684 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 11 



agricultural earth of the world. But 1 did not 

 take up my pen to show either hy theory, or by 

 fact, the veg'etabie productiveness oi' these arid 

 calcareous soils, (n your own Reuisier, (or Octo- 

 ber 1835, at p. 335 6, your own pen h;vs shown "ihe 

 feriiiity i)roduct'd on them by irrij^ation," and thai 

 hence, borinijj for liesh water, is ilie only desider- 

 atum for the veiieculiural prosperity of these and 

 calcareous islands. But, my great [)hjecl is to sus- 

 tain the irrel'utalde heali.'iiness of the arid calca- 

 reous soils of all Tropical Floiida. My great ob- 

 ject is to show thut this irrefutable liict ol'ihe 

 great healthiness of the soil was long since satis- 

 factorily explained by your chapter I9th, on the 

 properties of calcareous earth to preserve the pu- 

 rity of the air, and the health of mankind. 



The only intelligent observers who have made 

 any reports concerning South Florida, all concur 

 in theliiicts that the whole subsoil of South Flori- 

 da is a soft calcareous rock, that the whole surface 

 of the Florida keys is composed of exclusively 

 calcareous materials ; that, in short, whether the 

 substances are called coral or limestone rocks, 

 ehell, or coral sands, blue, or white marls, they 

 are all solely carbonate of lime. [ now add the 

 momentous fact, that the only scanty substance, 

 here called soil, is barely fine calcareous powder, 

 colored by a little vegetable mould ; and I super- 

 add the inevitable result, that this scanty soil must 

 necessarily be entirely destroyed by a few years 

 exposure; because the mould is decoinposed by 

 the sun, and the powder is dispersed by the wind. 

 Indeed, a moment's reflection will convince you 

 that we cannot here ever have any noxious ex- 

 cess of vegetable remains, either by their increase 

 from natural deposition, or by their accumulation 

 from watery transportation. Suffice these facts to 

 demonstrate to yon that the soil of South Florida 

 must be the healthiest soil of the union. 

 Very respect fully. 



Your ob't. serv't, 



Henry Perrine. 



P. S. — Suggestions for the consideration of the 

 editor of the Farmers' Register. 1st, republi- 

 cation of the let'ers of Gen. H. A. S. Dearborne 

 to the Hon. Levi Lincoln, and to Dr. H. Perrine, 

 concerning the introduction of tropical plarits into 

 South Florida, which are published in the Jour- 

 nal of the American Institute of the city of New 

 York, in the numbers of the last summer (1838); 

 2nd, republication of the able article on the intro- 

 duction and culture of the tea plant, probably 

 written by Doctor Dekay, after his visit to the tea 

 plantation, near Rio Janeiro in Brazil, and pub- 

 lished in the New York Farmer (or 1828, at pages 

 105, 106 and 107 ; 3rd, condensed publication of 

 all the striking facts developed and published by 

 you, on the properties and uses of carbonate o( 

 "lime; 4th, an equally interesting abridgement of 

 all that has been known and shovvn by you, rela- 

 tive to the importance of irrigation. It strikes me 

 that the Southern Agricultural Convention should 

 appoint a special committee to consider and report 

 on the advantages and expediency of improving 

 all their poorest soils by calcarbonating them ; and 

 for that purpose the committee cannot find any 

 text book as valuattleas your comprehensive ' Es- 

 say on Calcareous Manures,' which, by the by, I 

 consult every week. Next in importance, for im- 

 proving tljeir poorest soils, it seems to me, would 



be the appointment of another special committee, 

 to report on the advantages of irrigation in all the 

 old southern states ; and lijr this suhject too, I pre- 

 sume the committee will find the amplest materials , 

 in the back numbers of your Register. 



H. P. 



THE ALMOST PURELY CALCAREOUS SOIL OF 

 TROPICAL FLORIDA. 



We received from Dr. Perrine a specimen of 

 Ihe calcareous earth which forms all the "keys" 

 or islets of the Florida reef, and which also, bare- 

 ly colored with vegetable or other organic matter, 

 constitutes the entire surface soil of these islets, 

 and, principally of the neighboring main-land. 

 The specimen sent is from the flats surrounding 

 Indian Key, which are left naked at low tide, se- 

 veral hundred yards in width. The whole bot- 

 tom of that part of the Mexican sea, is doubtless 

 composed of the same earth, as well as the now 

 higher and dry lands, which has been raised by 

 some ancient convulsion or operation of nature, 

 from its former position at the bottom of the sea. 

 This calcareous earth is not (as we had supposed) 

 the coral rock formed by the construction of in- 

 sects ; or, i( so produced originally, it has been 

 broken down and pulverized by natural causes, 

 and the parts again consolidated into a very soft 

 rock, softer than English chalk, to which in white- 

 ness and in purity it nearly approaches. The 

 mass contains many small shells, showing that 

 they had been enveloped in a soft and semifluid 

 earthy deposite, while under water. The speci- 

 men contained 92 per cent, of carbonate of lime. 

 The small remainder was of fine dark-colored 

 clay, containing little if any silicious earth. 



Another specimen of the soil (or sub-soil, per- 

 haps,) of the main-land near the southern extre- 

 mity of the peninsula of Florida (nearest to In- 

 dian Key,) received from the same source, con- 

 tained 81 per cent, of carbonate of lime. 



Thus it appears that the entire body of soil (if 

 soil it can be called) of this extensive and very re- 

 markable region is composed almost exclusively 

 of the very substance which is almost universally 

 and entirely deficient throughout the lands of all 

 the great Atlantic slope, from the St. Lawrence 

 to the Savannah. And, if not understood and 

 remedied, the superabundance of calcareous earth 

 in the one case, is as sure to cause and maintain 

 sterility, as its total absence does in the other. 

 The most barren earih of each of these great 

 regions would be the best of manures for the other; 

 and hereafter vessels will be profitably employed 

 in thus exchanging these earths, which though 

 worse than worthless in their native position, be- 

 come rich manures, and the producers of perma- 

 nent fertility, by merely exchanging places. 



