^l]c iTarmcr's iiTontl)lB bisttor. 



149 



which come into these meadows yield a tedder 



of the lilehest vnhie. 



Peaty Soils. — Tliese are composed almost 

 wholly of |ie>it, and are frequeiiily called vegeta- 

 ble soils. They are extensively diS'used be- 

 tween the laliliides of furiy-two degrees and 

 ei.xly degrees north, at a level with the occiiii, 

 unil are frequently found in much lower hititudes, 

 when the elevation of the sinface produces a 

 correspond in;; temperature. They :;enerally oc- 

 cupy low swampy levels, hut sometimes exist on 

 sliyht northern declivities, where the water in 

 its descent is arresled hy a Buccession of basin- 

 shaped cavities. 



Their peaiy character is acquired hy the 

 growth and partial decay, throiijjh successive 

 ages, of various aquatic plants, the principal 

 being sphagucns and lichens. In swamps, many 

 of which were prohahly small lakes in their ori- 

 gin, the peat is found of an uid\nown deplli, 

 reacliing in so(ne inslances helweeu 30 and 40 

 feet. On declivities and occasional levels, the 

 peat is soinetim-s only a few inches in thick- 

 ness. It is of a hiackish or d.irk blown color, 

 and exists in various stages of deca}', from the 

 alino>t perfect st.ite of fallen stumps and leaves, 

 to an iinperfecily defined, ligneous mass, or even 

 as inipalp.ihle powder. 



Ill ils natural state, it is totally unfit for any 

 profilahle vegetation, lieiiig saliirated wiih wa- 

 ter, of antiseptic nature which edeciNally resists 

 pniiefaction or decay. When thrown out of its 

 native lied and exposed to drain for n month, 

 much of it is lit for fuel ; and it is always advan- 

 tageous to the niiick heap.-i, us an ahsorbeiu of 

 the liqmil and gaseous jioriions ol' animal and 

 other volaiile manures; or it is of great utility 

 when applied alone to a dry, gravelly or sandy 

 soil. 



Cultivation oj Peal Soil. — When it is desirable 

 to culliv.'ile a peat soil, the first process is to 

 drain it effectually of all the moisture which has 

 given to it and sustained its present ch.iracter. 

 The drains must be made sufficiently near and 

 on every side of it ; and so deep as to prevent 

 injurious capillary attraction of the water to the 

 surface. When it has been properly drained, 

 the hammock, if any, must be cut up with the 

 inatluck or spade, and thrown into heaps, and 

 burnt after they are sutliciently dried, and the 

 ashes scattered over the snrfiice. These attbrd 

 the best top-dressing it can receive. Sand or 

 fine gravel, v. iiha thorout'h dressing of barn- 

 yard manure and lime, should then be added. 

 On some of these, according as their composi- 

 tion approaches to ordinary soil.s, good crops of 

 oats, corn, roots, &.C., may be grown, but they 

 are better suited to meadows, and when' thus 

 prepared, they will yield great hiirdens of clover, 

 timothy, red-iop, and such oihcr grasses as are 

 adapted to moist soil.s. Subsequent dressings of 

 sand, lime, manure ami wood ashes, or of all 

 coiiihined, may be afterwards required when 

 the crops are deficient, or the grasses degener- 

 ate. 



Peat contains a large proportion of carbon, 

 and the silicates in which such soils are deficient, 

 and which they procure only in small propor- 

 tions from the farm-yard manure, but more 

 largely from the sand or gravel, are essential to 

 furnish an adequate coating for corn stalks, 

 straw, and the valuable grasses. As tliey are 

 exhausted they nmst he again supplied, or the 

 crops will fail. Besides yielding an important 

 food to the cro|), lime is essential to produce de- 

 com|iosil-on in the nia.-;s of vegetable matter, as 

 well as to combine with and aid in ftirnishing to 

 the growing plants such of tlieir food as the at- 

 inosjihere contains. Ashes are one of the best 

 applications, as they [lossess llie silicates, lime, 

 potash, and other inoiyanic materials in abun- 

 dance, and ill a form readily adapted to vegeta- 

 ble nulriiioii. Gypsum is also a valuable ma- 

 nure for peaty soils. 



from the Genesee (Ruchester) Farmer. 

 Stady the Soil. 



There are inany substances in all good soils 

 which every farmer ought to study till he billy 

 unihrstands their nature and properties. Firs't 

 among these is the abundant mineral called sili- 

 C((, or pure Hint sand. This earth has many in- 

 teresting and important properties. Jt is usually 

 ten to fifteen times more abundant in all soils 

 than any other mineral. After the organized 



matter ia removed from a soil by burning it at a 

 red heat, It is not uncommon to find nine-tenths 

 of the earth that remains, nothing but pure sili- 

 ca; the oilier tenth heing alumina, iron, lime, 

 magnesia, soda, potash, manganese, and carhon- 

 ic, sulphuric, phosphoric, and liydrochloric acids. 

