154 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 



modate ihemBelves to circumstances, and, like 

 musk-rats and otters, resort to caves in the bank, 

 for a habitation. A question might occur, as tiiere 

 is a probability that, ti-om the progress of civiliza- 

 tion, tlie beaver may become extinct, wheiher it 

 might not be well, if practicable, to transfer them 

 to other streams. The propriety of this, would 

 depend on the habits of the animal, which, as far 

 as I could learn, are harmless — and the prospect 

 of f h^ir value, i saw somewhere, perhaps in one 

 the earlier numbers of the 'Register,' that some 

 gentleman in Ohio, had enclosed and lamed the 

 otter, in a wall around a pond. The remarkable 

 facility with which the beaver accommodates 

 himself to circumstances, the superior value of 

 his fur, and the great delicacy of his flesh, while 

 young, might render him a more valuable mem- 

 ber of civilized lile. 



From the Penny Cyclopffidia. 

 ARABLE LAND, 



So called from the latin word arare 'to plough,' 

 is tliat part of the land which is chiefly cultivated 

 by means of the plough. 



Land in general is divided into arable, grass 

 land, wood land, common pasture, and Vv^aste. 

 The first of these is by tar the most important in 

 agriculture. In this article we shall briefly explain 

 the principles on which are (bunded, the most im- 

 proved methods of cultivating arable land, by 

 which the natural produce of the soil is greatly in- 

 creased, and many productions are obtained in 

 perfection, which are foreign to the soil and cli- 

 mate. 



We shall, first, consider the nature and proper- 

 ties of various soils. 



2. The be.'^t modes of preparing and improving 

 the natural soil, so as to increase its produce. 



3. The most advantageous succession of crops, 

 BO as to obtain the Greatest returns, witii the least 

 diminution of fertility. 



Of soils. — When the snriace of the earth is 

 penetrated, we generally find that the appearance, 

 texture, and color, vary at dilFerent depths. There 

 is a layer of earth nearest the surface, of (jrealer 

 or lessthickness, which covers the more solid and 

 uniform materials, which lie below it. Tliis maybe 

 particularly observed wherever there are natural 

 or artificial excavations or pits. A distmet line, 

 nearly parallel to the surface, generally marks the 

 depth of the upper soil, and separates it li'om the 

 sub-soil. The soil is more or less composed of 

 minute parts of various kinds of earih, mixed 

 with anhnal and vegetable substances, in differ- 

 ent states of decomposition; and to these, in a 

 great measure, it owes its color, which is general- 

 ly darker than that of the sub-soil. Except where 

 iron, peat, coal, or slate, abound in the soil, a dark 

 color is an indication of corresponding ii;rliiity. 

 The rich soil of gardens, long cultivated and high- 

 ly manured, is nearly black. As the soil is the 

 bed in which all vegetable productions are to be 

 reared, and in which they are to find their proper 

 nourishment, its texture and composition become 

 objects of great importance to the cultivator; and, 

 without a competent knowledge of these, no practi- 

 cal rules can be laid down or depended upon. 



All soils are composed of earths, * metallic ox- 



* We retain the old division, although the earths 

 have been ascertained to be oxides of peculiar metals; 



ides, saline substances, vegetable and animal mat- 

 ter, and water. The earths are chiefly clay, or 

 alumina, flint or silica, and lime. 



Magnesia, barytes, and other earths are occa- 

 sionally met with, but in so tew instances that 

 they may be omitted in the list. 



Of the metals, the most abundant is iron in the 

 state of peroxide. The other melala are rarely 

 found near the surface. 



Saline substances form a small part of a soil, 

 but an important one. 



Potassa exists in almost every vegetable, soda 

 in a few, and ammonia is produced by the decom- 

 po.=ition of animal matter, but from its volatile na- 

 ture it is not long retained in the soil, except when 

 it forms a fixed compound with other substances. 



The v^egetab'e acids, as a general rule, are per- 

 haps limited to small portions of acetic acid in 

 combination with some base, as lime or potash. 



The mineral acids are found united with earths 

 and alkalies, in the state of neutral compounds. 



These saline substances haVe a powerful effect 

 on vegetation, and a knowledge of their propor- 

 tions in the soil, and of their various qualities, is 

 indispensible, in order to modify or correct their 

 action, by other substances, for which they have 

 an affinity. 



Water, in a state of combination, or of mere 

 mechanical diffusion, is essential to the growth of 

 all plants; '.vithont it, and atmospheric air, there is 

 no life, either animal or vegetable. 



Of the earths. — Clay or alumina, bo called be- 

 cause it is obtained in its purest state from alum, 

 in which it is combined with the sulphuric acid,t is 

 the basis of all strong and heavy soils. When it 

 is minutely divided, it is easily suspended in water; 

 when dried slowly, and stirred while drying, it be- 

 comes a fine powder, soft to the feel, and when 

 kneaded with water, a tough ductile mass, easily 

 moulded into hollow vessels, which retain liquids. 

 This property, of being impervious to water, gives 

 the specific character to clay as an ingredient 

 of the soil. In a pure and unmixed state it is ab- 

 solutely barren. When clay is heated to a great 

 degree, it parts wiih the water combined with it; 

 it is then said to be baked, as we see in bricks. It 

 is no longer diffusible in water, and differs litffe 

 from silica or sand, in its effects on the soil. 



Silica, or the earth of" flints, suflers no change 

 in water. It consists of crystals, or fragments, of 

 very hard stone, forming gravel or sand, accord- 

 ing to their size; and the finest silicious sand, 

 when examined with a magnifying ijlass, has the 

 appearance of irregular fragments of stone, with- 

 out any cohesion between them. 



Silicious sand holds water in its intertices by 

 simple cohesive attraction, in proportion to its fine- 

 ness. It heats and cools rat;idly, letti; g the wa- 

 er pass throuo-h it readily, either by filtration or 

 evaporation. Its use in the soil is to keep it open, 

 to let the air and water, as well as those other sub- 

 stances on wliich the jjrowth of plants depends, 

 circulate throuixh it. Unmixed, it dries so rapidly 

 that no vegetation can continue in it, unless a con- 

 but as they are never found in the soil in their metallic 

 state, the results and reasonings are not affected by 

 this circumstance. 



t Sulphuric acid, commonly called oil of vitriol, is 

 composed of sulphur and oxygen, which is the pure or 

 vital part of the atmosphere. (See Air.) 



