152 



f*ARMERS' REGISTER 



the plough are of a darkish color ; when they are 

 whitish, tiie quality is very little worth. 



3d. A soil, that has a good deal of clay in its 

 composition, and ofsonie depth, being neither too 

 strong for turnips, nor too light and thin for beans, 

 or this, 57 acres are of natural grass, over which 

 water can be partially throvvn during the time of 

 floods, and which are generally mown ; 130 acres 

 more are occasionally mown, and when not, they 

 are pastured by cows and other stock. The re- 

 maining 40 acres, of this sort, are arable. 



Ofthe whole farm about 400 acres are in pasture. 



The farm-buildings are very inconveniently 

 situated, the greater part of them, including the 

 dwelling-house, being at the north side oi' the 

 farm. There is a barn and a court near the south, 

 and another barn and a court near the west side. 

 But, from the extent of the liirm, the greater part 

 of the land is at a great distance from the buildings; 

 80 that, in carting either dung from the courts to 

 the field, or corn from the field to the rick-yard, 

 the average distance is about three-quarters of a 

 mile. The whole ofthe wheal is always carted to 

 the barn-yard nearest the house. 



Tetbury is a market-town of some note ; but 

 very little dung can be got from it. One year, 

 however, upwards of 300 cart loads were conveyed 

 from it to this (isrm ; but the expense of caning it 

 and of collecting it in the town, together with the 

 price paid (or it, amounted to a sum, which the 

 increase of produce from it did not cover; and after 

 two or three years of trial the plan was given up. 

 The only manure, therefore, which is used upon 

 this farm, is what is made by the stock kept, by 

 the cleanings of the ditches and road-sides n)ixed 

 together, and by the feeding oflfof all the turnips 

 on the ground by sheep. This last is found to be 

 the most valuable manure for this sort of soil. 

 Lime has been tried upon this land, but vviih little 

 or no effect, owing, perhaps, to (he soil being 

 composed, principally, of calcareous matter. 

 [Conclusion next month.} 



SPEECH OF DR. C. T. JACKSOIV. 



Geological Surveyorof Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, 

 at the Second and Third Agricultural Meetings. 



Dr. Jackson began by expressing the pleasure 

 he had in these meetings for mutual information 

 and improvement; and he augured the most bene- 

 ficial results from the active spirit of inquiry which 

 was now so generally awakened. 



Agriculture is yet to derive immense advan- 

 tages from scientific cultivation. The first element in 

 agriculture is the soils, which constitute the seat 

 of its operations. Tlie soils which ihe earth pre- 

 sents, and which in difllsrenl localities are found 

 very differently constituted, although the same sim- 

 ple elements enter, to a certain extent, into the 

 combination of'all of them, are among the most im- 

 portant objects of inquiry and examination to the 

 intelligent farmer. 



Soils are, properly speaking, only the detritus or 

 broken substance of decomposed rocks, intermixed 

 in various degrees with organic matter in a state of 

 dissolution and difl'usion. The breaking down and 

 the comminution of the rocks, so as to form the 

 fine particles of the earth, have been the progree- 

 eivc results of the influence of air, moisture an<] 



frost, exerted through many ages which have pass- 

 ed and still inconstant and active operation. Thai 

 the earths were derived from the disintegration of 

 rocks, he deemed conclusively established by the 

 fact, ihat by the chemical and indeed microscopic 

 examination of soils, they are found to consist of 

 the same elements which enter into the formation 

 of the rocks. In soils derived from granite were 

 found quartz, feldspar, and mica ; and the decompo- 

 sition of slate rocks produces clay. The presence 

 of limestones and porphyry serves in each case to 

 produce a peculiar soil. 



All the various mineral bases have an influence 

 upon the character of a soil. Some of these mine- 

 rals undergo a decomposition and enter directly in- 

 to plants : silex, alumine, magnesia, all enter into 

 plants; and eilex, as is well known, forms the coat 

 or skeleton of all graminaceous plants, or otherwise 

 of plants belonging to the family of the grasses. 

 These elements have much to do with the fertility 

 of a soil. 



The enriching mineral substance found in New 

 Jersey, alluded to in a former discussion, is what is 

 called a green sand, composed of silex, potash, and 

 iron. It yields potash, and thus neutralizes any 

 acid substances which may exi^st in the soils, to 

 which it is applied. 



Every observing traveller in passing through dif- 

 ferent countries, perceives that the soils of different 

 countries possess properties peculiar to themselves. 

 Thus limestone soils seem most congenial to the 

 production of wheat ; and granitic soils to that of 

 grass. Each rock may be traced by its peculiar 

 vegetation. The soils on the trap-rock formation 

 in this stale, are distinctly marked. 



A great part ofthe slate is of what is called the 

 diluvial formation. In this case there is an evi- 

 dent removal of the earth's surface or soils by some 

 violent convulsion in asoitof wave, from thenortli 

 to the south. The proofs ofthis deluge in its ad- 

 vances south may be distinctly traced. Thus in a 

 diluvial formation the soils will be found to be com- 

 posed ofthe same elements as the rocks some miles 

 distant to the northward of that place ; and may be 

 very different from the soil, whicfr might be said to 

 belong to the place, where they are found. As evi- 

 dence of this movement south, the rocks in the vi- 

 cinity of Providence are evidently formed from the 

 disintegration of rocks ofthe graywacke formation 

 some distance to the northward. The graywacke 

 rocks are those composed of other rocks of various 

 descriptions collected together in a miscellaneous 

 combination, and cemented by a kind of argillace- 

 ous paste. In JVIaine there are abundant proofs 

 that the whole soil of the country has, in many 

 places, been removed southwardly. In Thomaston 

 the soil is evidently of diluvial formation. Port- 

 land rests upon a formation of mica and talcose 

 slate ; I'ut the soil is granitic and evidently trans- 

 ported from the vicinity of Brunswick. 



The diluvial soils were transported by some ex- 

 traordinary change in the earth's surface, produced, 

 it may be, by a deluge or some similar catastrophe. 

 Alluvial soils are formed liom the washing of high 

 places into those which are lower, by rains or fresh- 

 ets, and take place by a gradual deposit of earths 

 or sands li-om water thus rendered turbid. The di- 

 luvial soils have a higher antiquity than the alluvial. 

 The lijriiliry of alluvial soils is owing, in a conside- 

 rable measure, to the fine comminution ofthe parti- 

 cles of which they are composed. This allows the 



