NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



173 



It is generally thought, perhaps, that stone is 

 warmer in winter and cooler in summer than Avood. 

 We have never been convinced of the trnth of this 

 opinion by any reasoning of others, or by our own 

 experienc-e. Stone is a better conductor of heat than 

 •wood. In winter, the rooms of a wooden building 

 are more readily heated, and will better retain the 

 varmth. "Walls of stone when cold, being thick, arc 

 not then much affected by the sun's rays. In sum- 

 mer, the sun heats them to a high degree, and from 

 their thickness, they retain greater heat than will 

 ordinarily pass off in the night. A neighbor of ours, 

 a great stickler for the advantages of stone, says 

 he has observed that the rooms of a stone house 

 continue cooler later into the warm weather, and 

 continue warmer later into autumn, than those of 

 wood. Why is tliis so, except for the reason that 

 the walls of stone cooled by the cold of winter, arc 

 less readily heated, and being thoroughly heated, arc 

 less readily cooled ? 



It is often said that the buildings in our country 

 make an unfavorable impression upon foreigners, 

 because they arc- built of wood. They have the 

 appearance of being mere temporary tenements, 

 boxes, hastily built, and to be removed at a con- 

 venient opportunity. Let us not place too much 

 value upon such opinions, nor attempt to please the 

 taste of sti'angers accustomed to see structures of 

 other materials, (mud and turf, as well as stone,) 

 unless for substantial reasons. For our part, we 

 prefer the clicei-ful buildings of our ov.n happy vil- 

 lages, to the heavy, solid, gloomy, and sombre struc- 

 tures of stone. 



But the main objection to stone is its greater 

 expense. Farmers who have more capital than is 

 sufficient to build of wood, and do not mind making 

 an outlay, if not a sacrifice, can try the experiment 

 of erecting stone ones ; but we should advise them 

 to expend their extra funds in improvements upon 

 the land. L. C. E. 



Peovidence, April 27, 1850. 



For the New Enyland Farmer. 



NATURE AND OFFICES OF EARTHS AND 

 SOILS. 



I. Eartus and Soils being the laboratory wherein 

 the food or nutriment of the plant is prepared, and 

 the media through which it is conveyed to the root, 

 it becomes a matter of primary importance to the 

 gardener and agriculturist to obtain correct ideas of 

 their component parts, and of the oHiccs they per- 

 form in the work of vegetation. It will also be very 

 useful to acquire a method of general classijication, so 

 as to arrive at some degree of precision and system- 

 atic arrangement. On this subject, says the Ency- 

 clopaedia of Gardening, at No. 1031. 1. : "A correct 

 classification of soils may be founded on the presence 

 or absence of organic or inorganic matter in their 

 basis. This will form two grand classes, viz., ]>riin- 

 itive soils, or those composed entirely of inorganic 

 matter ; and secondary soils, or those composed of 

 organic and inorganic matter in mixtures. These 

 classes may be subdivided into orders, founded on tlie 

 presence or absence of saline, metallic, and carbonic 

 matter. The orders may be subdivided into f/enera, 

 founded on the prevailing earths, salts, metals, or 

 carbon ; the (jenera into species, founded on their dif- 

 ferent mixtures ; the species into varieties, founded on 

 color and texture, and snhvariefies, founded on moist- 

 ure, dryness, richness, lightness, etc." 



In naming the genera, the first thing is to discover 

 the prevailing earth or earths ; thus, " Sir IInm])hry 

 Davj' has observed, the term sandy soih shoiild never 

 be applied to any soil that does not contain, at least, 



seven eighths of sand ; sandy soils, that effervesce 

 with acids, should be distinguished by the name of 

 calcareous (chalky) sandy soils, to dis'tingui>]i them 

 from those that are silicious, (of the natui-e of flint.) 

 The term clayey soils should not be applied to any 

 land which contains less than one sixth of impalpable 

 earthy matter, not considerably effervescing with 

 acids." The word loam should be limited to soils 

 containing at least one tliird of impalpable earthy 

 matter, copiously effervescing with acids. In gen- 

 eral, the soils, the materials of which arc the most 

 various, are those called alluvial, or which have been 

 formed from the depositions of rivers ; and these 

 deposits may be designated as silicious, calcareous, or 

 argillaceous, (clayey ; ) and in some cases, the term 

 saline may be added as a specific distinction, appli- 

 cable, for example, at the mouths of rivers, where 

 their alluvial remains are overflowed by the sea. 



II. TuE Qualities axd Value of Soils are dis- 

 coverable botanically, and by chemical analysis. 

 First, botanically, that is, by the plants which grow 

 on them naturally. The sainfoin {Jieydesarum ono- 

 bryi(ris) is almost always an indication of a calcareous 

 soil ; the connnon colt's-foot, {lussilayo-farj'ara,) of 

 blue clay; purple sandwort, (arenaria rubra,) of poor 

 sand ; the common wood sorrel, {oxalis acctosella,) of 

 the presence of iron. Secondly, by chemical analysis. 

 The quantity of soil best adapted to a perfect analj-- 

 sis is stated to be four hundred grains ; it should bo 

 collected in dry Aveathcr, and exposed to the air tiU 

 it becomes dry to the touch. The process of analysis 

 is complicated, and one of extreme nicety. Some 

 cultivators may be qualified to perform the necessary 

 operations, but in general a degree of accuracy is 

 required which can onU- be obtained by constant 

 practice, founded upon scientific principles. The 

 following is the analysis of a fertile soil in the neigh- 

 borhood of Bristol, II. I. : in four hundred grains, 

 there were of water, .52 ; silicious sand, 210 ; vege- 

 table fibre, .05 ; vegetable extract, .03 ; alumina, .48 ; 

 magnesia, .02; oxide of iron, .1-1 ; calcareous earth, 

 .30 ; loss, .06. On the utility of analysis. Dr. Ure 

 (Diet, of Chem.) observes, that " no system can be 

 dcAised for the improvement of lands, independently 

 of exi)erimcnt ; but there are few cases in which the 

 labor of analytic trials will not be amply repaid by 

 the certainty with which they denote the best meth- 

 ods of melioration, and this will particularly hajipen 

 when the defect of composition is found in the pro- 

 portions of the primitive earths. In supplying or- 

 ganic matter, a temporary food only is i)rovided for 

 plants, which is in all cases exhausted by means of a 

 certain number of crops ; but when a soil is rendered 

 of the best possible constitution and texture with 

 regard to its earthy parts, its fertility may be consid- 

 ered as permanently established. It becomes capable 

 of attracting a very large portion of vegetable nour- 

 ishment from the atmosphere, and of producing its 

 crops with comparatively little labor and expense." 



III. Of the irsEs OF Eaktus. Pure earths, ex- 

 clusively of organized matter and water, are allowed, 

 by most i)hysiologists, to be of no other use to ])lant3 

 than that of supporting them, or furnishing a medium 

 by which they may fix themselves in a situation 

 favorable to their future growth. But eartlis and 

 organic matter, that is, soils, afford at once sujiport 

 and food. Tluis the pare earths may be considered 

 as the mechanical agent in the soil. They consist 

 chiefly of metallic bases united to oxygen, not readily 

 decomposable ; and consequently they cannot bo 

 reasonably supposed to be convertible into the 

 elements "of organized matter, Avhich, as lias been 

 stated, are chiefly found to be oxygen, hydrogen, 

 carbon, and azote. IMants, it is true, consume a 

 small portion of the earths they grow in, as is dis- 

 coverable by burning, for their ashes are found to 

 contain earths ; but the quimtity has been as ertoined 



