^\)t JTarmer's jHontlilij faisitor. 



147 



ent iiimire, those excretions could be tnnde 

 available as Ibod. Tliis excietory theory lias 

 given |)laco to the simple and more satisfactory 

 ex|)lanati<)ii vvliicli clieniistry Rive?, viz. : thai 

 oertaiii plants extract food ot a like iiatin-e from 

 the soil, the quantity and properties of which 

 arjalysi.s exhibits ; and that the constant repeti- 

 tion of the same crops so exhaust the soil of the 

 substances essential to their growth, that a peri- 

 od must arrive, sooner or later, when it will be- 

 come altogether barren for these crops. 



By alternating the crops from one Uind to 

 another, and restoring a proportion of their con- 

 stituents of the soil, in the shape of lUMunre, this 

 exhaustion does not occur; and hence has arisen 

 the necessity for ob.serving systems of cropping, 

 which will maintain the (t;rtility of the soil, and, 

 at the same time, yield an abundant return for 

 the cultivation ami capital bestowed on it. 



In order that a system of cropping may be car- 

 ried out successfully, it is necessary that it be 

 adapted to the chemical composition of the soil ; 

 and it is by observing this necessary relation, 

 that # farmer can develope and mainlain its ler- 

 tiliiy. He has no means of determining its eheui- 

 ical properties, exce[)t by the assistance of the 

 chemist ; yet be can make a near approximation 

 to the quality of his soil, by observing its physi- 

 cal characteristics— such as color, cohesiveness 

 and condition, with regard to moisture. 



The great variety of rotation which |)revails in 

 diflerent parts of the same country, nay, even in 

 this cunntry.is the result ofcauses which owe their 

 origin to certain geological features by which 

 the locality is characterized, so that the farmer 

 must, in a great measure, be guided in the selec- 

 tion of a rotation, by the nature of bis soil. There 

 are a few simple rotations of cropping which 

 have been found well adapted to the generality of 

 soils, and these are what are known by the foiir, 

 five, six anri seven-course shift. The four-course 

 shift is so generally practiced, that it is entitled 

 to a first place in our consideration. This course 

 may either be, as in Norlblk — first, turnips; se- 

 cond, barley : third, clover and grass seeds ; and 

 fourth, wheat: or, it may be, as in this country, 

 ))otatoes and turnips; wheat; clover and rye- 

 grass ; and lastly, oals : or, as in some heavy soils, 

 bare tallow or beans; wheat: clover and rye- 

 grass ; and lastly, oats. 



The first of these modes is well suited to light 

 soils situated in an early climate; and it is to its 

 adoption that Norfolk owes its high eminence as 

 an agricultural county: whereas, formerly, it 

 was one of the poorest in England. This is 

 more remarkable, as the course of rro|qiing at 

 present pursued, an<l known as the Norfolk sys 

 tern, is — when the chemical composition of the 

 crops is examined — found to be very exhausting 

 for the soil. Professor Johnson lias calculated 

 the amount of inorgaiiic matter carried ofl'a slat 

 lile acre cultivated under the four-course shift- 

 supposing turnips to average twenty-five tons of 

 roots, and seven of tops; barley, thirty-eight 

 liushels, clover and rye-grass one ton, and wheat 

 twenty-five bushels — to amount to 1239^ pounds, 

 or three times more than is abstracted by a three- 

 course rotation, consisting of fallow, wheat and 

 oals. Yet the Norfolk rotation when conjoined 

 with the Norfolk si/5fem, instead of inqioverishiug 

 the soil, is highly enriching, and this arises from 

 the practice of consnniiiigone-half of the turnips 

 on the ground with sheep, and the other half in 

 the stalls or yards by cattle. The green crops, if 

 carried off the land, would remove more than six 

 times the quantity of svhat may be considered as 

 the essence of manure, (organic matler, acids, al- 

 kalies and alkaline earths,) that the corn crops 

 would : and lliis accounts for the fiict that the ro- 

 tation, although of itself exhausting, is yet, by 

 sheep-folding, and stall-feeding, made most ben- 

 eficial in improving the fertility of the soil. 



