174 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



never to equal more than a fiftieth part of the -\vcight 

 of the plant consumed. The earthy parts of the soil 

 are chiefly useful in detaining -water, so as to supply 

 the proper proportions to the roots of the vegetables ; 

 and thev arc likewise efficacious in producing the 

 ~J»roper distribution of the animal or vegetable matter. 

 The earths, -when duly mixed with such matter, pre- 

 vent it from decomposing too rapidly, and regulate 

 the supply of its soluble parts in jiroper proportions 

 to the roots of the plants. The earths are also neces- 

 sary to the existence of plants, both as affording them 

 nourishment, and enabling them to fix themselves in 

 such a manner as to obey those laws by which their 

 radicles are kept below the surface, and their leaves 

 exposed to a free atmosphere. 



IV. The due Texacity and Cohekknce of the 

 Soil arise from the finely-divided matters of its con- 

 stituent parts, and they possess the power of giving 

 those qualities in the highest degree when they con- 

 tain much alumina (pure clay.) A small quantity 

 of finely-di^-ided matter is sufficient to fit a soil for 

 the production of turnips and barley ; and a tolerable 

 crop of turnips has been produced on a soil contain- 

 ing eleven parts out of twelve sand ; a much greater 

 proportion of sand, however, always produces abso- 

 lute sterility. Tenacity is obtained by certain pro- 

 portions of finely-divided vegetable and animal de- 

 composable matters in union with alumina. 



V. Fkiaiulitv, oil Looseness of Texture, is chiefly 

 occasioned by the adraixtm-o of sand ; and in a certain 

 degree this quality is of importance, in order that 

 the operations of culture may be readily conducted, 

 that moisture may have free access to the fibres of 

 the root, that heat may readily be conveyed to them, 

 and evaporation may proceed without obstruction. 

 As alumina possesses all the properties of adhesive- 

 ness in an eminent degree, and silex those of friabil- 

 ity, it is obvious that a mixture of those two earths, 

 in suitable proportions, would furnish every thing 

 wanted to form the most perfect soil, as to -water, 

 and the operations of cultivation. In a soil so com- 

 pounded, water -will be presented to the roots bj'^ 

 caiiillary attraction ; it will be suspended in it, as in 

 a sponge, in a state of minute division, so that every 

 part may be said to be moist, but not wet. 



VI. The Power of Soils to aissorb Water from 

 THE Air is much connected with fertility : when 

 this power is great, the plant is sujiplied with moist- 

 ure in dry seasons ; and the effect of evaporation in 

 the day is counteracted by the absorption of vapor 

 from the atmosphere by the interior parts of the soils 

 during the day, and by both the exterior and interior 

 during the night. The soils that are most efficient in 

 the su])plying the plant -with water by absorption 

 from tlic atmospliere are those in which there is a 

 due admixture of sand, finely divided clay, and car- 

 bonate of lime or chalk, which mixture constitutes a 

 loam, with some animal and vegetable matter ; and 

 which are so liglit as to be freely penetrated by the 

 atmosphere. The productiveness of soi/s is influenced 

 by the nature of the subsoil on which tliey rest. 

 "When they are immediately situated upon a bed of 

 rock, they arc rendered dry by evaporation much 

 sooner than when the subsoil is of clay or marl. A 

 clayey subsoil will sometimes be of material advan- 

 tage to a sandy soil, and will retain moisture so as to 

 be capable of supplying that lost by the earth above. 

 A sandy or gravelly subsoil often corrects the imper- 

 fection of a too great degree of absorbent power in 

 the true soil. In calcareous countries, where the 

 surface is a species of marl, the soil is often found 

 only a few inches above the limestone, and its fertil- 

 ity is nevertheless unimpaired ; though on a less 

 absorbent soil this situation would occasion barren- 

 ness ; and the sandstone and limestone hills may be 

 easily distinguished at a distance in summer, by the 

 different tints of vegetation. The grass on the sand- 



stone hills usually appears brown and burnt up ; that 

 on the limestone hills, flourishing and green. In the 

 Island of Cuba, and others, -where the subsoil is 

 chalk to a considerable depth, the verdure of grass, 

 and of young trees and shrubs, is often retained 

 during parching seasons, while in many other situa- 

 tions the grass is cntii'ely scorched, and the trees lose 

 their leaves, owing to the continuance of dry weather. 

