186 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



DEC. 14, 1S4S 



From Dr. Dana's Muck Manual. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF SOIL. 



In a)l attempts at improvinnf soil by manure, two 

 objects are intended, which form the golden rule of 

 applying salts and geine ; to make " heavy land 

 lighter, light land heavier, hot land colder, and 

 cold land hotter." Are there then, notwithstanding 

 all that has been offered and said, differences in 

 soil. Have not, it may be asked, all the preceding 

 pages been based on the fact, that there is but one 

 soil ? True it has been so said, it is said so now. 

 Chemically, the inorganic elements of nil soil are 

 alike. The silicates and salts are nearly the same 

 in all ; the organic portion, the geine varies, snd 

 that to a greater degree than any other ingredient. 

 While the silicates compose with great uniformity, 

 from 60 to 90 per cent., and the salts of lime, sul- 

 phate, and phosphate, from 1-2 to 3-4 per cent., 

 the geine varies from 1 to 20 per cent. The sili- 

 cates may be finer or coarser, more sandy or more 

 clayey. All these circumstances affect, not the 

 chemical, but the physical properties of soil. The 

 physical properties then, are the foundation of the 

 great diversity which soil exhibits. The physical 

 characters of soil are embraced under the terms, 

 cold, hot, wet, and dry land. These characters 

 are dependent on four circumstances: 



First, the absolute weight of a given bulk of soil ; 



Secondly, its color ; 



Thirdly, its consistency ; 



Fourthly, its power of retaining water. 

 In other words, the physical characters of soil may 

 be considered under. 



First, its relation to heat ; 



Secondly, its relation to moisture and gas ; 



Thirdly, its consistency ; 



Fourthly, its electrical relation. 



The relation to consistency makes soil light, or 

 heavy; the relation to heat and moisture, makes 

 soil hot or cold, dry or wet. The great natural 

 varieties of soil are, sand, clay, and loam ; first, the 

 great distinction in the scale of soil, is sand and 

 clay: all intermediate varieties proceed from mix- 

 tures of these, with each other. Now the sand 

 may be siliceous, or calcareous — that is, silicates, 

 the distinguishing character of soil in this country, 

 or mixed with a salt of lime, the feature of much 

 European soil. By clay is meant common blue 

 clay, or sub-silicate of alumina, consisting of alu- 

 raina, 36 ; silica, C8 ; oxide of iron and salts of 

 lime, and alkalies, G. 



Sandy clay is clay and sand, equal parts. 



Loamy clay is 3-4 clay and 1-4 sand. 



Peaty earth is geine. 



Garden mould is 8 per cent, geine. 



Arable land is 3 per cent, geine. 



Taking these several varieties, it is found that 

 sand is the heaviest part of soil, wln^ther dry or 

 wet; clay is among the lightest part; L'eme has 

 the least absolute weight, so that while a cubic 

 foot of sand weighs, in its common damp state, 

 141 lbs., clay weighs 115 lbs., and geine 8) lbs. ; 

 hence garden mould and arable soil weigh from 

 102 to 119 lbs. The more geine, compound soil 

 contains, the lighter it is. 



Among the most important physical characters of 

 of soil, is the power of retaining heat; this will be 

 found to be nearly in proportion to its absolute 

 weight. The weight of soil determines with tole- 

 rable accuracy, its power of retaining heat. The 

 greater the mass in a given bulk, the greater is 

 this power. Hence sanda retain heat longest, three 



times longer than geine, and half as long again as | 

 clay. Hence, the dryness and heat of sandy ! 

 plains. Sand, clay, and peat, are to each other as 

 1, 2, and 3, in tluMr power of retaining heat. But 

 while the capacity of soil to retain heat, depends 

 on the absolute weight, the power to be warmed, 

 another very important physical character depends 

 on four principal circumstances: first, the color; 

 second, the dampness ; third, the materials ; fourth, 

 the angle at which the sun's rays fall. First, col- 

 or : the blacker the color, the easier warmed. 

 White sand and grey differ almost 50 per cent in 

 the degree of heat acquired in a given time. As 

 peal and the varieties of geine are almost all of a 

 black or dark brown color, it is seen how easily 

 they may become warm soils, when dry; for se- 

 condly, dampness modifies the influence of color, 

 so that a dry li^ht colored soil will become hotter 

 sooner than a dark wet one. As long as evapora- 

 tion goes on, a difference of 10 or 12 degrees will 

 be found between a dry and a wet soil of the same 

 color. Thirdly, the different materials of which 

 soils are composed, exert but very little influence 

 on their power of being heated by the sun's rays. 

 Indeed, if sand, peat, clay, garden mould, all equally 

 dry, are sprinkled with chalk, making their surfa- 

 ces all of a color, and then exposed to the sun's 

 rays, the differences of their temperature will be 

 found inconsiderable. Color and dryness then, ex- 

 ert a most powerful influence on the capacity of 

 soil to be warmed. 



Fourthly, the last circumstance to be noticed, is 

 the different angle at which the sun's rays fall. 

