556 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. » 



Bands. It does so more than lime, or any other 

 earth. Hence a poil with a considerable propor- 

 tion of humus is much more fertile than the quan- 

 tity ot" alumina, or o( sand, in its composition 

 would lead one to expect, as we shall see when 

 we come to the analysis of soils of Known lertilily; 

 and we see the irreat advantage of animal and 

 vegetable manures, not only as nourishment to 

 vegetables, but as mechanical improvers of the 

 texture of soils. 



The greatest enemy of humus is stagnant wa- 

 ter; it renders it acid and astringent, as we see in 

 peat; and soils abounding with vegetable matters, 

 from which water is not properly drained become 

 sour as is very justly said, and produce only rush- 

 es and other useless and unpalatable plants. The 

 remedy is simple and obvious; drain well, and 

 neutralize the acid with hrae; by these means 

 abundant fertility will be restored. 



In very light soils, humus is seldom found in 

 any quantity, being too much exposed to the air, 

 and rapidly decomposed; the extract is washed 

 through them by tlie waters, and as they waste 

 manure rapidly, they are called hungry. Such 

 soils are very unprofitable, until they are improved 

 and consolidated by clay or marl, which makes 

 them retain the moisture. 



With calcareous earths, hummus acts well, provi- 

 ded they are pulverized, and of sufficient depth. 

 Some chalky soils are rendered very fertile by ju- 

 dicious culture and manuring. 



In order to ascertain the probable fertility of a 

 Soilj it is very useful to analyze it, and find out the 

 proportion of its component parts. To do this 

 with great accuracy requires the knowledge of an 

 experienced chemist; but, to a certain degree, it 

 may be easily done by any person possessed of 

 an accurate balance and weights, and a little spir- 

 its of salts, or muriatic acid. For this purpose, 

 pome of the soil, taken at different depths, not too 

 near the surface (from four to eight inches, if the 

 Boil is uniform in appearance,) is dried in the sun 

 till it pulverizes in the hand, and feels quite dry; 

 the small stones and roots are taken out, but not 

 minute fibres. A convenient portion of this is 

 accurately weighed; it is then heated in a porce- 

 lain-cup, over a lamp, or clear fire, and stirred, 

 till a chip or straw put in it turns brown. It is 

 then set to cool, and weighed; the loss of weight 

 is the water, which it is of importance to notice. 

 Some soils, to appearance quite dry, contain a 

 large portion of water, others scarcely any. It is 

 then pulverized and sifted, which separates the 

 fibres and coarser parts. The remainder, again 

 weighed, is stirred in four or five times its weight 

 of pure water; after standing a iew minutes to 

 eetlle, the water is poured off, and contains most 

 of the humus and soluble substances. The hu- 

 mus is obtained by filtration, well-dried over the 

 lamp, and weighed. The soluble substances are 

 obtained by evaporating the water; but, unless 

 there ia a decidedly saline taste, this may be neg- 

 lected. The humus may be further examined by 

 heating itjred hot in a crucible, and stirring it with 

 a piece of the stem of a tobacco pipe, when the 

 vegetable part will be consumed, and the earths 

 remain behind; thus the exact quantity of pure 

 v^etable humus is found. Some muriatic acid, 

 diluted with five times its weight of water, is ad- 

 ded to the deposite left after|pouring off the water 

 containing the humus and soluble matter; the 



' whole is agitated, and more acid added gradually, 

 as long as efli^rvescence takes place, and until the^ 

 mixture remains decidedly acid, which indicates 

 that all the calcareous earth is dissolved. Should 

 there be a great proportion of this, the whole may 

 be boiled, adding nmriatic acid gradually, till all 

 effervescence ceases; what remains, after washing 

 it well, is siliceous and argillaceous earth. These 

 are separated by agitation, allowing the sili- 

 ceous part to settle, which it does m a lew seconds. 

 The alumina is poured off with the water, filtra- 

 ted, heated over the lamp, and weighed — the 

 same with the silicious sand. The loss of weight 

 is calcareous earth. In this manner, but with 

 greater care and more accurate tests, various soils 

 of known fertility have been analyzed, of which 

 we will give a lew examples. 



A very rich soil near Drayton, Middlesex, ex- 

 amined by Davy, consisted of three-fifths of sili- 

 cious sand and tivo-fiths of impalpable powder, 

 which, analyzed, was found to be composed of 



Parts. 

 Carbonate of lime, - - - - 28 



Silicious earth, ----- 32 



Alumina, ------ 29 



Animal and vegetable matter, - - 11 



100 



This is a rich sandy loam, probably long and 

 highly-manured, fit lor any kind of produce, and 

 if deep, admirably fitted for fruit trees. 



Another good turnip soil, by the same, consist- 

 ed of eight parts of coarse siliceous sand, and one 

 of fine earth, which [nith part] being analyzed 

 consisted of 



Carbonate of Hme, 

 Silica, _ - _ - 



Alumina, - - - - 

 Oxide of iron, - _ - 

 Vegetable and saline matter, 

 Water, - . - . 



63 



15 



11 



3 



5 



3 



100 



This is a very light sandy soil, and owes its fer- 

 tility to the fine division of the carbonate of lime 

 and the vegetable and saline matter. It may 

 probably have been limed or marled, at some time 

 or other. 



The best loam in France, according to Mr. 

 Tillet, consists of 



Parts. 

 Fine silicious sand, - - - - 21 

 Coarse ditto, ----- 25 



Carbonate of lime, - . - _ 37.5 

 Alumina, --_.-- 16.5 



100 

 A loam at Chamart, highly prized by garden- 

 ers about Paris, as the basis of their artificial 

 soils, consists of 



Argillaceous sand. 



Finely divided clay, 



Silicious sand. 



Carbonate of lime, coarse, 



Ditto, fine, - - - 



Woody fibre, 



Humus and soluble matter, 



Parts. 

 57 

 33 

 7.4 

 1 

 .6 

 .5 

 .5 



100 