 Pure silicious sand is also an acid, having fifiy- 

 two parts of oxygen united to fiirty-eigiit of a 

 metallic base called siJiciuin or silicon. When 

 ground down li> an imp.'dpahle powder, (as some 

 of it is in all soils,) silica is s;)aringly soluble in 

 water. If the water he warm like a summer 

 shower, and especially if it coniain a little potash 

 or soda, or both in solution, silica dissolves easi- 

 er and nnu'e aliimilaiidy. The (luanliiy of dis- 

 snlved flint that finds its way llirough the roots 

 of wheat, corn, timothy and other plants, into 

 their stems, is much larger than iiinsl grain and 

 grass growers are aware of. Wheat straw usu- 

 ally contains ahout sixty-seven per cent, of this 

 mineral in its ash. 



The most inieresting practical question in re- 

 gard lo silica or flint sand is the fact that the al- 

 kalies, potash or soda, seem to he indispensahle 

 to convert it into an available food for the growth 

 <d' plants. These alkalies exist more or less in 

 the ashes or eariliy portion of all plants. Being 

 extremely soluhle in sandy, pervious soils, they 

 are apt to he leached out hy tillage, and the land 

 is rendered sterile, unless often laid doun to 

 iirass, and renovated by the application of ivood 

 ashes, salt, gi/psuin, and /i/ae, or their equivalents 

 in stahle manure. 



Alumina is the next most abundant mineral 

 usually found in all soils. Unlike silica, it has 

 alkaline pioperiies. Like potash, soda, lime and 

 magnesia, it is the oxide of a metal, i. e. a metal 

 conihined chemically with oxygen. The metal 

 is called aluminum, of which there is ahout fifty- 

 ihree parts lo forty-seven oxygen in pure alu- 

 mina. This earth combines chemically with the 

 acid silica, and forms the pure porcelain clay, 

 from which translucent china-ware is manuliic- 

 tured. Alum is a compound salt formed by the 

 union of sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol) with alu- 

 mina and potash. Aluniina does not enter 

 plants and fmiii a necessary constituent iu their 

 orgaiiizalion. Only traces of it have been found 

 in their ashes. It exercises an important office, 

 however, in all fertile soils, hy increasing their 

 capacity to ahsorb :md ri'tain moisture iilid nu- 

 ti ilive gasses about the roots ol vegetables. A 

 soil that contained no alumina would he radical- 

 ly defective. It gives adhesiveness and plasticity 

 lo all clays. Without it, the vahialile salts of 

 potash, soda, lime, iron, &c., v\ould remain but 

 a siiort time in the surface soil, and within the 

 reach of plants. Phosphoric acid is often com- 

 bined with alumina. Throwing the organic 

 matier out of the accoiinl, and the eighty or 

 ninety specimens of soil aiialyzeil in the labora- 

 tory of the writer within ihe last year, have con- 

 tained on an average from four to seven per 

 cent, of this mineral. 



The next most abundant substance in the 

 soils of Western New York alter silica and alu- 

 mina is iron. Like those just named, this metal 

 is combined wiih oxygen, forming the red rust 

 of iron. This is called in the lansruage of chem- 

 ists, the "per-oxide of iron. When a bar of iron 

 is heated in a blacksniilh's forge and hammered, 

 the thin scales that fly ofT are called \he prol-QK- 

 ide of iion. The diflTerence between these 

 black scales and the rust of iron is, that the lat- 

 ter contains about a third more oxygen than the 

 former.* When the oxide of iron iiniles with 

 the oil of vitriol, it forms the well known salt 

 called copperas, (sulphate of iron.) 



Iron is tbund among the incombustible ele- 

 ments of all or nearly all plants and animals. 

 Thus, iron is found in the blood of all red-blood- 

 ed animals, and of course must exist in their 

 food. This metal exerts a powerfiil, hut not 

 very well understood function in the economy 

 of vegetable and animal life. It is believed by 

 Mr. Uowning, of the Horticulturist, to be a spe- 

 cific against the "yellows" in fruit trees. Cop- 

 peras water has been tliroun with a syringe 

 over the leaves of pear and peach trees thus af- 

 fected, and it is .said with entire success. The 

 application of old iron about pear trees is strong- 



* Prot-oside ol' iron is formed by the union ol .th atom 

 of iron with 3n atom of oxygen. The per-oxide by the 

 union of two atoms of iron with three of oxygen. 



ly recommended. We have found from two to 

 six per cent, of the oxide of iron in the soils 

 tliat we have analyzed. In low land there is apt 

 to he an excess of copperas, and other salts of 

 iron. Thorough draining is the remedy for this. 