 The more perpendicular the greater the heat. The 

 effect is less in proportion as these rays, by falling 

 more slanting, spread their light out over a greater 

 surface. But this point, which seems external to 

 soil, need not be enlarged on. Now the great fact 

 to he observed in this relation of soil to heat is, 

 that geine exerts the most marked influence. If 

 soil heats quickly, it is because it has a large pro- 

 portion of geine. Does it cool quickly? it is the 

 geine which gives up heat quickly, referring here 

 to tho soil in a dry slate, the modiScation produced 

 by dampness, having been already considered. 



Connected with the power of absorption of mois- 

 ture, is the very important relation of soil to gas. 

 All soi' absorbs oxygen gas, when damp, never 

 when dry. Of the ingredients of soil, geine forms 

 the only exception to this rule. That absorbs 

 oxygen, whether it be wet or dry. Geine has this 

 power in the highest degree, clay next ; frozen 

 earths not at all. A moderate temperature in- 

 creases the absorption. 



When earths absorb oxygen, they give it up un- 

 changed. They do not combine with it. They 

 merely induce on the absorbed moisture, power to 

 imbibe oxygen. But when geine absorbs oxygen, 

 one portion of that combines with its carbon, pro- 

 ducing carbonic acid, which decomposes silicates, 

 and a second portion of oxygen combines with the 

 hydrogen of the geine, and produces water. Hence, 

 in a dry season, well manured soils or those abound- 

 ing in geine, suffer very little. The power of 

 geine to produce water, is a circumstance of soil 

 almost wholly overlooked. It is one whose high 

 value will appear by a comparison with llie quan- 

 tity of water produced by a fresh plowed, upturned 

 sward, with that from the same soil undisturbed. 

 The evaporation from an acre of fresh plowed land 

 is equal to 950 lbs. per hour ; this is the greatest 

 for the first and second days, ceases about the fifth 

 day, and again begins by hoeing, while at the same 



time the unbroken sod affords no trace of moi^tu . 

 This evaporation is equal to that which follows . 

 ter copious rains. 



These are highly practical facts, and teach i; 

 necessity of frequent stirring of soil in a diy iir , 

 Where manure or geine is lying in iho soil,i; 

 evaporation is from an acre, equal to 5000 lbs. |r 

 hour. 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL JOURNAl 

 We copy the following from an article in 3 



Pictou (N. S.) Mechanic and Farmer, by P. L. .~!. 



monds, Esq., one of the editors of the Farmers' 1 . 



cyclopedia, member of the Royal Agricultural ; 



ciety of England, &c. : 



"I have no very intimate knowledge of the I 



lory, character and statistics of the agricultu 



publications of America as a whole, but I believ 



am not far wrong in staling that there is at le 



in the proportion of one or two papers for evi 



State and Territory. 



I am acquainted with the following: 



Indiana: "The Farmer," at Indianapolis, 



Illinois: "The Union Agriculturist," at Chica- 

 go. 



Ohio : " The Farmer," at Columbus ; 



"The Western Farmer," at Cincinnati; 

 "The Farmer and Mechanic," do. 

 "The Farmer," at Middletown, 



Kentucky : " The Franklin Farmer," at Frank- 

 fort ; 



" The [Farmer's Chronicle," at Rich- 

 mond, weekly, 



Michigan: "The Western Farmer," at Detroit, 

 semi-monthly, 



Tennessee : " The Agriculturist," at Nashville, 



Maryland: " The American Farmer," Baltimore, 



Pennsylvania : " Farmers' Cabinet," Philadel- 

 phia, monthly, 



S. Carolina: ''The Southern Agriculturist," 

 Charlestoii, monthly, 



JVew York : " The Cultivator," at Albany, month 



ly; 



"New Genesee Farmer," Rochester, do. 



" N. Y. Agriculturist," N. York city, do. 



" U. S. Farmer and Journal of Americai 



Institute," do. ; 



" Long Island Farmer," Jamaica ; 



" Central N. Y. Farmer," Rome, monthly, 

 Connecticut : " Farmer's Gazette," New Haven ; 



" Farmer's Advocate," Stamford ; 



" Republican Farmer," Bridgeport, 

 Massachusetts : " The Cultivator," Boston, week- 



ly; 



" New England Farmer," do. do. 

 "Mass. Ploughman," do. do. 

 "Horticultural Magazine," do., monthly, 

 [The " Farmer's Journal," monthly, at 

 Boston, and the "Berkshire Farmer," at 

 Pittsfield, were probably unknown to the 

 writer.] 



JVeio Hampshire: "Farmer's Monthly Visitor," 

 Concord, 



Maine: "The Cultivator," at Hallowell ; 

 "The Farmer," Portland ; 

 " Farmer and Mechanic's Advocate," at 

 Winthrop, weekly ; 



"Mechanic and Farmer's Journal," Ban- 

 gor, 



Georgia : " The Southern Planter," at Macon, 

 semi-monthly, 



Missouri : " The Farmer's and Mechanic's Ad- 

 vocate," St Louis, weekly, 



