598 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



FORMATION OF HUMUS, 



OR WUAT IS CALLED VEGETABLE MOULD. 



John S. Skinner, Esq. Winchester, Va., May 14, 1848 



Dear Sir : I send you the facts which convmced me that '• vegetable mould/' 

 *' virgin earth," or " humus," as it is termed, is a change in the chemical quali- 

 ties of the earth, caused by shade — having no necessary connection whatever with 

 vegetable decomposition. First, a piece of meadow land which had been com- 

 pletelyexhausted by injudicious cultivation, was made quite as rich as river bot- 

 tom, by permitting pure spring water to flow over it for a few years. Secondly, the 

 spot from which an old building of any description has been removed is exceed- 

 ingly fertile, and remains so for many years, although it may be cultivated in 

 crops known to be the greatest exhausters of the soil. Thirdly, under plank, 

 stone, logs, or any other substance which eifectually shades the earth, we find 

 the " vegetable mould " begins to form very soon, and progresses deeper and 

 deeper precisely in proportion to the length of time the ground remains shaded. 

 Fourthly, a field which is thickly covered Avith loose stone will produce tine 

 crops of wheat or corn every year, although no manures or vegetable matter be 

 returned to it. Fifthly, a single oak or other forest-tree will impoverish the 

 land all around it ; yet in our forests the trees grow luxuriantly, and leave the 

 soil fertile beneath. This cannot be explained by the decomposition of the 

 leaves, for it is well known that they are the most indifferent of all vegetable 

 substances to convert into manure, and the least valuable when so converted ; 

 and " decayed vegetable fibre," or rather wood, is known to be destructive to 

 vegetation of every description ; besides, experience teaches us that we can make 

 the trees grow and the soil fertile beneath by paving around the roots with stone, 

 or any other indestructible substance. Sixtlily, large masses of vegetable mat- 

 ters, when suffered to remain until completely decomposed, leave but a small 

 residue, and we find large quantities of " vegetable mould," in caves and subter- 

 ranean caverns, where vegetation cannot possibly exist. 



If you think the interest of Agriculture will be promoted by publishing my 

 communications, you will please do so ; if not, you will do me the favor to 

 return them through the 7nail. Yours, very respectfully, 



ROBERT BALDWIN. 



NOTE ON THE ABOVE. 



We might have suppressed the last words of the above, but that we choose to make them 

 Ihe subject of self-reproach and regret. Some time since we received and read with lively 

 interest a paper from the same pen, on tlie Action of Clover as a fertilizer, ascribing its bene- 

 ficial effects to its action in shading the land — but unfortunately, under peculiar circum- 

 stances producing some confusion and apparent neglect, we have mislaid, for the time being, 

 that paper, and one of great interest from Mr. Devereux, of North Carolina, on the Culture 

 and Value of Pease as a Fertilizer of Land, doing, in the South, the office perfonned by 

 Clover m the North, with the addition of being of great value as food for hogs. 



We still hope to recover these papers. Can we say as much in regard to our being ex- 

 cused by their authors ? 



We believe Ln the theory advanced by Dr. Baldwin, who is esteemed among the most 

 zealous, observant, and scientific fanners of Virginia. Our recollection, veiy nearly as far 

 back as it reaches, brings this corroboration of his remarks : The father of the Editor, 

 Frederick Skinner, of Calvert County, Maryland, is well remembered by the old people 

 of the County as the introducer of almost everything new iu the development of agricultural 

 products, macliinery and manures. From him — his conversations, course of reading and in- 

 quiries — we imbibed our insatiable paseion for the pui'suit, and we recollect noticing, when 

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