ANALYSIS. 



ANALYSIS 



Of coarse sand ----._ 



Finer sand ______ 



Very fine sand .--.._ 

 Clay deposited in the jug, and first plate dried 

 Deposit in the second plate - 



on the tilli;riii paper ... 



on the linen rag - 



Leaving 10 grains to be accounted for. 



Grain) 



24 



20 



ISO 



240 



24 



li 





 490 



Each portion, except the three last, was now 

 put into a cup, and diluted muriatic acid 

 poured over them : an effervescence appeared 

 in ail of them, which continued on the a'ddition 

 of diluted acid, and when the contents of the 

 cups were stirred with a piece of tobacco-pipe 

 They were left till the next day, when all effer- 

 vescence ceased, and the calcareous part 

 seemed entirely dissolved : pure water was 

 added to dissolve all the muriate of lime which 

 had been formed. After some time, the clear 

 liquor was poured oft", and the remainder was 

 strained through filtering-paper, and dried on 

 plates before the fire. The earths were now 

 found to weigh, respectively, 20, 17, 162, and 

 182-5 grains, having lost 4, 3, 18, and 57-5 

 grains of calcareous earth dissolved by the 

 acid. The soil and water which had been put 

 by in a basin were now repeatedly stirred, and 

 poured into a filter, and more water was passed 

 tin MI ^h the earth to wash out all the soluble 

 all the water was boiled down and 

 evaporated, and left two grains of a substance 

 which had the appearance of a gum with a 

 littlf lime in it. Thus the loss was reduced 

 to Hght grains, a very small quantity, consi- 

 dering the means used in analyzing the soil. 

 The corrected account, therefore, is as fol- 

 lows : 



Specific gravity, 2'358. 



25 



182-5 



57-5 



26 



2 



Or, in round numbers, 500 



40 per cent. Sand. 



36 Clay. 

 17 Calcareous earth. 

 5'5 Vegetable earth, or humus. 

 0-5 Soluble matter. 



From the composition of this soil, it is evi- 

 dent that it is a most excellent loam, capable 

 of producing with good tillage and regular 

 manuring every kind of grain, artificial 

 grasses, and roots commonly cultivated. The 

 field from which the soil was taken was 

 always considered to be of superior quality. 

 This simple rule will suffice to enable any one 

 to analyze any soil of which he desires to know 

 the component parts, so far as they affect the 

 general fertility. To ascertain minute por- 

 tions of salts or metals, or any peculiar im- 

 pregnation of the waters, must be left to 

 practical chemists. To those who may be in- 

 clined to try the analysis of soils, it may be 

 interesting to compare the results of their own 

 experiments with some which have been ob- 

 tained with great care. Thae'r in his very ex- 

 cellent work on Rational Husbandry, written in 

 German and translated into French, has given 

 a table in which different soils analyzed by 

 him are classed according to their compara 

 live fertility, which is expressed in numbers, 

 100 being the most fertile. 



The above table is the result of very patient 

 investigation, the natural fertility of each soil 

 being ascertained by its average produce with 

 common tillage and manuring. 



[In describing his new method of analyzing 

 soils, Dr. Dana, the distinguished American 

 chemist, sets out by stating that geine consti- 

 tutes the basis of all the nourishing part of 

 vegetable manures. By the term geine, he 

 means all the decomposed organic matter of 

 the soil, chiefly derived from decayed vegetable 

 matter. Animal substances, he says, produce 

 a similar compound containing azote or nitro- 



gen. There may be undecomposed vegetable 

 fibres so minutely divided as to pass through 

 the sieve, but as one object of this operation 

 is to free the soil from vegetable fibre, the por- 

 tion will be quite inconsiderable, and can only 

 affect the amount of insoluble geine. When 

 so minutely divided, it will probably pass into 

 soluble geine in a season's cultivation. Geine, 

 or the vegetable nourishing matter of soils, 

 exists in two states, in one of which it is solu 

 ble in water, &c., whilst in the insoluble state 

 it resists the solvent power of water. Soluble 

 geine he considers the immediate food of grow- 