The four-course system as adopted in this 

 i!ountry, differs from the Norfolk in substituting 

 oats for barley ; and also in making the wheat 

 crop succeed the drilled green crop. In this ro- 

 t:ition, where potatoes form the greatest propor- 

 tion ol'tlie greeii crop, the land is exposed to a 

 constant drain by tlie removal of the potatoes ; 

 and unless it either be very fertile, or an equiva- 

 lent in the sliape of manure be returned to it, a 

 perioil must arrive when its fertility will liecome 

 impaired. On the other hand, when turnijis 

 constitute the principal green crop, and arc all 



ity need not be dreaded, even, although little or 

 no dung be brongbt in. The advantage of this 

 system of cropping are its extreme simplicity, 

 the ease with which it is carried on, and the 

 equal ])roportion of grain, green and grass crops 

 which it yields; its disadvantages are the too 

 frequent recurrence of the same crops on the 

 same soils, and the expense of working it ; three 

 fourths being conslantly under the plow. Upon 

 good soils, under fjigh cultivation, there is, per- 

 haps, no rotation that will yield a greater return 

 for labor and outlay ; yet upon soils under an av- 

 erage iinality, it will be found that the recurrence 

 of wheat every fourth year, is more than what 

 can profitably be cultivated. The land also be- 

 comes clover sick, and whenever this occurs, it 

 is a most significant admonition that the system 

 must be abaniloned, and another, and less severe 

 one, substituted in its place. The great objec- 

 tion to the cultivation of turnips in the four- 

 course sliitt, as it is practiced in this country, is 

 the difficulty of getting in the wheat after them 

 at the proper time; and further that wheat sel- 

 dom succeeds so well after turnips as after pota- 

 toes. To remove these objections, it will be nec- 

 esssary to adopt the Norfolk system, under which, 

 wheat would follow the clover lea, and oats the 

 turnip crop. By adopting this plan, the wheat 

 would be sown in the latter end of October, or 

 the beginning af November, after one, two, or 

 three fallows, according as the ground required 

 it. This plan we believe to be safer and more 

 profitable, than sowing winter or spring wheat 

 after turnips, which is generally a precarious 

 crop. 



On Soils. 



[We copy the following excellent article from the 

 Western Farmer & Gardener, in which paper it appears 

 among Ihe selections without credit, and we are, there- 

 fore, unable to give the proper credit.] 



Soils are those portions of the earth's sur- 

 face, which contain a mixture of mineral and 

 vegetable or animal substances, in such propor- 

 tions as adapt them to the siqiport of vegetation. 

 Rocks are the original basis of all soils, which 

 by llie Convulsions of nature, or the less violent 

 but long continued and equally efficient action of 

 air-, moisture and frost, have been broken into 

 fragments more or less minute. There are va- 

 rious gradations of these changes. 



The Texture of Soils.— Some rocks exist in 

 large boulders or rounded stones, that thickly 

 overspread the surface and mingle themselves 

 with the earth beneath it, giving to it the name 

 of rocky soil. The smaller sizes but equal jire- 

 valencR of the same materials, give to the sur- 

 face where they abound, the character of a stony 

 soil. A third and more minute division is called 

 a gravelly soil ; a fourth is sandy soil; a fifth 

 constitutes a loam ; and a sixlh, in which the 

 particles of earth are reduced to their greatest 

 fineness, is known under the name of clay soil. 

 The two first mentioned, are not properly dis- 

 tinct soils, as the only support of any profitable 

 vegetation, is to be found in the finer earth, in 

 which the rocks and stones are imbedded. In 

 frequent instances, they materially benefit the 

 crops, in the infiiicnce produced by the shade, 

 moisture, and protection from winds, afforded by 

 them ; and by the gradual decomposition of such 

 as contain lime, potash and other fertilizing ma- 

 terials, they contribute to the support of the soil. 

 This last effect is aided by the ajqiarenlly worth- 

 less vegetable life which they yield to the living 

 mosses that cling to their sides and even pene- 

 trate their fissures, thus imperceptibly eoi-roding 

 the solid structures and jireparing them for fu- 

 ture usefulness as soils. If we add to llie above, 

 a peat or vegetable soil, we shall have the male- 

 rial divisions of soils, as distinguished by their 

 texture. 



Other Classifications of Soils.— Soils are 

 also distinguished by their tendency to absorb 

 and retain water; gravel and sand holding very 

 little, while clay and peat readily absorb and re- 

 tain a great ileal ; by their constant saturalinn 

 (lom perennial springs, which are called springy 

 soils ; by the cpiantily of vegetable and animal 

 matter tliey contain ; by their porosity or adhe- 

 siveness ; by their chemical character, whether 

 silicious, argilaceous or calcareous; by the qual- 

 '■'»' and nature of the vegetation they sustain ; 



and lastly, and by far the most important, they 

 cnnsunipd on the farm, this diminiiiion of ferlil- ' are dislingnished by their fertility or barrenness, 



the result of the proper adjustment and combi- 

 nation of most of the conditions enumerated. 

