FARMERS' REGISTER-GYPSUM NEAR SALT WATER. 



141 



ON THE EFFECTS OF GYPSUM NEAR SALT 

 WATER. 



To the Editor of the Fannois' Register. 



It has frequently been asserted and generally 

 believed, tjiat plaster of Paris, or gypsum, would 

 not answer as a fertilizer ol" soils situated on salt 

 water, or within the influence of saline atmo§- 

 phere. From an experiment made by me this 

 spring, with plaster on clover, I am convinced of 

 its jooi{jcr/t(Z eflect as a manure on soil under the 

 influence of salt water. 



On tlie 5th of March last, I had plaster strewed 

 on alternate lands, ten feet wide, leaving the in- 

 termediate lanils unplastered. When the gypsum 

 was applied, the clover had sprung, some of it 

 three or four inches high. The plaster was di- 

 rected to be strewed at the rate of a bushel to the 

 acre, but from the appearance of it on the land im- 

 mediately alter, I thought it wac less, and not suffi- 

 cient in quantity to do any good, even if the soil 

 were congenial to it. I have been however, not 

 only disappointed, but agreeably surprised, by the 

 heavy growth of clover, where the plaster Avas 

 applied; whereas in the lands not plastered it was 

 indifl'erent. 



From the deej) verdant color and high growth 

 of the clover on the lands' which had been plas- 

 tered, contrasted witji the unplastered part, the 

 ground had the appearance of having been mowed 

 every other land. These effects were only visible 

 where the soil was well taken in clover. In some 

 poriions of the ground, it had been exhausted, or 

 eaten out by other grasses it having been in 

 clover three years'! On the other grasses which 

 the soil had spontaneously thrown up, I saw no 

 effect produced by the gypsum. 



A neighbor who saw my clover, assures me he 

 never saw so great effect produced by plaster in 

 the county of Frederick, where he resided for 

 some years, and where plaster acts as powerful- 

 ly as in any part of \^irginia. 



The land which was the subject of this experi- 

 ment, is distant about a mile from the Rappahan- 

 nock, where the water is salt, and on the first 

 range of hills above the river low grounds. It is 

 a fertile clay, well adapted to wheat and corn, and 

 capable of producing good crops of either. It has 

 no appearance of being naturally calcareous, nor 

 have calcareous manures been applied to it. I ob- 

 served in some part of the land, where stable ma- 

 nure had many years ago, been abundantly ap- 

 plied, and where the clov^er was very luxuriant, 

 that the difil^rence between the plastered and un- 

 plastered lands, was slight; though in these spots 

 there was a difference in the color of the clover. 

 This reminded me of the theory of Sir II. Davy, 

 that probably plaster may be supplied to some 

 soils in sufficient quantities, in manures which 

 contain it. I could upon no other principle account 

 for its want of efficacy in these particular places, 

 than by supposing the soil to have been sufficient- 

 ly supplied with gypsum, chemically combined 

 with stable manure. 



May it not be very questionable as to the effect 

 which saline atmosphere, has upon gypsum? Has 

 it anyl* It is advantageously used in some parts 



* Since the above was written I have accidentally 

 turned to j our "Essay on Calcareous Manures," where 

 you say pa^e 14-3 — "It is well known that gypsum has 

 " failed entirely, as a manure, on nearly all the land on 



of England very near the sea, as for instance in 

 Kent; whereas it has been found of no service in 

 some situations more remote from the coast. If 

 salt air had the effect of neutralising plaster, would 

 it act any where in Kent? We should say not, 

 when we remendier it has been said that the 

 spray of the ocean has been carried in violent 

 storms, fifty miles from the coast. 



Though Davy was not a practical agriculturist, 

 yet his opinions in all that belongs to chemistry, 

 directly or indirectly, deserves weight. He says, 

 "the reason why g\'psum is not generally effica- 

 cious, is probably because most cultivated soils 

 contain it in sufficient quantities." He found gyp- 

 sum in the soils of Norlblk, Middlesex, and Essex. 

 Lord Dundas informed him, that having tried 

 gypsum without any effect on his estates in York- 

 shire, he had the soils examined, when it was 

 found in both of them. 



It is not my present purpose to examine into 

 the "cui," or "quo modo" of the eflicacy of plas- 

 ter, but to assert the liict of its effect upon my own 

 land on the Rappahannock. 



Should the attention of our landholders in this 

 region of country be called to the use of plaster, 

 and if it be found to act as I am persuaded it will, 

 it may be a<lded to the long list of manures within 

 the reach of almost every farmer in this section of 

 countiy, such as marl, sea grass, &c. which if ju- 

 diciously and perseveringl}' used, would render 

 agriculture, with us, one of the most certain and 

 profitable pursuits of life. r. w. c. 



Richiaond county, June 17, 1834. 



RICHMOND MILLS. 



Durmg the last season 235,2-50 bushels of 

 wheat where ground at Haxalf's Columbian 

 Mills in this city, ])roducing of family and superfine 

 flour and middlings 48,100 bbls. of which 38,000 

 bbls. superfine branded "Haxalf were sold for 

 the South American markets. This is the largest 

 receipt of wheat in any one season by any miller 

 in this city. The year Ilaxalfs old mill was bunil 

 the receipt at the Gallego mills was 204,000 

 bushels. 



The Columbian jMills hav^e now 14 pair of burrs 

 besides rubbers and 4 pair more are to be added. 

 The new Gallego mills have 20 pair of burra 

 besides rubbers. — Richmond Compiler. 



" which it has been tried in the tide-water district, 

 " and we may learn from various publications, that as 

 " little general success has been met with along the At- 

 " lantic coast as far north as Long Island. To account 

 " for this general failure of a manure, some one olier- 

 " ed a reason which was received without examina- 

 " tion, and which is still considered by many as suffi- 

 " cient, viz. that the influence of salt vapors destroyed 

 " the power of gypsum on and near the sea coast." 

 Who this ^'some one" was, I should like to know; and 

 whether he came to his conclusion by actual experi- 

 ment or by bold conjecture. 



[The opinion referred to by our correspondent, cer- 

 tainly was not founded on experiment, and probably 

 had no better support than "bold conjecture." We be- 

 lieve that it will be found stated (and with approba- 

 tion) by Mr. Livingston, in the appendix to the article 

 Jlgriculture, in the American edition of the Edinburgh 

 Encyclopaedia; but as we have not that volume at hand, 

 it is possible that we may be mistaken.] 



