48 QUARTERLY JOURNAL. 



reasons as strike his mind as good and sufficient. Yet it is 

 not to be denied that for many things he has only the show of 

 reason, whilst in fact there is none at all. We will not say this 

 is the case in regard to the subject placed at the head of this ar- 

 ticle, although we believe there exists no such thing as a sour soil. 

 We offer no apology for differing from the farmer or the man of 

 science in this respect, though both of them may be implicated in 

 what we consider an error. We are well aware of the almost 

 universal belief in it, arising, as we apprehend, in the practical 

 man, from observing the benefit often arising from the application of 

 alkalies and alkaline earths to the soil. The little knowledge which 

 almost every one possesses of chemistry teaches him that when an 

 acid and an alkali unite they form a salt — a compound generally 

 of a mild and inactive kind compared with the substances which 

 go to form it, and therefore it is thought, that when that class of 

 substances is applied to soils which they call sour^ an amelioration 

 is produced by their uniting with the peculiar acid which exists there. 

 But does the benefit result from their neutralizing a free acid which 

 was injurious to vegetation ? Let us examine it a moment. 



What acid or acids are found by actual analysis, in a free state, 

 in the soil? and which are prejudicial to vegetation, or which 

 favor the growth of certain plants 1 It cannot be carbonic, for 

 this, every one knows, is an essential part of the food of plants, 

 and in the quantity in which it is commonly found, instead of be- 

 ing prejudicial, is an actual source of life and vigor. Exa- 

 mine the analysis of soils given by the most correct analysts. 

 We find, it is true, that inorganic acids, (sulphuric, phosphoric 

 and muriatic) are present in variable quantities in almost all soils. 

 But we find also the alkalies, (potash, soda, lime and magnesia) 

 and the oxides of iron and manganese as invariably present. True, 

 we are not told in so many words, that they are combined with the 

 acids, but it cannot be supposed that these substances should exist 

 uncombined by the side of each other, in circumstances the most 

 favorable for union. The moment they come in contact they 

 unite and form salts, and in this form they are found. The analy- 

 sis of a large number of soils from various parts of the state of 

 New-York, during the last two years, confirm these views. 



Are the organic acids found in the soil ? It is granted on all 

 hands that these are formed by the living and growing plant, and 



