THE FARMERS' CABINET, 



DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY. 



Vol. I. 



Philadelphia, October 1, 1§36. 



I¥o. 6. 



PublisUed l»y 

 BIO ORE & WATERHOUSK, 



J\/)», 67 South Second St. Phila. 



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THE rAR MERS' CABIWET . 



Nataire of Soils. 



A knowledge of the nature of soils is in- 

 dispensably necessary to the practical agri- 

 culturist. The varieties of soil may be 

 ranked under the following heads : — Sand, 

 clay, gravel, chalk, loam, marl. By differ- 

 ent combinations of these substances, all the 

 intermediate kinds of soil are formed ; and 

 on a proper mixture of them, in certain pro 

 portions, depends the general fertility of the 

 earth, and the success of the farmer's labor. 



The two extremes in soils, are tough wet 

 clay, and loose dry sand. Each of these 

 has its peculiar plants, which will not grow 

 in the other, although they are few in num- 

 ber, and of little known use. But the plants 

 common to both these soils, will grow and 

 thrive better in loam, which is a middle 

 apecies of earth, cotnposed of these two ex- 

 tretnes, partaking equally of the good quali- 

 ties of both, without the bad ones. For this 

 reason, lands which partake of the different 



properties of clay and sand, or which, in 

 other words, are a kind of compound, wherein 

 the properties of clay and sand are so united 

 as to correct each other, are generally the 

 most fruitful, and produce the greatest mass 

 of vegetables. This will more evidently 

 appear, if it be considered in what manner 

 plants and vegetables are nourished, and 

 what it is that gives them bulk, vigor, and 

 firmness. 



When the seeds of plants are deposited in 

 the earth, certain degrees of warmth, air, and 

 moisttire, are necessary for the expansion 

 of their vessels, and the extension and firm- 

 ness of their fibres and solid parts. For 

 these purposes, stiff clay and loose sand, 

 are both, while separate, very unfavorable ; 

 the former, by the closeness of its texture, 

 retains the water like a dish, admits too little 

 heat or air, and prevents the tender fibres of 

 young plants from shooting freely to such 

 distances as are necessary for obtaining a 

 sufficient quantity of proper nourishment. 

 The latter, from the looseness of its texture, 

 admits heat too freely, and is not capable of 

 retaining a sufficient degree of moisture for 

 the purposes of vegetation. The particles 

 of vegetable nutriment are either absorbed 

 by the heat, or washed down by the rains 

 too low for the roots of plants to reach them. 

 Hence, few plants will come to maturity on 

 mere sand, except such as extend their roots 

 very deep, and attract nourishment from a 

 stratum below it. In stiff clays there is little 

 fermentation, the salts being so confined and 

 locked up by the tenacity of its texture, that 

 they cannot act. In light dry sands they 

 are speedily evaporated by heat. 



All sands are hot and dry — all clays cold 

 and wet ; and, therefore, the manuring sandy 

 lands with clay, or clay lands with sand, is 

 best, for this changes the nature of the land 

 itself; whereas dung, and other substances, 

 afford only an inferior and temporary im- 

 provement. Mixed soils, which incline to 

 the clayey kind, are best for corn and pulse. 

 But it is not the natural soil only that the 

 farmer ought to consider, but the depth of it, 

 and what lies immediately underneath it. 

 For if the richest soil is only seven or eight 

 inches deep, and lies on a cold wet clay or 

 stone, it will not be so fruitful as leaner soils 

 that lie on a better under stratum. Gravel 



