No. 5. 



Soils and Manures. 



149 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Soils and Manures. 



Mr. Editor, — When I first read the arti- 

 cle at p. 125 of the last No. of the Cabinet, 

 giving an account of the discovery that had 

 been made in France, relative to the cultiva- 

 tion of wheat, merely by the application of 

 straw, without the aid of the plough, I could 

 not but feel sceptical concerning the result. 

 This, however, did not prevent me from 

 making the experiment, substituting a board 

 for the plate of glass; and I await with im- 

 patience the springing of the crop. Now, 

 reasoning from analogy, would it not be natu- 

 ral to suppose, that the stalks of asparagus 

 would make the best dressing for the beds 

 containing their roots? They might be bent 

 down by means of a roller passing over, and 

 then there would be no danger of their being 

 carried away by the winter winds: affording 

 a very thick covering of manure, on decom- 

 position, which might be slightly covered by 

 an addition of earth taken from the paths, in 

 the usual way; — indeed, there would seem no 

 question about the rationale of the thing. 



Many persons smile at the notion, that the 

 crop of the French agriculturists was found 

 equally productive with those that were 

 raised by means of the highest cultivation, 

 although grown on a perfectly exhausted 

 soil, and without ploughing — nay, that it was 

 better than these ; and more wonderful still, 

 that the wheat grown on glass, without a 

 particle of earth, was the best of all I — ob- 

 serving, that "truth is strange — stranger 

 than fiction." But I have just met with an 

 extract from an interesting publication — 

 " Morton on Soils," — which seems to take 

 the same ground, namely, that the soil of it- 

 self affords no nourishment to the plant ! — 

 But I must copy the article as I find it, in 

 the Southern Planter, a valuable periodical, 

 published at Richmond, Va., worthy the high 

 character which it is earning in that part of 

 the Union. 



" We have lately met with an extract from 

 ' Morton on Soils,' the purport of which is, 

 that the proper qualities of soils are deduci- 

 ble from a correct understanding of the office 

 they perform. The soil itself affords no 

 nourishment — 'it serves only as a great spring, 

 to receive and give up water, air, light, and 

 decomposed vegetable and animal matter — 

 the great elements of plants. There are 

 three great earths, the due admixture of 

 which goes to make up a productive soil; 

 these are, silex or sand, alumina or clay, and 

 lime. Organic matter, whether vegetable or 

 animal, should be kept in an active state of 

 decomposition, because it is only the sub- 

 stances which are evolved in the process, that 

 afford food for plants. It is the property of 



silex or sand, to decompose the manure be- 

 stowed upon it — and so far it is useful ; but 

 unless it be tempered with a due admixture 

 of clay, the porousness causes evaporation 

 and waste. A dry, light, sandy soil, on a 

 clay sub-soil, is more productive than a sandy, 

 gravelly sub-soil, which permits the sinking 

 of the valuable qualities of the manure. The 

 clay underneath also aflt)rds a ready opportu- 

 nity, by deep ploughing, of tempering the 

 sand. But a deep, tenacious, and compact 

 clay, is even less productive than a soil com- 

 posed of sand, for in such a soil decomposi- 

 tion goes on very slowly, whilst in sand and 

 gravel the process is very rapid. Adhesive 

 clay is also impervious to water, which is 

 therefore collected and retained in too great 

 quantities for the purposes of vegetation. — 

 When calcareous matter forms a soil, it is 

 generally a carbonate of lime, attracting 

 moisture and chemically combining with it 

 When burnt lime is slaked, whether by ex- 

 posure or other process, it takes up one-fourth 

 of its weight of water, and is as dry and 

 powdery as the finest flour; and when ex- 

 posed to the atmosphere, in this state, it soon 

 absorbs the carbon which was expelled from 

 it by burning, and becomes of the same na- 

 ture as it was before it was burned, namely, 

 a carbonate of lime, but only finely divided. 

 In its caustic state, that is, before it has at- 

 tracted the carbon, it is a powerful decom- 

 poser of animal and vegetable matter. Af- 

 terwards, it has a tendency to preserve these 

 substances from decay. 



"The decomposition of organic matter 

 forms the chief food of plants ; and the free 

 ingress and egress of light, air, heat, and 

 moisture, are necessary to this process. We 

 see, then, the necessity of frequently opening 

 and moving the earth ; we see also the ne- 

 cessity of a due admixture of the primitive 

 earths — the sand to promote decomposition, 

 and correct the tenacity of the clay; the 

 CLAY to prevent a too hasty evaporation and 

 loss, and the carbonate of lime to attract 

 moisture; and we see also the value of a 

 clay sub-soil, and the necessity, so frequently 

 urged, of sub-soil ploughing. What should 

 be the proportion of the different constituents 

 of a productive soil, have been variously 

 stated by different authors, and will, of course, 

 depend much upon the moisture and dryness 

 of the climate — for, according as it is moist, 

 the soil should be friable and porous — as it is 

 dry, adhesive and retentive; and under these 

 circumstances, the proportions may vary from 

 fifty to seventy percent, of silicious matter; 

 from twenty to forty of clay, or aluminous 

 matter, and from ten to twenty of calcareous 

 matter — the decomposable vegetable or ani- 

 mal matter, not exceeding one-fourth of the 

 weight of the earthy constituents. 



