428 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



On this account, pnow ehnnld never be allowed to 

 lodge round the hives. Nor oucht the stands to 

 be removed and cleaned during damp weather — 

 though this must be aiiended to at least once a 

 fortnight, all the year roiind, and more especially 

 in winter. 



The most simple and perfect cure for the effects 

 of the poison from the simg of a bee, is to wet a 

 piece of indigo and rub on the spot— this will 

 immediately relieve the pain, il applied soon, and 

 prevent the swelling. Tlie juice of a raw onion 

 is also said to be equally efficacious. 



ON THE RELATION OF THE CONSTITUTION OF 

 SOILS TO THEIR FERTILITY AND IMPROVE- 

 MENT. 



To the Editor of tlie Farmers' Register. 



Prospect Hill, (Ky.,) I7lh June, 1S41. 



Nothing can be more important to the interest 

 of agriculture, than a correct understanding of 

 the means by which the natural fertility of soils 

 may be preserved, and such as have been de- 

 teriorated by irjudicious husbandry may be reno- 

 vated. You have rendered a very important 

 service to the most useliji of all sciences, by your 

 Kseay on Calcareous Manures. 1 propose, in 

 this letter, to make some desultory remarks upon 

 the same subject ; and shall be much gratified, 

 if I shall be able to throw even the smallest light 

 upon a question of so much interest. 



Sir.H. Daw, in his Agricultural Chemistry, 

 Bays " the earths, and even the earthy carbonates 

 have a certain degree of chemical attraction lor 

 many of the principles o( vegetable and animal 

 substances." That, " in most of the black and 

 brown rich vegetable moulds the e«ri//s seem to 

 be in combination with a peculiar extractive mat- 

 ter, afforded during decomposition of vegetables. 

 In the the extract quoted by you, at page 30, he 

 seems to place the chemical energy of alumina, 

 and carbonate of lime, in preserving putrescent 

 manures, upon an. equality. I concur with you, 

 that the powers of attractltig and retaining these 

 manures, possessed by these two earths, differ 

 j;really in force. Taking lor granted that car- 

 bonate of lime has a very powerful chemical en- 

 ergy, in attracting and retaining those elementary 

 ry principles which are the appropriate lood for 

 plants, and that the other earths and earthy car- 

 bonates possess this power onlj' in a slight degree, 

 it will readily appear why soils destitute of lime, 

 in any state of combination, "cannot be improved 

 durably or profitably by putrescent manures, with- 

 out previously making them calcareous." — Essay 

 on Calc. Man. 



In a state of nature, soils are enriched mainlj' 

 by the decomposition oi' vegetable matters on the 

 surface of the earth. If these were to undergo a 

 rapid decomposition, a considerable proportion of 

 the elements, constituting the appropriate ftod of 

 plants, would escape in the form of gas, and con- 

 sequently be entirely lost. And hence, if the 

 growing vegetable had derived its nutriment alto- 

 gether from the soil, it would restore 77iuch less 

 than it had extracted for its nourishmevi \ and 

 would exhaust instead of rvjcreasmg its fertility. 

 But, in general, the decomposiiion of vegetable 

 piatier, oathe surface oi" the earth, is so very slow 



and gradual, that but little loss occurs from that 

 process. And as vegetables derive much of their 

 nutriment Irora the atmosphere, the quantity of 

 vegetable food restored to the earth, by their de- 

 composition, commonly greatly e>:ceeds that which 

 has tieen drawn from the earth lor their suste- 

 nance. In a state of nature the entire vegetable 

 growth is left upon the soil. When this dies, 

 and falls upon the earth, it becomes subject to the 

 effects of dcwfi and rain. These, before decom- 

 position can take place, draw off from the vegeta- 

 ble matter an extract, which is thus carried down 

 into the soil, and only the more fibrous parts re- 

 main on the surface to undergo slow decomposi- 

 tion. And this also, when converted into mould, 

 gives out an extract to rain-water, and is thus car- 

 ried down into the soil. Though that part of 

 vegetable mould, which Berzelius terms geine, is 

 directly but slightly soluble in water, yet it has 

 been demonstrated by Th. de Saussure that the 

 three constituent principles of vegetable mould 

 " may be converted the one into the other, under 

 the alternately prepondera'ing influence of air 

 and water." Thus vegetable extract, carbonace- 

 ous mould and geine may all, by the influence of 

 air and water, be rendered soluble and be carried 

 down into the earth. The extract of vegetable 

 matter, mould and geine, which thus mingles 

 with water and descends with it into the soil, is so 

 slightly combined with it, that the earihs and 

 earthy carbonates, having a stronger attraction 

 lor it, will draw it off from the water and fix it in 

 the soil. But these earths and earthy carbonates 

 (if there be no lime presem) will soon become 

 saturated, and consequently can draw no more of 

 these ingredients from the naier. The quantity 

 of lood for vegetables laid vp in store, in the soil, 

 would seem to be limited to the amount which it 

 is capable of retaining in a state of combination. 

 This is not great when lime, in some form of 

 combination, is not present, but very considera- 

 ble when it forms a component part of the soil. 

 Hence the great diflerence in the capability of 

 improving by vegetable and putrescent manures 

 soils which have and which have not lime as one 

 of their ingredients, in some form of combination. 

 When soils, destitute of lime in any state f<f com- 

 bination, become completely saturated with those 

 fertilizing elements which constitute the food of 

 plants, il might be supposed the remainder would 

 continue united with the water, by which they 

 were carried down into the soil. This would be 

 true if there were any chemical attraction in the 

 earths to fix and retain the water in combination 

 with them, until the vegetable food could be 

 drawn ofi' by the spongelets of the growing 

 plants. But such is not the fact. Water will 

 rise to the surface of the earth, whence it will be 

 carried off by ei'aporation and the absorbing pow- 

 er of the atmosphere. But it cannot carry with 

 it the vegetable extract with which it was com- 

 bined. The experiments made by Sir PI. Davy 

 upon grasses, as detailed in his Agricultural Che- 

 mistry, show that the extractive matter is always 

 left as a residuum, upon boiling the decoction. 

 Although water may bring back to the sur.'ace of 

 the earth such portions of the vegelabe extract as 

 may not have been drawn from it by earths, 

 having a stronger attraction for it than the wafer, 

 yet it cannot be carried off by evaporation or ab- 

 sorption, and consequently it will be left at or near 