 Chalk absorbs moisture readily, and retains it tena- 

 ciously ; hence, in hot, dry summers it gradually 

 affords moisture to the roots of plants at a time when 

 more open and porous soils are comparatively de- 

 prived of moisture. 



VII. C'HEMiCjVi Agency of Soils. Besides the 

 mechanical uses of soil, there is another agency 

 between soils and organizable matters, which may 

 be regarded as chemical. The earths, and even the 

 earthy carbonates, have a certain degree of chemical 

 attraction for many of the principles of A-egetable 

 matter; when boiled with pipe-clay or chalk, they 

 form a combination by -which the vegetable matter is 

 rendered more difficult of decomposition and solution. 

 Pure silica and silicious sands have little action of 

 this kind; and the soils which contain the most 

 alumina and carbonate of lime, are those which act 

 with the greatest chemical energy in preserving 

 manure. Such soils merit the appellation, which is 

 commonly given to them, of rich soils ; for the vege- 

 table nourishment is long preserved in them, unless 

 taken up by the organs of plants. Silicious sands, 

 on the contrary, deserve the term hungrtj, -which is 

 commonly applied to them ; for the vegetable and 

 animal matters which they contain, not being at- 

 tracted by the earthy constituent parts of the soil, 

 arc more liable to be decomposed by the action of 

 the atmosphere, or carried off from them by water. 

 In most of the black and brown rich vegetable 

 moulds, the earths seem to be in combination with a 

 peculiar extractive matter, afforded during the de- 

 composition of vegetables ; this is slowly taken up 

 and attracted from the earths by water, and appears 

 to constitute a prime cause of the fertility of soil. 



VIII. Soils may be improved by Pulverization, 

 or the minute divisions of the particles by mechani- 

 cal labor; and umler this term are included the oper- 

 ations of ploughing, harrowing, digging, trenching, 

 hoeing, and raking. It is of the most essential ser- 

 vice to land, and induces fertility in a variety of 

 Avays. It opens the ground, and thus promotes the 

 regular diffusion of water. It tends to increase the 

 quantity of vegetable food, by enabling the water 

 holding nutritive matters in solution, to convey it 

 more equally to the roots of plants. Pidverization, 

 by opening the soil, promotes and assists the free 

 ingress of heated air, and thus regulates and im- 

 proves the temperature of the soil; it also intro- 

 duces, and as it were buries, a portion of the atmos- 

 pheric air, and thus furnishes another source of elec- 

 tro-chemical decomposition and combinations. 



2'ho depth of - pulverization must depend upon the 

 nature of the soil and subsoil. In rich, clayey 

 groiuid it can scarcely be too deep ; and even in 

 sand, unless the subsoil contains principles noxious 

 to vegetables, deep comminution should be practised. 

 When the roots arc deep, they are less liable to be 

 injured either by excess of rain or drought; the rad- 

 icles arc shot foi-th into every part of the soil, and 

 the space from which the nourishment is derived is 

 more considerable than when the seed is superficially 

 inserted in the soil. 



IX. Soils may be improved by adding to, or sub- 

 tracting FROM, THEM INGREDIENTS IN WHICH THEY 

 ARE DEFICIENT, OR SUPERABOUND. If a Soil, of gOod 



appearance and texture, contain sulphate of iron, it 

 may be ameliorated by quicklime ; if there be excess 

 of calcareous matter, it may be improved by the .ap- 

 plication of sand or clay. Soils too abundant in 



