loO 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No 3 



writeriB refer to that of the agaricus. There are, 

 however, flowering plants which also emit phos- 

 phorescent light; such as the Euphorbia pkospho- 

 rea L., the milky juice of which possesses this 

 quality. (VEcho du Monde Savant.) 



For tlie Farmers' Register. 

 PERPETUAL FERTILITY OF CERTAIN SOILS. 



The following extract is taken from an interest- 

 ing and scientific work, entitled " Travels through 

 the Western Country, in the summer of 1816, by 

 David Thomas." 



"The fertility of the sandy prairies near the 

 [Wabash] river is very remarkable. If lime is a 

 constituent of this soil, the portion must be incon- 

 siderable, as acids produce no etTervescence. Nei- 

 ther is the vegetable matter in much quantity. 

 The finer parts diminish but little in the fire, and 

 are changed from a black to a reddish-brown. 

 Hence the fertilizing principle is a mineral earth. 



" The idea of soils perpetually fertile was not 

 oriainal with H. Davy, though to him we owe the 

 firslt scientific view of the subject. Vegetable 

 matter soon dissipates; but the primitive earths 

 are imperishable; and if my conjecture is correct, 

 these prairies will be sources of abundance through 

 distant ages. A field was pointed out to me, 

 which had recently been enclosed from the com- 

 mons of Vincennes, and which produced corn of 

 extraordinary luxuriance. From the nakedness of 

 this ground it is evident, that a vegetable soil 

 would soon become steril. 



''One of my correspondents remarks, 'we have 

 a prairie below this place, which has been in culti- 

 vation for seventy or eighty years, and now pro- 

 duces well.' 



" Lord Kaims mentions a field near the Clyde, in 

 Scotland, which had annually produced a crop tor 

 101 years, and still retained its Itjrtiliiy. The sub- 

 joined extract is from the 'Edinburgh Encyclo- 

 psedia.' 'The lands of St. lago, (Chili) though 

 constantly cultivated for two centuries and a half, 

 without receiving any artificial manure, have suf- 

 fered no diminution in their amazing produce.' 



" Some of the great bottom of the Mississippi, 

 between Kaskaskia and Illinois 'has been in culti- 

 vation 120 years, and still no deterioration has yet 

 manifested itself " 



I have made the above quotation for the purpose 

 of adducing a few instances of almost equal fer- 

 tility, presented by some of the soils of Eastern 

 Virginia, apparently of very diverse constitutions. 

 In none of them, as far as I am aware, has any 

 portion of lime been detected. That the presence 

 of lime gives fertility and durability to soils is 

 fully demonstrated by all practical and scientific 

 writers on agriculture; but that equal durability 

 should characterize other soils, oi' which lime [in 

 its usual state of carbonate'] forms no constituent 

 portion, can only be accounted for on the suppo- 

 sition of the existence of neutral soils, as promul- 

 gated by the author of the " Essay on Calcareous 

 Manures." 



There is probably no soil in Eastern Virginia, 

 nor indeed in any part of the state, which is supe- 

 rior to the best of the ferruginous lands in the vi- 

 cinity of Beaverdam, Goochland. It is an alumi- 



nous mould, in which the clay forms so great a pro- 

 portion, that in times of rain it is as adhesive as 

 mortar; though in a dry state, the surface is light 

 and puffy. It is so red, that the line between the 

 soil and subsoil is not always obvious. The neigh- 

 borhood was settled about the year 1712; conse- 

 quently much of the land has been in cultivation 

 upwards of a century. When it is considered that 

 the system of agriculture, which has prevailed, 

 has been one of continual cropping — that heavy 

 drafts have been yearly made upon the soil with- 

 out its having received any aid from ameliorating 

 crops, or artificial manures — and when it is more- 

 over known that these lands remain to this day 

 highly productive, it must be admitted that they 

 merit the title of being almost "perpetually fer- 

 tile." The farm of the late Geo. Pleasants may 

 be cited to illust.'-ate the truth of what I have 

 stated. In the worst seasons, it never fails to pro- 

 duce a fair crop; and in years of plenty, it is now 

 capable of yielding twenty bushels of wheat to 

 the acre. Under an improved system, and pos- 

 sessing, as has been evidenced by the effects of 

 one or two partial crops of clover, the greatest re- 

 cuperative powers, it is expected that the present 

 proprietor, who has inherited this valuable patri- 

 mony, will soon advance its condition to that state 

 of productiveness of which it is so susceptible. 



There are some portions, however, of the Bea- 

 verdam lands, that are rendered almost steril by 

 a superabundance of isinglass or micaceous earth. 

 This ingredient not only destroys their adhesion, 

 but prevents any permanent improvement from 

 being effected, even by the most liberal use of 

 manures. In twelve months, they become again 

 as barren as they were at first. 



A short distance above Richmond are to be 

 seen some specimens of fine granite soils, on the 

 boundaries ol' the bituminous coal field. On the 

 farms of Thos. M. Randolph and John Wickham, 

 near Tuckahoe creek, where the granite rock, 

 which forms the bed of the coal measures, appears 

 in large quantities, the soil is much more li^rtile 

 and durable than it is either to the east or west of 

 the granite line. Many years' cultivation, under 

 the usual system, has not impaired its original 

 freshness and vigor. I can only ascribe its supe- 

 riority over the contiguous cold and lieavy lands, 

 to the gradual addition of granite by disintejjra- 

 tion; thus constituting a soil in which silicious 

 matter was originally deficient. How far this 

 modification of its texture has been beneficial in 

 other portions of the same range, I have not had 

 the means of judging. 



The granite soils which constitute the dividing 

 line between the tertiary and secondary formations 

 of the state, have been represented, and very tru- 

 ly, as being exceedingly barren. If there be no 

 exception to their general character in Virginia, 

 there is, however, a most conspicuous one in the 

 neighboring state of Maryland. The tract of 

 country known by the name of Elk Ridge, on the 

 Patapsco river near Baltimore, and which exhi- 

 bits a soil composed in a great measure of disinte- 

 grated granite, is the admiration of all travellers 

 who have seen it. There is perhaps no district 

 east of the mountains which possesses greater na- 

 tural fertility; nor is there any, where the efl!ects 

 of judicious cultivation are more agreeably ex- 

 emplified. In approaching tide- water, the cha- 

 racter of the soil undergoes a gradual change in 



