1853. 



NEW ENGLANB FARMER. 



71 



8. Entomologi/. — Under this ]ioad all the nox- 

 ious insects should be particularly described, such 

 as the wheat Uy, locusts, canker worm, curculio, 

 and the means of preventing their ravages. Dr. 

 Harris's valuable treatise nearly exhausts the first 

 branch of this topic. 



9. The natural liislory of animals, especially of 

 those injurious to tlie farmer's interests, with a 

 discriminating tariff of protection iu favor of use- 

 ful birds. 



10. The commissioner or secretary would sys- 

 tematically, by means of carefully prepared circu- 

 lars, filled with interrogat(H-ies, and through the 

 best journals, and transactions of societies and by 

 personal enquiry and observation, collect and ar- 

 range all the facts, theories and suggestions deemed 

 useful to the cause, and prepare them in the form 

 of an annual report to the board for publication, 

 and distribution. 



Here you have, hastily sketched, some idea of 

 my views of the labor to be performed under the 

 direction of a Board of Agriculture. 



If our friends will continue the subject, and send 

 you their suggestions of such additional matters 

 as seem to them to require attention, I doubt not 

 the Board of Agriculture, whenever established, 

 will treat them with due consideration. 



Your friend, II. F. FRENcn. 



POWJGR OF THE SOIL TO RETAIN MA- 

 NURES. 



BY PROF. J. J. M.^PES, NEWARK, N. J. 



We propose in our present number to show the 

 power of the soil to retain manures, and the means 

 of improving this property when required. 



For a long time it was supposed that all materi- 

 als soluble in water would pass downward in solu- 

 tion, and thus be lost to plants — those who worked 

 clayey soils claimed that, because water could not 

 readily percolate their soils, that hence, they were 

 not leachy, and therefore retained manures — while 

 other operators Avith sandy soils argued that ma- 

 nures passed downward and were soon lost to the 

 surface soil. 



All these positions are false. It is true, that a 

 fair proportion of alumina is valuable to soils and 

 in the absence of carbonaceous matter is absolute- 

 ly necessary for the retention of manures, but it 

 13 not true that the tenacious property of clay need 

 exist to such an extent as to prevent the freefiltra- 

 tion of pure water before the manures will be re- 

 tained — for many soils which will pass pure water 

 readily, will still retain, from impure water, all its 

 impurities, permitting only tlie pure water to de- 

 scend. Indeed this is true of all arable soils, and 

 if it were not so, the water in all our wells wcmld 

 be unfit to drink from being surcharged with soluble \ 

 organic matter. 



Even the brown fluids of a barn -yard will not 

 leach downward in the soil,without leaving all the 

 foetid matter in the surface. Dig in an old barn- 

 yard, but a few inches below where the soil has 

 been before disturbed, and it will be found not to 

 have become dark-colored, and not to contain any 

 undue proportion of the soluble matters resident 

 at the surface, but to be like the subsoil of adjoin- 

 ing fields. 



Aluuiina (clay) has the curious property of re- 

 ceiving and retaining all animal and vegetable 

 substances, and their gaseous products, until ab- 



stracted again by gi'owing plants, and for this rea- 

 son a free clayey loam will purify water durino- its 

 passage tlirough the surface soil, retaining all the 

 fertiliKing substances originally held in the solu- 

 tion, and permitting the pure water to pass down- 

 ward. Nor does this retaining power cease with 

 organic sul)stances alone, for many of the alkalies 

 are also retained, and all of them to a certain ex- 

 tent. Excess of lime, potash or magnesia will 

 pass down and therefore the chemist finds variable 

 proportions of these alkalies in our well water. 



This peculiar property of clay was noted by Mr. 

 Teschmaker of Boston , in his public addresses many 

 years since, and in our published addresses before 

 the American Institute, as far back as 1840, the 

 same truths are set forth. Within the last tWo 

 years. Professor Way and other English chemists 

 are claiming this as a new discovery. 



Alumina is not the only substance in soils which 

 has this retaining power, for carbon in every form 

 has similar properties, and it is not important 

 whether charcoal dust be artificially added, or ex- 

 ist in the soil by the decay of former vegetation or 

 of manures ; for in either case ciirbon is the result, 

 and as such, has similar retaining powers to those 

 of clay. Thus charcoal dust placed for a time near 

 a fermenting dung heap, will receive and retain 

 the gases arising from decomposition, and if placed 

 in the soil will give out these gases again to the 

 roots of growing plants. Privies, stables, &c., are 

 rendered inodorous by the use of charcoal dust. 

 Decomposed peat, turf, swamp muck, &c., are but 

 varied forms of carbon, with some more partially 

 decomposed vegetable matter. The dark color of 

 soils is due to the presence of carbon ; humus, veg- 

 etable mould, &c., are but modifications of carbon. 



All know that an old and black garden soil will 

 retain nianure longer than field soils, and that a 

 less quantity of manure will act in them, for the 

 simple reason, that the carbon (charcoal,) con- 

 tained in them, and arising from p»revious decay, 

 retains the resultant gases from the decomposition 

 of the manure until used up by plants. ' 



Let any larmer try the following experiment and 

 lie will be satisfied of the truth of our statement. 



Prepare four barrels by taking out the upper 

 heads and boring small holes in the lower heads, 

 stand the barrels on end and fill them with the 

 following substances. 



No. 1. Barren sand with one-tenth the bulk of 

 clay intimately mixed throughout the mass. 



No. 2. Barren sand with one-tenth of finely 

 ground charcoal dust. 



No. 3. A dark colored loam or garden soil. 



No. 4. Barren sand alone. 



Pour on all four barrels the brown solution from 

 the barn-yard, and it will be found, that the water 

 running out of the bottoms of Nos. 1, 2, and 3, 

 will be colorless and without smell ; while that 

 from No. 4 will be unaltered and as offensive as 

 when placed on the top. 



The question may now be asked, "if the soluble 

 results of vegetable decay do not filter downward, 

 what becomes of them T' We answer, that resid- 

 ent in the earth's surface, from the combined in- 

 fluences of sun and air, they decay, and take the 

 aseous form ; if the soil contains either clay or 

 carbon, these gases are absorbed by thein, until 

 abstracted by growing plants. But if these sub- 

 tances are not resident in the soil, then the gases 

 rise into the atmosphere, and are absorbed by bet- 