 Deserts of sands, layers of rocks, stone or pnre 

 gravel, and beds of marl and peat are not soils, 

 though containing many of their most important 

 elciiicnts. 



It ia apparent to the most casual observer, that 

 soils most frequently and by almost impercepti- 

 ble degrees, change from one character to anoth- 

 er, and that no classification therefore, however 

 minute, will suffice to distinguish each. 



Some obvious, yet simple distinctions, which 

 are usually recognized, must nevertheless be as- 

 sumed for future reference. For this purpose, 

 and to avoid unnecessary deviations from what 

 should be a common standard, we shall adopt 

 the arrangements as made by Professor John- 

 ston, which is based principally upon their 

 chemical constituents. 



" 1 DEG. Pure clay (pipe-clay) consisting of 

 about sixty of silica and forty alumina and oxide 

 of iron, for the most part chemically combined. 

 It allows no silicious sanil to suliside when dif- 

 fused through water, and rarely forms any ex- 

 tent of soil. 



"2 DEG. Strongest clay soils, (tile-clay, unc- 

 tuous clay) consists of pure clay mixed with 

 from five to fifteen per cent, of a silicious sand, 

 which can be separated from it by boiling and 

 decantation. 



"3 DEO. Clay loam differs from a clay soil, in 

 allowing from fifteen to thirty per cent, of fine 

 Kand to be separated from if by washing, as above 

 described. By this admixture of sand, its parts 

 are mechanically separated, and hence its free 

 and more friable nature. 



"4 DEG. A loamy soil deposits from thirty to 

 sixty per cent of sand by mechanical washing. 



" 5 DEG. A sandy loam leaves from sixty to 

 ninety per. cent of sand, and 



"G DEG. A sandy soil contains no more than 

 ten per cent, pure clay. 



"The mode of examining, with the view of 

 naming soils, as above, is very simple. It is on- 

 ly necessary to spread a weighed qnaiitily of the 

 soil in a thin layer upon writing paper, and to 

 dry it for an hour or two in an oven or upon a 

 hot plate, the heat of which is not sufficient to 

 discolor the paper— the loss of weight gives the 

 water it contained. While this is drying, a sec- 

 ond weighed portion may be boiled or otherwise 

 thoroughly incorporated with vvater, and the 

 whole then poured into a vessel, in which the 

 heavy sandy parts are allowed to subside until 

 the fine clay is beginning to settle also. This 

 point must be carefully watched, the liquid then 

 poured ofl^, the sand collected, dried as before 

 upon paper, and again weighed. This weight is 

 the quantity of sa'nd in the known weight of 

 moist soil, which by the previous experiment 

 has been found to contain a certain quantity of 

 water. 



"Thus, suppose two portions, each two liun- 

 dred grains, are weighed, and the one in the oven 

 loses fiftv grains of water, and the other leaves 

 sixty grains of sand— then the two hundred 

 grains moist are equal to one hundred and fifty 

 of dry, and this one hundred and fifty of dry 

 soil contains sixty of sand, or forty in one hun- 

 dred, (forty per cent.) It would, therefore, he 

 properly called a loam or loamy soil. 



"But the above classification has reference 

 only to the clay and sand, while we know lliat 

 lime is an important constituent of soils of which 

 they are seldom entirely destitute. 'We have, 

 Uierefore, 



"7 DEG. Marlv soils, in which the proportion 

 of lime is more "than five, but does not exceed 

 twenty per cent, of the whole weight of the dry 

 soil. "The marl is a sandy, lotuny, or clay marl, 

 according as the proportion of clay it contains 

 would place it under the one or the other de- 

 nomination, supposing it to be entirely free from 

 lime, or not to contain more than five per cent., 

 and 



"8 DEG. Calcareous soils, in which the lime 

 exceeding twenty per cent. Iiecomes the distin- 

 guishing constituent. There are also calcareous 

 loams, or calcareous sands, according to the pio- 

 porlion of clay and sand which are present m 



them. ... 1 1 •. 



"The determination of the lime also, when it 



exceeds five per cent, is allendeil with no diffi- 



CllllV. 



