638 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



course of improvements, and then we can gradu- 

 ally effect them, according io our means.* 



By n)Hking, a comparison between the results 

 of the Ibreizoing analyses of cultivated soils re- 

 markable lor their <ireat (enility, and tlie consti- 

 tuent parts of our soil in Champaign county, u'e 

 at once discover a striking difference iti the total 

 nbsencc of lime in our soil, as well as a deficiency 

 in the proportion of humus, or organic n)aiter. 

 The sum of the silicious and aUiminous matters 

 n eacii being very nearly the same. It is, there- 

 fore, highly probable that an artificial aiidition 

 ol" the requisite proportion of lime and organic 

 matter to our soil will restore its fertility, and 

 render it equal to the general average of the soils 

 above noted. But there are other considerations 

 which render it still more probable ihat the de- 

 ficiency of lime and organic matter is the princi- 

 pal, if not the sole cause of the unproductiveness 

 of our soil. These considerations I shall proceed 

 to notice. 



If there is any one principle settled in agricul- 

 ture, it is that some convertible salt of lime is 

 essential to the fertility of soils, and that certain 

 crops cannot be raised upon a soil destitute of 

 lime. When we consider the most favored grain 

 regions of the earth, it cannot fail to be remarked, 

 that the soils are invariably charged with a nota- 

 ble proportion of lime. On the other hand, we 

 note that where the soil is deficient in this respect, 

 such crops are invariably meager, blighted and 

 unprofitable. A soil destitute of lime may pro- 

 duce straw, but it never can yield grain ! 



It is an important question, at present much 

 discussed, whether salts of lime are essential to 

 the nourishment of certain cereal grains, and 

 whether the amount of calcareous matter is dimi- 

 nished in a soil by raising upon it successive 

 crops. It is evident, since all vegetables contain 

 lime in their constitution, that if they are raised 

 on and removed from the soil after their growth, 

 a certain proportion of the salts of lime must be 

 abstracted. No one, I presume, will in modern 

 times, contend that plants create any elementary 

 substance. If they contain lime they must have 

 drawn it from the soil, or from the manures that 

 have been spread upon it. 



One hundred grains of the ashes of the grain 

 of wheat were analyzed by Sir H. Davy, and 

 he obtained 44.5 per cent, of the earthy phosphates, 

 chiefly phosphate of lime. The ashes of the straw 

 of wheal contain six per cent, of the phosphate, 

 and one per cent, of the carbonate of lime ; Indian 

 corn contains the phosphate of lime, its ashes 

 yielding no less than thiriy-six per cent. Clover 

 contains [he sulphate of lime; an^i nearly all the 

 plants known yield a sinall proportion of calca- 

 reous matter.'\ 



It is thetelbre proven beyond all doubt, that 

 lime in some of its various forms is an essential 

 ingredient in all fertile soils j first, from the fact 

 that it is almost universally present in the most 

 productive soils throughout the world ; — second, 

 i'rom the fact that all known plants contain more 

 or less calcareous matter in some form as an es- 

 sential constituent. 



It is likewise proven that lime, in some of its 

 forms, must be continually abstracted Irom the 



* Jackson's Report. 



t Jackson's Report on Rhode Island. 



soil, by the constant growth and removal of those 

 plants which contain in Iheir constitution any 

 notable proportion of the salts of lime ; and hence 

 it may be inlerred, that by constant cropping, 

 the lime contained in the soil will in time become 

 exhausted ; and unless it be again added artifi- 

 cially to the soil, it v/ill become incapable of pro- 

 ducing those plants which contain any considera- 

 ble proportion of lime. This liict is likewise prov- 

 en by universal experience, in the cultivation of 

 wheat, Indian corn, clover, and other plants con- 

 taining in iheir constitution lime in large pro- 

 portions. 



Until very recently, it had not been suspected 

 that any soil was wholly destitute of calcareous 

 matter ; and more especially soils resting immedi- 

 ately upon limestone formations. Indeed, most of 

 the wruers on agiicullural chemistry, by the man- 

 ner in which they have treated of soils, and their 

 constituent parts, would induce their readers to 

 inler the general presence, in very large propor- 

 tions, of this ingredient, i?i all soils. Mr. Ed- 

 mund Ruffin, ot' Virginia, was perhaps the first 

 to discover the general absence of this substance 

 in all soils which are naturally unproductive. 

 He states that in 1817, when first attempting to 

 analyze soils, it was with surprise and some de- 

 gree ol distrust, that he found most specimens 

 destitute of calcareous earth. And after repeated 

 trials, made with great care and accuracy, he 

 concludes that no naturally poor soil (below the 

 falls of the rivers in Lower Virginia,) contains 

 the smallest proportion of carbonate of lime. After 

 having made extensive experiments on both rich 

 and poor soils, from various parts of the country, 

 Mr. Kuffin arrives at the Ibllowing conclusions : 



" That all calcareous soils are naturally fertile 

 and durable in a very high degree." — And, 



"That all soils, naturally poor, are entirely 

 destitute of calcareous earth." 



It, then, can scarcely be denied (continues'Mr. 

 Rufi^n,) that calcareous earth must be the cause • 

 of fertility of the one class of soils, and the want 

 of it produces the poverty of the other. Qualities 

 that always thus accompany each other cannot 

 be otherwise than cause and effect.* 



But however deficient the soils in some parts 

 of Virginia may be in calcareous matter, many 

 persons will be surprised to learn, that a large 

 proportion of the soils of Ohio are likewise desti- 

 tute of this essential ingredient. 



In the second Geological Report of Ohio, Dr. 

 Locke states that the soil formed by the disinte- 

 gration of the under-lying limestone formations, 

 in the south-western parts of the state, rfocs not 

 contain at the surface so much lime as we should 

 anticipate ; and rarely W ever, where undisturbed, 

 does it effervesce or foam with acids. On the 

 tops of the hills around Cincinnati, the loam lies 

 seven to nine feei deep, belbre any stone are 

 mingled with it, and this loam is not effervescent 

 with acids. 



The veoreiable acids, (observes Dr. Locke,) 

 which exist in the natural juices of plants, be- 

 come saturated with lime as they pass through 

 it, and form soluble sahs, which are washed away 

 by the rains. These causes, operating for ages, 

 have evidently leached the surface, especially on 

 the table lands, till, in my opinion, there is an ab- 



* Ruffin's Essay. 



