THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



91 



season ; for I entertain no doubt but the saving of 

 labor and seed in two crops would clear the cost. 

 Wm. Carmichael. 

 fVye, Queen ^iin's, 3Id., Feb. 17, 1842. 



ADDRESS TO THE AGRICUnTURAL SOCIETY 

 OP MASON, CABELL AND KANAWHA. 



Bij Gen. P. H. Steinbergen, President. 



Gentlemen of the Agricultural Society : — Let 

 me congratulate you that we have again assem- 

 bled under the rules of our society. It affords 

 evidence of continued zeal to the cause of our 

 association, and furnishes at the same time an 

 opportunity, highly pleasing, of friendly social 

 intercourse among its members. Such meetings 

 are well calculated to give life and animation to 

 the prosecution of that great interest in which 

 we are engaged. . By means of premiums to 

 successful competitors, we can tempt the spirit of 

 rivalry, and stimulate to increased exertion. 



The farmers of this nation are the sheet- 

 anchor and support of every other great inter- 

 est of society. On their broad shoulders rests 

 the superstructure of national wealth and prospe- 

 rity, and to their success or failure you may justly 

 look, as to an unerring index, for the condition ol' 

 the whole community. Hovy important then it is 

 to us, that we should possess the lights of experi- 

 ence, in order to guide our operations ! How im- 

 portant that those operations should be con- 

 ducted upon settled principles, drawn from 

 well authenticated facts, suited to our local circum- 

 stances. 1 hope that several of you the past 

 season have given your attention to this primary 

 duty, and will report to this meeting such actual 

 experiments as you have made, and believe con- 

 ducive to our interest. If every member would 

 pursue such a course, we could soon make a 

 depository of useful inforaoation available alike to 

 all. 



During the last summer some facts came 

 under my own observation, that have pecu- 

 liar and appropriate relations to the condition of 

 our country. I had always supposed that the soil 

 of this section of the state was deficient in calca- 

 reous matter, but from some experiments lately 

 made on my farm by Mr. Briggg, one of the 

 assistants of Dr. Rogers the geologist of this 

 state, he has completely satisfied me of the actual 

 existence of lime, with various combinations, and 

 in situations where I had never before suspected it 

 to be. With a vial of muriatic acid in hand, we 

 carefully examined the whole chain of rocks 

 cropping out of the river hills bordering on the 

 bottom ; and frequently applying the acid to such 

 rocks as he indicated, they would rapidly loam, 

 or effervesce^ showing to a certainty the actuni 

 presence of lime. In some places we found the 

 rocks combining nearly equal parts of lime and 

 sand ; and the same vein or ledee, on pursuing it 

 horizontally, would evidently change its character 

 to ferruginous, indicating thereby combinations of 

 iron. 



The very best specimen of calcareous earth we 

 found, or that I believe our country produces, is 

 on the bosom of some of our river hills. They are 

 those red, naked barren-looking places generally 



spoken of here as *•' buffalo stamps.^^ There is 

 one near my house, and on it much, fine, pure, 

 limestone gravel ; the red earth freely effervesc- 

 ing with acids, and apparently so highly calcare- 

 ous as to produce no vegetation whatever. 



I must believe that the discovery of this calca- 

 reous earth may be made of vast importance in 

 the (iiture improvement of our soil. Its application 

 to oursandj' land particularly, when in a sod of 

 grass and previous to turning under for corn, 

 would surely add greatly to its production. I 

 shall, on the first proper occasion, try the effect on 

 some of ray fields, and report to you hereafter the 

 result. 



Further and more extended observations since 

 iVlr. Brigga left the neighborhood have enabled 

 me to trace several ledges of tolerably good lime- 

 stone, (combined with sand as usual), at the dis- 

 tance of two or three miles from the river. Find- 

 ing such specimens thus located at different angles 

 around us, 1 am now satisfied of the existence of 

 sufficient calcareous matter in our soil for all the 

 purposes of good husbandry and profitable farm- 

 ing. 



It is the opinion of geologists, that the character 

 of a soil is determined by the rocks that lie under- 

 neath it, the soil being formed by the disintegration 

 or decay of those rocks. If such is the fact, wa- 

 ter percolating through them will carry off carbo- 

 I nate of lime held in solution ; and that same cause 

 j thus operating for ages over the rocks, must have 

 ! incorporated considerable calcareous matter in the 

 soil. You will have observed, that under those 

 ranges of rocks so common to our creek and river 

 I hills, you see the land is very .frequently as rich as 

 our best river bottoms ; and to what other cause 

 than the one before mentioned can we attribute 

 the fertility that is known to exist in that particular 

 situation? 



Our alluvial bottoms, formed originally by 

 deposition from the river, and almost annually 

 inundated, have naturally been manured by the 

 deposite, containing more or less of every sub- 

 stance over which the water should happen to 

 have passed before reaching them. In this way 

 we can readily account for the unsurpassed fertili- 

 ty of the upper Kanawha bottoms. It has been 

 the first receptacle for the wash from the limestone 

 region above ; and the component parts of the 

 soil formed by chemical combinations of the most 

 fertilizing of all manures. 



If we are fully satisfied of only a small part of 

 calcareous matter present, we can enrich our soil 

 to any desirable extent by the application of vege- 

 table substances ; and in what other way can they 

 be more readily obtained, than by sowing clover 

 and other grasses? It will always be in your pow- 

 er to make a direct use of yoiar clover sod, by 

 turning it under, with such other materials as your 

 care and attention may have enabled you to save 

 for that purpose ; or you may pursue with your 

 grass the system of grazing cattle, making them 

 the principal auxiliaries in enriching your 

 estate. 



I had a good opportunity the last eummer of 

 comparing the relative merits and advantages 

 which different principles of farming produced in 

 various parts of this country ; and as the result of 

 my observation has added to my previous convic- 

 tion of the utility, profit and advantage arising 

 from grazing, as well as the vast y increased 



