1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



441 



(then fresh) beyond the power of reclaiming, and 

 that he had to look for other land. Now, sir, look 

 on this, and look on that, and see how things will 

 be at a future day. Success to you and your Re- 

 gister. I approve James Barbour's plan, of an 

 agricultural convention. 



JOHN THOMPSON KILBY. 



RELATION OF PLANTS TO SOILS OF CERTAIN 

 INGREDIENTS. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Newbern, (JV. C.,) Oct. 8th. 1835. 



I have just read with much interest your "In- 

 quiry into the causes of the formation of Prairies," 

 &c, contained in the number of the Farmers' 

 Register tor the present month. At page 328 of 

 the number, you give the names of certain plants 

 mentioned, by Dr. Clarke as growing on the 

 steppes of Russia, and you desire to be informed 

 "whether these plants are confined to calcareous 

 soils or not." 



To this inquiry it is not in ray power, at present, 

 to give a satisfactory answer, having within reach 

 but i'ew works at all relating to the subject. The 

 following statements are all that I can at present 

 furnish, bearing on the question. 



The plants mentioned in your notes, arc the fol- 

 lowing: — Centaurea frigida, Centaurea radiata, 

 Crocus sativus, Geranium sylvaticum, Silcne qua- 

 drifida, Sisybrium loeselii, Statice trigona, Stipa 

 pennata. 



The United States, east of the AL'eganies, afford 

 not a single native species of Centaurea. The 

 only species yet found in North America, was dis- 

 covered by Mr. Nuttall in Arkansas, (I think) on 

 whose frames he reaped a rich botanical harvest 

 about the year 1832, (I do not remember the ex- 

 act date.) The species has been named Centau- 

 rea Americana. I cannot say that it was found on 

 calcareous soil, or even in a prairie, not having 

 seen any published account of it; but the proba- 

 bility is in favor of such a supposition. The ge- 

 nus Centaureais nearly allied to the genus ( Card- 

 ials or Cnicus) which is described as growing so 

 luxuriantly on the Pampas of South America; 

 and from my own observations, 1 think that this 

 genus delights in a calcareous soil. 



There is no native Crocus in North America, 

 and I am unable to say what is its natural soil. 



Of the genus statice, our two native species 

 (statice armeria and statice caroliniana) grew in 

 saline soils on the sea coast. This numerous ge- 

 nus is principally indigenous to the sea coast of the 

 south of Europe. Probably excess of saline mat- 

 ter in the soil may be as hurtful to vegetation as 

 excess of calcareous matter, and may be the cause 

 ol* some of the denudated plains of Russia and 

 Tarlary, and also of some towards the south 

 sources of the Arkansas and the Red River. 



The most vigorous native Silene that. I have 

 seen, grew on a highly calcareous soil. Of the 

 particular species mentioned, I know nothing. 



The genus Stipa is by no means abundant in 

 the Southern Atlantic States; but in "Upper Lou- 

 isiana," according to Mr. Nuttall, (Genera, Vol.1. 

 page -59,) "they appear in many places the pre- 

 vailing herbage, communicating to the desert 



Vol. Ill— 56 



plains in autumn the coloring of harvest, called 

 payjonal by the American Spaniards." 



II. B. C. 



[The testimony afforded above, so far as it goes, ac- 

 cords well with the positions taken in the essay refer- 

 red to by our correspondent. The exception as to sa- 

 line soils, had been there noticed, and given its due 

 weight. It is to be lamented that botanists have here- 

 tofore paid so little attention to the chemical nature of 

 the soils to which particular plants were limited. If 

 they had suspected the uniform connexion, which we 

 believe to subsist between certain plants and soils of a 

 certain constitution, their researches would have been 

 made more easy, and far more successful. There is 

 so little of calcareous soil in the Atlantic slope of the 

 United States, that if it is known that any plant is 

 never found there, and is abundant in the west, and in 

 Europe, there is strong presumption that the plant re- 

 quires, and indicates a calcareous soil. In like manner, 

 a knowledge of the constitution of the soil would of 

 itself show that certain plants could not be found, how- 

 ever suitable the climate.] 



CONSTITUENT PARTS OF DIFFERENT VEGE- 

 TABLE SUBSTANCES. 



[When taking an extract from the table of Saussure 

 for the note at page 38S of this No. we remembered 

 having seen this more minute and accurate statement 

 in the Traite de Chimie, and wrote to our friend Prof. 

 Rogers, who owns the copy of that work, for a copy 

 of the table, which we are now enabled to insert, 

 though out of the place for which it was designed.] 



C Diversity of Virginia, > 



Oct. 18, 1835. 5 



Dear Sir — Your letter would have been 

 promptly answered had it been in my power to 

 procure Berzelius. The arrival of my books, de- 

 layed by accident on the river, has at length ena- 

 bled me to attend to your request, and I take plea- 

 sure in sending herewith a copy of the table of 

 the composition of" the ashes of various kinds of 

 wood, &c. translated and transcribed from the 

 sixth volume of the Traite de Chimie of Berze- 

 lius. 



These analyses were made by Berthier, one of 

 the most skilful chemists living. Among the 

 points of interest presented by these results, I 

 would call your attention to the fact of soda being 

 present in every case, as well as potash, though 

 in most of the experiments, the two alkalies were 

 only determined in the aggregate. In the instance 

 of the Norwegian fir, where they were separately 

 ascertained, the amount of soda greatly exceeds 

 that of potash, a fact which Berzelius explains by 

 referring to one of the striking geological features 

 of the mountains of Norway. These are in ma- 

 ny cases composed chiefly of Basalt, which con- 

 tains soda in various forms of combination, and 

 which is more readily converted into soil by the 

 action of the weather, than the granite rocks of 

 the country containing potash. 



Your friend, 



WM. B. ROGERS. 