 In dry uplands, it is possible that old and long 

 cuhivated fields may lack sails of iron. Very 

 few experiments have been made to test the 

 value of this mineral as a fertilizer for grain 

 crops. 



Lime is the next most abundant ingredient 

 in the soils of this region. It is very seldom 

 that we find more than two and a half per cent, 

 of this alkaline earth in any soil. There are ex- 

 ceptions, however, where the proportion of lime 

 increase till it amounts to a calcareous marl. 



In one humlred pounds of pure common 

 limestone, irrespective of water, there are 

 within a small traction of fifty-six poutids caus- 

 tic lime, united to forty-lour pounds of carbonic 

 acid. This acid is expelled in burning lime In 

 kilns. On long exposure to the air, quick lime 

 alisorbs both moisture and carhonic acid, and 

 becomes a mild carbonate, such as is tbiind in 

 soils. 



Il is an interesting fact that soils which over- 

 lie a limestone rock, and that pretty near the 

 surface, are greatly benefitted for prodiicing- 

 wheat by a top dressing of hiirnt lime of fifty 

 bushels per acre. Judge Porter, of Niagara 

 Falls, has tried this practice on a large scale, 

 where the lime rock was «iihin two feet of itie 

 top of the ground. It was followed hy a marked 

 im|irovemeiit in his wheat crop. On Gen. Har- 

 mon's farm the application of lime seems to do 

 little or no good. If our memory serves us right- 

 ly, it contains on an average less than two per 

 cent, of lime in its sui flice soil. Gypsum, how- 

 ever, which is formed by the union of lime with 

 oil of vitriol, is of esseniial service. Pure quick 

 lime is formed by the union of twenty and a 

 half parts of a metal called calcium with eight 

 parts of oxygen. The most vabialile cumpoimds 

 of lime are gypsum and apatite, (bone earth.) 

 The former is a compound of sulphur and lime, 

 and the laiter of phosphorus. Both of th> se sim- 

 ple elementary bodies are of vii.d importance 

 in the growth of cultivated plants, and ihe or- 

 ganization of all animals. Conihined with oxy- 

 gen, they form slroiig ndnerul acids, which are 

 neutralized by readily uniting wiih iron, alumi- 

 na, lime, potash, soda and magnesia soils. 

 Practical farmers Imve loo long neglected lo 

 study the economic value of the various com- 

 jjoimds of sidplmr and pl.osphorus. Gypsum is 

 the only mineral the imporlance of which is 

 at all appreciated. lis superiority over lime 

 consists in the fact that it furnishes clover, peas, 

 wheat, and all oilier plants, siilplmr as well as 

 lime. ,A moment's refleciion issntBcieni to con- 

 vince any fiirmer that no animal can turni its 

 bones without lime, .-^nd if his soil wholly 

 lacks tills mineral, his crojis cannot possibly 

 create it out of nolhing. Nor could an ox or 

 horse have a panicle of bone in ils system, if its 

 food contained no lime. But lime r//one is not 

 capable of forming bone. Phosphoric acid is iiH 

 dispensable for that purpose, associated with 

 liitie. Nearly all that is taken fiom the soil in 

 Ihe kernels of grain, is removed never to return. 

 A great deal of phosphorus ihal escapes from 

 the bodies of animals in their liquid and solid 

 execralions, is lost to the fields tliat yield the 

 daily food of these animals. And yet pure phos- 

 phorus is so precious, that a [loiind of it is worth 

 to-day three dollars in the cily of Kochesler. 



It is not hook farmer.s, but praciicul agricul- 

 turists in Holland and Belgium, that make 

 money by giving two pounds sterling for the 

 urine of a single cow a year. They estimate 

 ihe surface by the square yard which it lakes to 

 make a pound of beef, butter or cheese. They 

 feed their living growing plants, as well as their 

 living growing animals. Wheat is now worth 

 in this city one dollar and fifty cents a bushel, 

 and yet no one farmer in ten can aflbrd to study, 

 or let his sons study, the things that nature uses 

 informing forty bushels of wheat on an acre! 

 Who cares whether the stems of this plant are 

 hard, brii;ht, strong, and glo.ssy, little liable to 

 rust, or crinkle, by reason of its containing a 

 good deal of Si/ica in ils tissues .= Science tells 

 the wheat grower bow lo dissolve fine atoms of 

 sand at the roots of his grain, and avoid the 

 growth of coarse, open, weak and spongy stems, 



