222 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



of diminutive growth, which has no power ot 

 growing except by the supply of the sap from 

 wheat, straw, or other* substances exuding from 

 vegetables; the seeds of this plant are floating in 

 the air generally in the summer time ; it is sup- 

 posed by some to be Ibstered and brought into 

 maturity by the barberry bush, and it is probable 

 that this plant may afi'ord it support without itself 

 suffering perceptibly, and seeding may supply 

 seed to other plants, and on this account mildew 

 may be first discovered in the neighborhood of the 

 barberry ; but unless the predisposing cause exist- 

 ed in the stalk of the wheat, the mildew could not 

 by possibility take effect. 



" Now the predisposing cause is in a great 

 measure in the soil, and thus we find some dis- 

 tricts much more liable to its attack than others. 

 When the soil is very deficient in silex, or not 

 having that due mixture which enables the roots 

 to absorb sufficient silex to Ibrm a hard epidermis ; 

 the object is to add such substances as will afford 

 the power. I therefore recommend sand, red 

 sand which contains oxide of iron is the best, but 

 drift sand and road sand, the harder panicles of 

 cinder dirt, refuse li'om the soap boilers, barilla 

 and salt, will be the most efficacious remedy. A 

 high state of cultivation will not improve these 

 lands so much as a supply of these component 

 parts of a hard epidermis to the straw ; lor these 

 Jands are generally in themselves good staple 

 lands, and, if properly managed, highly produc- 

 tive in wheat and beans. 



" I have dwelt thus long upon the chalk forma- 

 tion, because it is one which forms the greaiest 

 variety in its chemical compounds, and exists in 

 the greatest abundance." 



ACTION OF ACIDS IN SOILS. 



Extract from the Proceedings of the first Agricultural 

 Meeting, in Boston. Reported by the Agricultu- 

 ral Commissioner. 



At the conclusion of the address, some desulto- 

 ry conversation took place, as to the mode of con- 

 ducting the meetings, when Dr. Charles T. Jack- 

 eon, the Geological Surveyor of Maine, Rhode 

 Island and New Hampshire, was kind enough to 

 respond to an invitation to give some account of 

 the agriculture of New Hampshrre, it having 

 been announced to the meeting that a farmer in 

 New Hampshire had this year raised more than 

 one hundred and thirty bushels of corn to the acre. 



J)r. Jackson remarked that he had visited the 

 farm on which this corn had been raised. It is 

 situated in a place called Merino Island, in Lake 

 Winnepiseogee, and owned by E. H. Derby, in 

 Boston. The land is a coarse granite soil, and is 

 under high cultivation. A large stock of cows 

 and sheep was kept upon the island, and manure 

 was abundantly supplied. The island, on account 

 of the water, is little subject to (iosts. (This 

 farm has been repeatedly distinguished by its ex- 

 cellent crops and its very profitable management, 

 of which an account was given at the meetings, 

 the last year. — Reporter.') 



Dr. Jackson proceeded to speak of the lands 

 on Connecticut river in New Hampshire, The 

 lower alluvions are remarkable for their grass 



crops. The farmers on the upper parts of the 

 river are now in the habit of appreciating their 

 manure much more highly than formerly. In 

 general, the farmers are very ignorant of the 

 mode of lorming compost manures. It would be 

 easy to instruct them in the means of converting 

 many substances, now useless, into the most va- 

 li^able manures. The theory of chemical action 

 is now better understood than formerly. Where 

 rotten logs are sufiered to lay upon the ground, 

 no vegetation grows around them ; yet these may 

 be converted into manure. Peat, unmixed, suf- 

 fered to lay upon the ground, produces only sour 

 crops. On this account the Lung Island farmers 

 objected to iis use. All vegetable substances, in 

 undergoing fermentation in the process of decay, 

 produce acids ; but, by the application of alkalies, 

 there are rendered not only harmless, but useful. 

 The decoinposition of small quantities of animal 

 ►substances produces ammoniacal gas, an important 

 element in vegetable growth. Uy the application 

 of lime this ammonia is absorbed and held for the 

 use ol the plant, to be taken up by its vital action. 

 To the credit of many farmers, it may be said 

 that, although ignorant of chemical processes, 

 they are eager lor instruction, and ready to try ex- 

 periments. 



The doctor proceeded to compare briefly the 

 soils of the Connecticut and the Merrimac. The 

 soils of the Connecticut are more favorable to 

 wheat ihan the Merrimac. (There are some 

 material fans in the way of conceding this point, 

 though, perhaps, the position maybe admitted 

 upon the whole. — Reporter.) The Connecticut 

 river soils are calcareous; the Merrimac soils 

 granitic. The rocks in New Hampshire, com- 

 posed of granite and mica slate, disintegrate with 

 remarkable rapidity. The quantity of vegetable 

 matter in the Connecticut soils is not abundant, 

 not exceeding seven or eight per cent. (This is 

 not a small comparative amount. — Reporter.) 

 The appocrenate of soda abounds in Connecticut 

 river soils. Geine consists of the apocrenic and 

 Crenic acids combined with lime, soda, manga- 

 nese and potash. It forms soluble salts with pot- 

 ash, and, in this form, is strongly favorable to 

 vegetation. 'Feldspar' and mica, the constituents 

 of irranite, contain potash. 



The great slides from Mount Washington, 

 which, in 1827, proved so fatal to the family living 

 in the Notch, though consisting of pulverized 

 masses of granite, are now covered with a luxu- 

 riant vegetation. Soils will be found forminsr 

 fi-om original rocks. The rocks and soils become 

 converted into very fine powder by the influence 

 of acids in the atmospherf, and the action of liv- 

 ing plants upon them. How powerful this action 

 is, may be known from the fact that hyacinth 

 bulbs will corrode and decompose the glasses in 

 which they are grown, (Silex enters largely into 

 many plants, and Liebig is of opinion that pound- 

 ed glass, the silicate of potash, may hereafter be 

 used as a manure, in certain conditions of the 

 soil. — Reporter.) Plants, by their vital action, 

 will decompose rocks. Rocks, composed of feld- 

 spar and mica, have a proportion of potash, and 

 the plants will get at and assimilate it. Chemis- 

 try has not yet discovered the fbod of plants. 

 In certain stages of their growth, they obtain car- 

 bonic acid from the air. The decomposition of 

 manures in ihesoi^^eupplies them with nitrogen 



