantity of muriatic acid, which 

 is 25.36 per cent, of the clilonde of silver. Solu- 

 ble chloride, (r) 



Any sulphate may be detected by the muriate or 

 acetate of barvtes, which gives a white precipitate 

 of sulphate of harytes. Oullect on a filter, wasli, 

 dry, iguile, and weigli. It contains 34.37 per cent, 

 of sulphuric acid, indicating a sulphate of some 

 ba.ie. (s) 



The presence of any salt of lime, is detected by 

 the solution ofoxaiale of ammonia, which gives a 

 white cloudy precipitate of tiie oxalate of lime. 

 Collect, burn, and weigh. You will have the quan- 

 tity of carbonate of lime, (t) 



Potash and all its saline combinations, give a yel- 

 low precipitate with the chloride of platina solu- 

 tion, (u) 



Nitre is detected by deflagration with charcoal 

 and by testing the result of potasli. (v) 



By referring to the letter against each step of the 

 analysis, it will be seen whether the work is com- 

 plete ; and it may then, be drawn up thus — the 

 weight of each article being inserted opposite to its 

 name : 



(a) Water of absorption. 



(b) Organic matter, animal ox vegetable. 



(c) Insoluble soil. 



(i>) Per-oxide of iron and alumina. 

 (e) Alumina — separated. 



(f) Per-oxide of iron — separated. 



(n ) Carbonate of lime, 



(Ii) Silica. 



(i) Alumina. 



(k) Per-oxide of iron. 



(1) Lime. 



(m) Magnesia. 



(n) Manganese. 



(0) Potash. 



(p) Phosphoric acid. 



(q) Sea salt. 



(r) Soluble chloride. 



(s) Sulphate of some base. 



(t) Soluble salt of lime. 



(u) Potash, or any salt of that base. 



(v) Nitrate of potash, or nitrate of any alkaline 



base. 



The small letters refer to the operations subse- 

 quent to the gross analysis, and are seldom requir- 

 ed, excepting for the purpose of detecting the pres- 

 ence of soluble saline matters, as descril)ed in an- 

 other section. 



To ascertain the quantity of vegetable matter, so- 

 luble in carbonated alkalies or ffc//tf, the following 

 is the process proposed by Dr. Dana, with some es- 

 sential modifications. Take one hundred grains of 

 the fine soil, dry it at 300 deg. F., or until paper 

 browns. Then place it in a flask, and pour upon 

 it a solution of fifty grains of carbonate of potash, 

 dissolved in four ounces of distilled water; boil it 

 until it is satui'ated, then let the soil subside, and 

 pour off the solution upon a filter. Add to the res- 

 idue a similar alkaline solution, boil again, and pour 

 off in a similar manner upon the same filter. If 

 the last solution was colorless, all tVie soluble vege- 

 table matter is tnken up, and the soil itself may 

 now be washed out and thrown on the filter, and 

 washed with boiling distilled water until it is taste- 

 less. Dry the powder on the filter at 300 deg., 

 weigh it, and the loss shews the quantit}' of vege- 

 table matter, soluble in alkaline solutions. Burn 

 the weighed residue, until all the remaining vege- 

 table matter is consumed ; weigh again, and the 

 loss is the insoluble vegetable matter. 



The Lolution which has passed the filter, is of the 

 color of port wine, if it contains vegetable matter 

 in solution. Take a portion of it, and neutralize 

 the alkali by nitric acid ; then test it with a solution 

 of nitrate of silver. It will give a dense precipi- 

 tate of a grey color, wliich turns redish brown by 

 exposure to light. Treat the alkaline solution with 

 lime-water, in great excess, and you will then throw 

 down a buff colored precipitate or geate, orulmate 

 of lime. Wash this on the filter, with diluted acetic 

 or muriatic acid, and you will remove the lime, and 

 pure geine, or ulmic acid will remain. 



The iusolubl-: matter on the fir.'^t filter, may now 

 be analyzed for its mineral elements, in the usual 

 manner; but the salts will have been converted in- 

 to carbonates. Thus, if gypsum was present, it 

 will be found converted into carbonate of lime. 



The above process, suggested principally by Dr. 

 S. Dana, v/as used by Professor Hitchcock, in the 

 analysis of the soils of Massachusetts. It is a good 

 method for the purpose above indicated, but the 

 varyintj quality of the vegetable and animal mat- 

 ters is not fully shown by it, nor by any other or- 

 dinary method, the process by the deut-oxide of 

 copper beinf^ requisite for the analysis of highly 

 manured soils. In Maine, however, we have most- 

 ly vegetable matters to deal witli, as the organic 

 ingredients in soils, and this process is, therefore, 

 applicable, and has been used by me in several a- 

 nalyses, as above modified. 



Dr. Dana suggested the occurrence of sub-phos- 

 phate of alumina in soils, and I found in one in- 

 stance three per cent, of this matter in a soil from 

 Wilton. It is highly probable that it has been over- 

 looked by chemists, since it so closely resembles 

 pure alumina, and precipitates with it. 



According to the above described processes, we 

 have analyzed numerous soils from Maine, the re- 

 sults being given below, and again resumed, in a 

 tabular form, at the end of the Report. 



Is it best to transplant ^Hpph and other Fruit Trees 

 in the Fall ur Spring? 



