382 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 6 



■better) brought into proper use in Europe. In such 

 cases, the honor of first discovery belongs to both the 

 ■ancient and the modern investigators. But, the value 

 of the mere discovery of even the most important prin- 

 .•ciples of improvement is as nothing, compared to the 

 sustaining the discovery by sufficient proof, so as to 

 •command and compel belief in its truth and value, and 

 bringing the principle into successful operation, and 

 practical and general use. 



We cannot but consider it an additional testimony 

 of the -value of the " discovery" itself, that its source 

 should be thus contested ; for every modern discovery 

 of value, (without exception, it is believed,) has 

 been claimed in hke manner for earlier discoverers. — 

 The author of the 'Essay' may well deem the asser- 

 tion of another's claim, in this case, as a compliment 

 to his work, that is more than an ollset to ail the 

 risk of loss of any credit which may have been impio- 

 perly awarded to him, as the discoverer of truths before 

 unknown. 



Iniiddition— when this particular proposition under 

 consideration is once stated, and the grounds on which 

 it rests, presented, its ti-uth seems so manifest, that it 

 will also seem surprising that every one had not known 

 it before ; and from this, it is but an easy step to sup- 

 pose that many, if not all well-informed agricul- 

 turaiists, did know it long before. Hence it is not 

 unlikely that the merit of discovering a truth which 

 will soon be universally admitted, will not remain to 

 either of the claimants now in question. 



According to these views, we have no desire, or 

 inducement, to enter into a contest as to the rightful 

 claim of discovery of the truth that no soil can be found, 

 or made and kept durably fertile, without its containing 

 a sufficient portion of lime. We leave it to others to 

 decide on the claims, and their grounds. But whoever 

 may have been the person who first threw out this 

 opinion, or any one like it, there can be no denial of 

 our assumption that any and all such annunciations 

 had totally failed in attracting the notice of agricul- 

 turists, or of affecting in any way their practical 

 operations. The direct acknowledgments of Loudon 

 would be suflici.2nt testimony to sustain this position, 

 even if it were not also aided by the indirect evidence 

 afforded in the silence of all those who have written 

 later than the date of Mr. Boyd's publication. And if 

 the value of the annunciation of the same general truth 

 in the ' Essay on Calcareous JManures,' be subjected 

 to the same test, it will appear that the -practical appli- 

 cation of the principle, since its publication, has already 

 extended to many thousands of acres in lower Virginia 

 and Maryland and North Carolina, and their value 

 thereby increased three-fold — though still not extended 

 to one acre in ten thousand of all in the United States 

 that require such application. Could the full and 

 proper extension of the application to the soil be made, 

 or even the tithe of it be witnessed by the autlior of 

 the ' Essay,' he would, for these practical results, wil- 

 lingly forego all the honor of the first discovery of the 

 theoretical princijvle. 



But while we freely and fully confirm the general 

 opinion of Mr. Boyd, as understood by the advocate of 

 his claims, we doubt whether the actual truth was un- 



derstood by Mr. Boyd, or can be fairly deduced from 

 his own words. He found that three very steril soils 

 were totally deficient in calcareous earth; and he says, 

 " I have never heard of a fertile soil that did not con- 

 tain some portion of it." We also concur in the opinion 

 conveyed in these words in one sense, but dissent en- 

 tirely from the particular opinion which we conceive 

 the writer meant to convey. If he meant by " cal- 

 careous earth," lime in the state of the carbonate (the 

 state in which lime usually and most abundantly exists, 

 and in which state, alone, Kirwan and Davy speak of 

 its existence in any frequent and considerable propor- 

 tion in soils — ) then Mr. Boyd was altogether wrong. 

 For though the millions of acros of naturally poor land 

 in the Atlantic states of this confederacy, are all totally 

 wanting in carbonate of lime, (and nearly so in lime of 

 every combination,) and though that deficiency be the 

 sole cause of their sterility, yet it is also true, that 

 most of the richest soils in the same states, and even 

 including most of their lime-stone soils, are equally 

 deficient in the carbonate of lime — though not in lime 

 in some other form unsuspected by Mr. Boyd we may 

 safely infer, because not known or suspected at later 

 periods by Davy or Chaptal. Both these remarkable 

 facts were first stated in the ' Essay on Calcareous 

 Manures,' and to explain and reconcile their ajiparent 

 opposition is one of the main objects of the theoretical 

 portion of that work. — Ed. Far. Reg.] 



OMISSIOIVS SUPPLIED, AND MISTAKES COR- 

 RECTED. 



After the last sheet containing the account of Mr. 

 Sampson's farming had been printed off, we learned 

 that there were some instances of misapprehension by 

 the writer, or of omission, of matters of fact, which, 

 though not of much importance, should not remain 

 without correction. Those which are at all material, 

 are the following : 



Page 367, column 1, line 30. The corn on the 15 

 acres of low-ground, on a coat of green clover turned 

 in, was not planted until in June. 



Page 267, the size of Sabot Island should have 

 been stated to be 400 acres, instead of 420. 



Page 370, column 1, line 19. In addition to the 

 single coultering which is stated as having served for 

 the whole "after-tillage" of the corn and peas, there 

 was the usual and necessary hand-weeding and thin- 

 ing. This was designed to be understood. 



Page 370, column 2, line 32. The "50,000lbs. (of 

 hay or sheaf-oats) sold to other persons ought to be 

 100,000lbs. 



Page 371, column 1. The continuance of tobacco 

 culture on Mr. Sampson's farm was for su-, instead of 

 three years; the last three of which are correctly descri- 

 bed. The earlier part of his practice was before he 

 employed the overseer especially for his knowledge of 

 the culture and management of tobacco. 



Page 372, column 2, line 8. "Sheaf-oats," though 

 included in the contract, as stated, have never been 

 sold to the stage-owner — because the latter preferred 

 hay, and there has been always enough hay to sup- 

 ply him. 



