516 



FARMERS' REGISTER— ARABIC AVORK ON AGRICULTURE. 



thought to possess, being rendered in Spanish by 

 ManzanadeAmor(love-appIe) was, from the natu- 

 ral permutability of the lingual letters I and 11, and 

 of the dental letters z and s, pronounced, and af- 

 terwards written, by the Italians Malsana d'l 

 Jlmore, (insane from love,) and by abbreviation, 

 only Malsana, (unwholesome or insane) which 

 name the Germans, who received this fruit from 

 Italy, translated, with seeming accuracy, by toll- 

 apfel (madness-apple,} and hence this fruit, though 

 cultivated here and there in Germany, as a curi- 

 osity, is never eaten by any one : for who would 

 like to become mad? as it is thought this fruit will 

 make him, who should be rash enough to despise 

 the warning contained in its very name. 



However, as I hope, with some degree of confi- 

 dence, that nothing of this sort will happen to en- 

 lightened Virginia, should I even, from my being 

 little better than " a mere mimick's mimick," com- 

 mit a similar or a worse blunder, here follows the 

 English translation of the first article of the first 

 chapter of the work, treating of the different quali- 

 ties of soil, and the signs to know them by. 



G. BLJETTERMANN. 



The first thing to be acquired, in the science of 

 agriculture, is the knowledge of soil, in order to be 

 able to distinguish the good from the inferior; for 

 he who sliould not know the most essential branch 

 of husbandry, deserves the name of ignoramus, 

 not that of farmer. 



According to the demonstration of Rasis in his 

 work entitled " Physical Auscultations," rocks of 

 considerable size become pulverized, by the ac- 

 tion of heat and moisture, in the space of a century. 

 Thus, by the continued influence of the sun and 

 rains, on the surface of the earth, a soil is formed 

 proper to admit of vegetation ; for earth drawn 

 from wells and other excavations, though it should 

 contain all the apparent qualities of good soil, will 

 be steril the first year, but, after having been 

 penetrated by the sun and the moisture of show- 

 ers, it becomes often highly fertile. Thus it is 

 evident that no soil can be productive, unless it be 

 warmed by the sun and penetrated by rain. The 

 earth is naturally cold and dry, yet though this be 

 a natural and general quality of the earth, there 

 are nevertheless some soils warmer and more hu- 

 mid than others. The warmest, and hence the 

 most fertile soil, according to all the most intelli- 

 gent agriculturists, is the black mould ; next to 

 which comes that which is of a red color; whilst 

 the white is the coldest, and hence the least fertile 

 of all, and yellow soil is but little better. So that 

 white soil will be more or less cold, according to 

 the more or less whiteness it has, and the same 

 may be said of the yellow, and in proportion of the 

 other colors respectively. 



The best soil, for warmth and moisture, is that 

 which, in its texture and color, resembles old rot- 

 ten dung ; which does not harden into clods ; does 

 not dry and crack open in the heat, nor is loose like 

 sand and gravel. But there are few spots where 

 such a soil is found in a natural state, and there- 

 fore, we must call good such soil as only resembles 

 it in some degree. 



Abu-Hanifa Dinurita, the prince of agricul- 

 ture, says : soils whose texture is porous or spongy, 

 and pulverize easily under the plough, or the spade, 

 like sand without their being actually sand, are 

 pest adapted for vegetation, on account of their 



easily imbibing the water from showers or from 

 artificial irrigation, to nourish the roots of plants, 

 which increase and flourish most under a frequent 

 supply of moisture. On the contrary, soils of a 

 compact texture easily hardened by heat, not im- 

 bibing moisture, are extremely steril, for the roots 

 of plants cannot dilate and be nourished by mois- 

 ture, as they ought to do, to vegetate and grow 

 well. 



There are two kinds of soil, both unproductive, 

 the one consists of mere sand, and the other of 

 mere clay : the former, though it imbibe moisture 

 quickly, from its loose texture, causes it to evapo- 

 rate as quickly from the surface, or to sink too 

 deep into the ground, before it can profit the plants 

 that are to grow in it ; and the latter being at one 

 time too wet, and at others too dry and hard, is 

 equally unfit for vegetation. However, by a pro- 

 per mixture of these two soils, under good tillage 

 and frequent dunging, both may in time be amelio- 

 rated and rendered productive. Such soils are 

 frequent in Mesopotamia, the torrents having 

 washed into the plains not merely the trash and 

 surface soil of the high lands, but also a good deal 

 of clay and more sand. 



Solon says the same of soils, and adds, that, soils 

 are good and productive, on account of the combi- 

 nation of heat and moisture they contain ; that 

 blackness, in a soil, indicates its being hot, and the 

 redness thereof indicates the same thing, though 

 in a less degree; that yellow soil is least hot, and 

 approaches most the quality of cold scil, and that 

 white soil is what usually is denominated cold soil. 



The qualities of soils are known to observers, by 

 evident signs : that which is best adapted for vege- 

 tation must be hot and moist, and must, in color 

 and texture, resemble old rotten dung. Next in 

 quality, is that which has a good mixture of fine 

 sand, fat clay, and black mud. That soil which 

 consists of mere sand and gravel, without any ad- 

 mixture of clay and black mud, is very inferior. 

 Clay alone is better than sand alone, as it can be 

 improved with less cost, where sand is nigh, by an 

 admixture of that article, than sand alone, by an 

 admixture of clay. 



Sidagos says : when Ave examine attentively 

 the different classes of soil, we cannot help per- 

 ceiving that it is necessary that they should be 

 more moist, rich and porous, than hot, as the 

 sun's heat may warm them sufKciently for 

 vegetation, whilst, without richness and porosity, 

 the plants would not take root, and consequent- 

 ly, could not grow. Should, however, both quali- 

 ties, viz: heat and moisture, meet in the same 

 soil, it would be so much the better. Nothing is 

 more true than the opinion of Sidagos on this sub- 

 ject, says Aben HajaJ, that black soil is the best, 

 and so all the ancients have considered it, and that 

 the red with a shade of blue is the next in quality, 

 and that such laTul as contains a good mixture of 

 clay and sand with alluvial mud is also very good. 



Uemocrite says, that such a soil as, in rainy 

 weather, does not swell very much, and in hot 

 weather does not easily crack open, is of a very 

 good quality. However, we know that in the en- 

 virons of Carmona, the land is very much cracked 

 in summer, and yet they reap larger crops of 

 wheat there, than any where else. Therefore, we 

 ought not to reject such land, unless we can more 

 advantageously cultivate the best kind indicated 

 above. In the black soil, we mentioned, resembr 



