T26 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 12 



eible; the eyes are deep sunk under projecting eye- 

 brows; and are of a bright yellow color; the gene- 

 ral color of the body is white, and usually more 

 or less marked with spots of pale brown, accord- 

 ing to the a<j;e or sex of the individual. 



AN ALMGATOR IN NEW YORK. 



The New York Sun says that a stonecutter 

 employed in a shantee near the corner of Seventh 

 street and avenue C, was on Thursday breaking 

 the ice in a pond in a vacant lot in that neighbor- 

 hood, when he was suddenly and not very agree- 

 ably surprised. No sooner had he made a hole 

 than out jumped a Zffrge fl/Ziga^or.' He raised an 

 alarm and the animal was Ibrthwith attacked and 

 despatched without mercy. He measured from 

 head to tail seven feet ten inches. The Sun says 

 that one of these animals was picked up in the 

 East river last July. But how they came there, 

 or for what purpose, no one can tell. 



From tlie Journal of Uie Franklin Institute. 

 ON THE PART WHICH THE SOIL ACTS IN THE 

 PROCESS OF VEGETATION. MEMOIR READ 

 AT THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, BY J. 

 PELLETIER. 



Translated from the Journal de Pharmacie, for the Journal of 

 the Franklm Institute, by J. Griscom. 



The ground is the support and nurse of plants; 

 in lis bosom, by means of roots, they seek for and 

 find a portion of their nourishment. Eut to this 

 truth, so simple and obvious, are attached questions 

 of a complicated nature, and of the highest inte- 

 rest to physiology and agriculture. With one, 

 among others, I have been particularly arrested, 

 and it has been the object of my meditations. Be- 

 fore I enter upon it, permit me to bring into view 

 some fiicts which appear to be necessary to the 

 discussion of it. 



The earth is not an elementary substance. Its 

 exterior bed, the residence of plants, is formed of 

 various metallic oxides, silica, alumina, lime, to 

 which are often joined magnesia and the oxide of 

 iron. It contains, moreover, the detritus of or- 

 ganic matters which had before possessed life and 

 existence. Thus constituted, and under the influ- 

 ence of air, water and imponderable fluids, the 

 earth is eminently fit for the development of germs 

 deposited in its bosom, and to the growth of the 

 vegetables which flourish upon it. 



The necessity of the presence of organic matter, 

 to constitute a soil, endowed in the highest degree 

 with vegetative force, cannot be considered doubt- 

 ful. In vain did Tull, in 1773, attempt to main- 

 tain that distinct earthy particles formed the sole 

 nourishment of the plant. This theory was over- 

 turned by the positive experiments of Duhamel 

 who had at first embraced it. Nevertheless, if 

 it is certain that the presence of organic matter is 

 a condition of fertility, we may still ask whether it 

 is so essential a condition — such a sine qua non, — 

 that a plant cannot vegetate in a soil totally de- 

 prived of organic matter, particulary if other cir- 

 cumstances, such as the presence of water and 

 carbonic acid, be united with it. 



Numerous experiments have been made tore- 



solve this question. Many of them are contradic- 

 tory. The orreater portion, from the high interest 

 which they involve, ought to be discussed and re- 

 peated with care. But another question not less 

 important, and which I think ought to be first as- 

 certained, is this : What influence have soils them- 

 selves in the act of vegetation 1 To this question 

 I at present confine myself 



A vegetable soil, in its normal state, must be 

 considered a mixture of various earths, that is, of 

 metallic oxides. 



Every soil devoted to agriculture, is in general, 

 says Chaptal, formed of a mixture of silica, lime 

 and alumina, and in support of this assertion he 

 cites various analyses.* 



Davy confirms this statement in his Agricultu- 

 ral Chemistry, and, in fact, not a single instance of 

 a fertile soil has occurred, which consisted of only 

 one earth, or even of two, such as lime and silex, 

 silex and alumina, alumina and lime. 



In another passage in his Chimie jjgricole, 

 Chaptal expresses himself thus: 



"A mixture of lime, silex and alumina forms 

 the basis of a good soil ; but that it may possess 

 all the desirable qualities of good land, these in- 

 gredients must exist in certain proportions, which 

 analyses of the best soil can only establish. 



If we consult the analysis of the most fertile 

 soils, we find that fertility diminishes in proportion 

 to the predominance of either of these principal 

 earths, and that it becomes almost null when the 

 mixture has the properties of only one of them." 



Complexity ofcomposilion is therelbre, in gene- 

 ral, a condition of fi^rtility in a vegetable soil. 

 The loose earth which we find in valleys arising 

 from the decomposition of primitive rocks, makes 

 generally an excellent soil. Now we know that gra- 

 nite, composed of quartz, feldspar and mica, and 

 frequently amphibole,must yield by its composition, 

 a soil containing silica, lime, alumina and a little 

 magnesia and sometimes potash. Soils origina- 

 ting, on the contrary, from the decomposition of 

 more simple rocks, siliceous limestone, for exam- 

 ple, are lighter, and suitable only for a limited 

 number of plants; they require, says Chaptal, to 



* A very fertile soil in Sweden was found by Berg- 

 man to consist of: 



Coarse Silex, 



Silica, 



Ahunina, 14 



Carbonate of Lime, 30 



30>.„ 



26 r® 



100 

 A fertile soil in Middlesex gave Davy — Siliceous 

 Sand 3-5; the remaining 2-5 consisted of 

 Carbonate of Lime, 28 



Silica, 32 



Alumina, 39 



Analysis of a fertile soil in Touraine: 

 Sand, 49 



Silica, 16 



Alumina, 10 



Carbonate of Lime, 25 



100 

 A very fertile compost, formed by Tillet consisted of 

 clay 3-8, pulverised lime-stone 3-8, sand 2-8, corre- 

 sponding to 



Course Silex, 25 



Silica, 21 



Alumina, 16.50 



Carbonate of Lime, 37.50 



100 



