562 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 9 



and Ihe Mauritius — which sells for a shillincr, when 

 the Sea Island sells for 13|d. and the Pvlanilla cot- 

 ton which sells tor lid. when the Bourbon is 

 worth a sliilling, are both cottons of hot ciiniales 

 like our own ; and both these are grown in highly 

 calcareous soils. The soil on the table belbre you 

 is ii'oiu ihe Mauritius, it is sent nie by iYi. Geneve, 

 of La Jiiviere Noire, one of the finest estates on 

 the island, as an excellent cotton soil, and contains 

 32 per cent, of carbonate of lime: (or in plain En- 

 glish, one-third chalk,) there is, uioreover, phos- 

 phate, and perhaps sulphate of lime; altogether, 

 perhaps, not less than 40 per cent, of calcareous 

 matter! Its iron too is in a peculiar state, ihat of 

 protoxide, or the black oxide of iron ; and in this 

 respect, it probably resembles the black cotton 

 soils of Southern India. No wonder that the 

 Bourbon cotton, though it grows well in many of 

 our gardens near town, where it meets with plenty 

 of calcareous matter amongst the lime-rubbish 

 with which most of them are filled, is said to de- 

 generate when cultivated in the open fields which 

 do not contain 2 per cent, of lime. I know, Irom 

 the experience of several years, that it does iwt 

 degenerate, if it is duly supplied with calcareous 

 matter; but that it will produce most abundantly, 

 and for years, cotton worth fi'om lOd. to lid. per 

 lb. in a proper soil. If the soil does not suit it, it 

 will produce little else than leaves and wood, and 

 the staple will deteriorate. Samples of American 

 cotton soils are wanting now, to make our theory 

 on this head perfect; but I would advise no man 

 to attempt foreign cottons in a soil containing less 

 than 15 per cent, of lime, and its iron mostly in 

 the state of protoxide, or black oxide. 



Tobacco. — Tobacco soils are the next, and here 

 we are more fortunate, fcir there are on the table 

 eoils fi-om Arracan, (Siuidoway,) a soil from Sin- 

 gour in Burdwan, near Chandernagore, 'he tobac- 

 co of which, though of the same species as that of 

 the surrounding country, sells at the price of the 

 Arracan son 1 and the soil of the best Bengal 

 tobacco, which is grown at and about Hinglee in 

 the Kisnasor district, near fiictories formerly held 

 by me. Col. Hezeta and Dr. Casanova are our 

 authorities for saying that the tobacco soils of the 

 Havana are red soils, and those of Manilla, I 

 know are also red soil. Now the red and reddish 

 brown soils contain most of their iron in the state 

 of peroxide, or the reddish brown oxide of iron ; 

 while the light grey soils contain it only in the 

 state of protoxide, or the black oxide of iron. I 

 believe the quality of the tobacco to depend main- 

 ly on the stale and quantity of the iron in the soil ; 

 while it is indifferent about the lime, which' we 

 have seen is so essential to cotton. None of these 

 tobacco soils contain any lime. Their analysis 

 shows them contain — 



Arracan 

 soil. 

 Oxide Iron, (peroxido,) 15.6.5 

 Water and Saline Matter, 1.10 

 Veg;etabie matter and fibres, 3.75 

 Silex, 76.90 



Alumina, 2.00 



Water and Loss, 



99.40 

 60 



97.60 

 2.40 



97.00 

 3.00 



100.00 100.00 100.00 



• Mostly protoxide. 



— from which it will be seen that the best tobacco 

 soil we have hitherto found in India, contains 16 

 per cent., or nearly one-sixth of iron, which is 

 mostly in the state of peroxide, and that the infe- 

 rior sort of tobacco grows in a soil containing only 

 6 per cent, or one-sixteenth of iron, which is, 

 moreover, mostly in the stale of protoxide or black- 

 oxide. 



I thought it worth examining what the quantity 

 of iron in the different sorts of tobacco would be ; 

 and I found that, while the ashes of one ounce, or 

 430 grains, of Havana and Sandoway cheroots 

 gave exactly 1.94 grains or 0.40 per cent, of per- 

 oxide of iron, the ashes of the same quantity of 

 the Hinglee or best Bengal tobacco, only gave 

 1.50 grains, or 0.32 percent., and it appears to ex- 

 ist in the first two in the state of peroxide, and in 

 the last as a protoxide of iron ; rendering it highly 

 probable that the flavor of Ihe tobacco, to the 

 smoker, depends on the state and quantity of the 

 iron it contains ! for we have now, observe, traced 

 the iron from the soil into the cheroot. Green 

 copperas water, which is a solution of sulphate of 

 iron, is often used by the American and English 

 tobacconists and planters, to color and flavor their 

 tobacco; and this would be decomposed by the 

 p.otass of the tobacco, and sulphate of potass and 

 carbonate of iron be formed. Carbonate of iron is 

 of an ochre-yellow color. I took care to ascerlain 

 that this process had not been perfirmed with the 

 cheroots used for my experiment; and I do not 

 believe our Bengal cheroot-makers know of this 

 method. 



Sugar. — Sugar seems to depend both on the 

 state of the iron and on lime in the soil. The 

 snijar soil before you is also from the Blac'< River, 

 (Mr. Geneve's,) an estate upon which, fi'om 3,000 

 to 7,000, and even on one spot the astonishing 

 quantity of 12,000 lbs. of sugar have been obtain- 

 ed from an acre, or fi-om 12 to 150 bazar maunds 

 per bigah ! Captain Sleeman is my authority for 

 these statements. 



Now the peculiarity of this soil is, you will ob- 

 serve, that it is a red soil, i. e. that its iron is 

 in the state of peroxide ; and it contains, moreover, 

 about 9 per cent, of carbonate of lime, with pro- 

 bably some sulphate and phosphate of lime, say, 

 perhaps, altogether 10 or 12 per cent, of calcare- 

 ous matter. We have in many instances endea- 

 vored to cultivate this cane on soils, destitute both 

 of peroxide of iron and lime, and we complain 

 that the cane has been found watery. It is clear 

 that the cultivator who would succeed in sugar 

 should pay attention to these peculiarities; for 

 v.'ithout doing so, he may have returns, but often 

 no profits. His profits, in a word, may depend 

 upon his canes, his cotton or his tobacco being 

 /ed with the food which they require. I use the 

 words feed and digest, because it cannot be too 

 ofien lepeated, that plants are living beings, and 

 that the vigor of their lift; depends, as with our- 

 selves, on abundant apd suitable food. 



7Va Soils. — The tea soils, though I notice them 

 last, are not the least interesiing. The first, is a 

 soil from Assam, for which I am indebted to Cap- 

 tain Jenkins, and the second, is fi'om the Hohea 

 Hills in China, sent round by Mr. Gordon, the Se- 

 cretary to the tea committee, and obligingly given 

 to me by Mr. Grant, of the Honorable Company's 

 Export Ware-house. How very alike they seem, 