To several readers of the Monthly Visitor who 

 have made of us this inquiry, we cannot find a more 

 satisfactory answer than is contained in the follow- 

 ing article 



From the X. V. Weekly Journal of Commerce. 

 Taausplantiug Trees. 



I notice in your valuable journal, an article in 

 which one of the editors opposes his experience to 

 the notion of a Boston brother, in regard to the 

 proper time for transplanting trees. It may not be 

 amiss to state for the benefit of those farmers who 

 despise book-learning, tJiat in this case, theory and 

 fact agree. It is well known that all the food whioh 



plants draw from the soil, is absorbed by the ex- 

 trcmcties of the root fibres, or rootlets ; and that 

 tlie difiiculty of transplanting, arises from tiie im- 

 possibility of preserving all those fibres, whatever 

 care may be used in the operation. When a tree 

 has been moved, it is deprived of a portion of its 

 nourishment, till new fibres have been emitted from 

 the roots in sufficien! numbers to supply the place 

 of the injured ones ; and if many have been broken, 

 or the tree is not able to replace them quickly, it 

 languishes and dies. The best time for transplant- 

 ing is evidently that at which plants are in the best 

 state to emit new fibres, and best able to subsist 

 with little nourisiiment from the earth; and the 

 worst, that at which these conditions are reversed. 



In autumn, trees are employed in laying up a 

 store of food for the coming year. As the leaves 

 fall off, the sap thickens, deposites a saccharine sub- 

 stance on the sides of its vessels, and finally entire- 

 ly ceases to flow, and the tree becomes torpid and 

 remains lifeless through the winter. This then ia 

 not the time to transplant. Young trees may inp 

 deed be taken up at this season, and having been 

 kept indoors, may be set out again in the Spring, 

 without danger. But it is quite a different matter 

 to put a plant into the ground when all its powers 

 are going to decay, audit is not able to form a sin- 

 gle new fibre, or even to preserve those it already 

 has. Except for the shelter from the cold which 

 the dirt round its roots affords, it migiit as well be 

 exposed to the winter on a bare rock. In Spring, 

 however, the case is quite different. Then the plant 

 derives its nourishment in a great measure from the 

 saccharine matter deposited the preceding year, and 

 is employed in putting out new fibres to absorb sap 

 from the earth, and new leaves to elaborate it. If 

 moved at this time, its means of living are hardly 

 affected at all ; only its situation is changed. Ev- 

 ergreens, however, may be transplanted at any time 

 except when pci-fecting their fruit, as they have a 

 constant flow of sap. 



If you will allow me, it may be well to mention 

 some other results which follow from the principles 

 mentioned ab't>ve. One of thest? relates to the prop- 

 er time for cutting tlmb^^r. The winter is not that 

 time ; for then the wood contains more soluble mat- 

 ter than at any other season. It is the soluble, sac- 

 charine matter contained in timber, which by its 

 easy decomposition induces that of the woody fibre. 



The liquid sap evidently has nothing to do with 

 it, for it is all dried out in ihe process of seasoning. 

 What is the best time may admit ofa question ; but 

 it must be after the saccharine matter has been ex- 

 hausted in the Spring, and before it has begun to be 

 deposited again in the Fall. 



Trees should also be pruned in the Spring, when 

 new wood Is forming ; for then the wounds are soon 

 healed; and the plants being in their most flourish- 

 ing state, are best able to bear injury. But a wound 

 made in the fall, remains open and exposed to the 

 influence of air and water till the next season. 

 For the same reasons grafting should be performed 

 in the early part of the year, though not till the 

 sap is in full flow. R. H. 



Finni Piltimatrs Joiiinal of October. 

 Observations on the Ncav Haven Tornado. 



Bv Prof. Olmsted, of Yale College. 



Ontheolst of July, ]83!J, there occurred, on the 

 western skirts of the city of New Haven, Ct. a tor- 

 nado of the most violent class. The preceding 

 morning had been cloudy and sultry, and immedi- 

 ately previous to the tornado, a thunder storm seem- 

 ed approaching from the west, attended by some 

 appearance of liigh wind. I was, at the time, a- 

 bout a mile eastward of the storm, observing the 

 phenomenon from my chamber window. The 

 clouds betrayed that singular agitation, which usu- 

 ally forebodes a hurricane, and the vane of the 

 neighboring steeple was constantly shifting its po- 

 sition. A short time before the tornado commenc- 

 ed, the wind blew fresh from the southeast, having 

 been in this quarter during the preceding morning; 

 it changed suddenly to the south, and in a moment 

 more it was west, where it continued fixed. Ac- 

 companying those changes a heavy rumblingnoise 

 was heard, not unlike the passing of a long train 

 of railway cars, which was audible in every part of 

 the city. 



Such were the only fhcts of importance which I 

 had an opportunity of observing at the time ; but 

 the circumstances have proved unusually favorable 

 for investigating the laws of the storm, occurring 

 as it did at midday, and so near to us that we have 

 been able to repeatour examinations of the grounds 

 a number of times. Among those included within 

 the limits of the tornado, were several accurate and 

 intelligent observers, who marked the phenomena 

 with much attention; and even those who were 

 buried beneath the ruins of their houses, hav« oil 



