654 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 11 



2d. llust is not produced by excess of vegetable 

 matter alnne^ because our wooded prairies gener- 

 ally, such as are described in Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6, 24, 

 27, 28, 32, 33, are as black and as rich, or richer, 

 than any of our rusting open prairies, but are 

 closer, firmer, and more adhessive, and hence 

 never rust cotton. With a quantity of vegetable 

 matter as great or greater than any of our prairie 

 soils, these specimens have, without an exception, 

 but ci comparatively small quantity ofUvie. If they 

 had a portion of lime sufficiently great to maii:e, 

 with the vegetable matter contained in them, a 

 compound of both lime and vegetable matter which 

 should exceed the other constituents of the soil, 

 and particularly its clay, I have no doubt they 

 would be as loose and jjorous as any prairie lands 

 could be, and therelbre would rust as much. As 

 I said before, that excess of lime does not cause 

 that/joroHS and finely granulated state of the soil 

 which rnsts cotton, so these experiments warrant 

 me in saying that no known quantity of vegetable 

 matter will have that etiect. Hence 1 am driven 

 to the conclusion that large quantities both of lime 

 and vegetable matter arc required to lorm that com- 

 pound in excess which destroys the adhesiveness 

 of the soil, and consequently rusts cotton. I know 

 of but one kind of wooded prairie which rusts cotton, 

 and that, not as soon, or as much, as the open prai- 

 rie. 1 allude to a black, rich, dry, porous and adhe- 

 sive soil, resembling Nos. 11 and 12, and other spe- 

 cimens of rich, open prairie, but covered principal- 

 ly with a tree called ivarwhoo. I have no doubt 

 this variety has, in addition to its rich supply of ve- 

 getable matter, more lime than most wooded 

 prairie soils, and for that reason it is less ad- 

 hesive. When this land has been cultivated 

 .a number of years, it becomes very loose and 

 ,open, and cotton rusts in it to an injurious 

 (extent, but not as badly as in the open prai- 

 ■j-ie. Post oak is an indication of much clay in 

 prairie land, and hence when you find much post 

 joak, you find a land stiti' and adhesive, good for 

 ■cotton, free from rust, but not as good for corn as 

 looser and more friable land of the same fertility. 

 No. 5 (p. 331 vol. iii.) is one of the best speci- 

 mens of this kind of land, and though it has no 

 carbonate of lime, 1 am sure it has lime in some 

 other form, but the quantity is not large compared 

 with the other ingredients, particularly vegetable 

 matter and clay. 



If, then, I am right in supposing that cotton ne- 

 ver rusts from excess of lime singly, or from ex- 

 cess of vegetable matter singly, but does rust 

 when both these ingredients are found together in 

 excess, I come to the conclusion, that when lime 

 and vegetable matter forms a union or chemical 

 combination, which exceeds the other ingredients 

 of the soil, and particularly the clay, the soil loses 

 its adhesiveness, and assumes that loose and po- 

 rous state which produces rust. Hence all prairie 

 lands which rust, have a large portion of both 

 lime and vegetable matter, and of course a dimin- 

 ished proportion of clay or sand ; and as the surface 

 washes away, until you reach the subsoil, the ex- 

 cess ot lime and vegetable matter increases, and 

 with it there is an increased liability to rust. 

 When, however, the surface is entirely washed 

 away, the subsoil, though with a greater excess of 

 lime, having but little vegetable matter, produces 

 very small cotton, but never rusted cotton. On 

 the other hand, " hog-bed prairie," as it is culled, 



No. 30, (p. 333, vol. iii.) though abounding in ve- 

 getable matter, having, evidently to the eye, but 

 little lime, (eight per cent, by the analysis, and 

 this is, I think, more than usual,) but a large 

 quantity of clay, never was known to rust. 



If my hypothesis is true, that the want of ad- 

 hesiveness in the soil is the cause of rust, and that 

 this is produced by the combined excess of vege- 

 table matter and lime, the following remedies, lor 

 that disease in the soil, present themselves. 



1st. Clay, to a certainty, would destroy this ex- 

 cess, and substitute in place of looseness and loo 

 great friability, that adhesiveness which the soil 

 wants, to prevent rust. 



2d. Sand would also destroy this excess, and 

 might (though I speak doubiingly,) give more 

 closeness and compactness to the soil, and there- 

 by prevent rust. It is used for opposite purposes 

 on all other soils ; but the sandiest soil is not so 

 loose, light, and porous as the rusting prairie soil. 

 Nothing but a bed of new ashes can compare with 

 it. Besides, the sandiest pine wood soils are not 

 so porous and open as to rust cotton ; but on the 

 other hand, light sandy " isinglass" lands on the 

 rivers, worn out, are subject to rust, though not to 

 the extent of prairie lands. They are, however, 

 lighter and looser than other sandy lands, either on 

 account of the isinglass, [mica,] or the presence 

 of a large portion of calcareous earth. These op- 

 posing facts cause me to speak doubtingl}^ of the 

 effect of sand, although I am inlbrmed that the 

 best prairie lands, for cotton, in Texas and some 

 parts of Mississippi, have a much greater propor- 

 tion of sand in them, than is to be found in the 

 prairies of Alabama. The best cotton lands with 

 us, are stiff lands, where clay predominates.* 



If these two processes, or either of them, would 

 prevent the rust, it is obvious they would at the 

 same time impoverish the land, by lessening the 

 relative amount of vegetable matter in the soil;! 

 and in any event would be attended with great 

 expense, as clay is no where to be found in the 

 prairies, except in combinations of from sixty to 

 eighty per cent, with lime, and sand is very 

 scarce. In boring lor wells, to the depth of hun- 

 dreds of feet, the quantity of' lime mixed with the 

 clay does not diminish. 



The question then presents itself, whether it is 

 practicable, by animal or vegetable manure, to 

 lessen the excess, or to neutralize the lime, so as 

 to prevent that chemical union or combination 

 which I have supposed to exist only when both 

 these ingredients are in very large quantities ? 

 In other words, can the addition of vegetable matter 



* We have no doulit but that in such soils, contain- 

 ing very little silicious earth, and yet very light from 

 great superabundance of calcareous earth, an applica- 

 tion of sand would stiffen the soil. — Ed. Far. Reg. 



t The addition of barren sand would not impover- 

 ish, but enrich (or manure) the soil — or at least serve 

 to increase its productive power. Though the vegeta- 

 ble or putrescent matter in soil is all that feeds plants, 

 and therefore alone gives, directly, fertility to soils, 

 still when in excess, the su])erabundant part is injuri- 

 ous to the crop, and its abatement, or being balanced 

 by a barren but necessary earth, would be indirectly 

 giving more productive powers, or richness to the soil. 

 — Ed. Fah. Reg. 



