324 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



JULT 



cient to sustain the life of a tree or plant for a 

 longtime; — water, carbonic acid, and ammonia, 

 which are taken from the atmosphere, or formed 

 _ within the plant from the gases inhaled, supplying 

 ingredients of new compounds, which are wholly 

 sufficient to the vegetable life. 



Most plants, however, require for their nourish- 

 ment, and vigorous growth, something more bj 

 way of aliment than can be collected from the at- 

 mosphere. This they are enabled to obtain by 

 their roots from the surrounding soil. Thus a 

 great deal of moisture is taken up by the roots, 

 and with this a small portion of the earthy matters 

 necessary to the food of the plant. Some soils are 

 better adapted than others to hold and furnish the 

 needed quantity. We cannot in a brief paragraph 

 explain the differences. 



It is the office of the soil, also, to supply car- 

 bonic acid as well as water. The decay of matter 

 in the earth continually furnishes this product, 

 and it is also furnished to the roots, as to the 

 leaves and aerial surface, by the atmosphere, on 

 the two constituents of carbon and oxygen, which 

 uniting in the tissues of the plants, form the car- 

 bonic acid. The absorption of this carbonic acid 

 by the roots may be much assisted artificially. 

 One way of doing this is by animal or vegetable 

 substances in decomposition, which furnish it 

 abundantly. It may be also assisted in other 

 modes. Some substances absorb gases to many 

 times their own bulk. Of these, charcoal has a 

 great capacity for absorbing carbonic acid gas from 

 the air. If, therefore, charcoal be placed about 

 the roots, and an abundant supply of water givt , 

 the carbonic acid gas which is extracted from tTe 

 atmosphere by the charcoal will be dissolved by 

 the water, and with it taken up into the plant by 

 the root. 



ANALYSIS OF SOILS AND THEIR PRO- 

 DUCTIONS. 



At a recent meeting of the U. S. Agricultural 

 Society at Washington, a paper was read which 

 had been presented to the Pennsylvania Agricul- 

 tural Society by Prof Booth, of Philadelphia, on 

 this subject. The purport was, that in the present 

 state of chemical science not much practical bene- 

 fit^ could accrue to the farmer, from having his 

 soils analyzed. Soils were extremely various, the 

 best known methods of analysis complicated, labo- 

 rious, and of course, expensive. Very small quan- 

 tities of some important ingredients were necessary 

 for the crop ;_ the difficulty of determining these 

 minute quantities was very great ; and a great de- 

 gree of uncertainty attended the result. 



The paper breathed throughout the caution and 

 modesty of true science, and as it appeared to us, 

 showed a noble disposition to be satisfied with 

 nothing short of scientific accuracy. But the 

 question is,_may not an analysis which is not in all 

 respects minutely accurate, be of service? We 

 have no_ doubt but it may be in many cases. The 

 danger is that the analist will claim too much, his 

 directions fail, and science become, in the view of 



the farmer, a humbug, as we believe very many of 

 the $5 analyses truly are. Prof Mapes attacked 

 the paper of Prof Booth with great vehemence, 

 claiming that his positions were nearly all wrong. 

 Considerable discussion followed, after which, it 

 appearing that the paper was not presented for 

 the action of the U. S. Society, but as a part of 

 the proceedings of the Pennsylvania Society, and 

 so far as could be ascertained, even without Prof. 

 Booth's knowledge, it was (not withdrawn, as 

 many reports have said,) put in the hands of the 

 gentleman by whom the JPennsylvania proceedings 

 were presented, to take such course as Prof Booth 

 should direct. As the thing was placed, the dis- 

 cussion was out of place, and to have directed it 

 withdrawn would have been very uncourteous to 

 the Pennsylvania Society. 



The subject was deemed one of great impor- 

 tance, and there were many who wished to have 

 the paper brought before the Society in such a 

 manner that it could be, with propriety, discussed, 

 and perhaps be made the basis of a report from a 

 committee. 



We have high hopes and expectations from the 

 aid of science in the cause of agriculture ; but when 

 the best analytic chemists of the day speak with 

 great caution on the subject of soil analysis as the 

 director of the firmer, it should lead us not to re- 

 ly too confidently on the decisions of second or 

 third rate chemists, however confident they may 

 be. 



But analysis may be a good councillor where it 

 Is not entitled to the rank of commander. Some 

 ingredient which should exist in considerable 

 quantities may be so deficient that a very Imper- 

 fect assay will show a defect. If those crops 

 which require a full supply of the ingredient sup- 

 posed deficient, have failed on the soil analized, 

 the probability would be very strong that we were 

 on the right track. Butr this last thought sug- 

 gests another field for scientific analyses, which is, 

 in our view, subject to less difficulty, and offijrs a 

 richer harvest. 



We refer to the analysis of the products of the 

 soil. If it is known of what ingredients the ker- 

 nel of wheat is composed, and of what the straw, 

 we may often tell why, on some fields, a heavy 

 growth of straw with small, poor kernels, is the 

 U5ual result. It may be said that the small grain 

 comes from the falling down of the straw ; but 

 the question is, why does the straw fall? Every 

 one knows that it is not always because It is 

 large. It will often fall when, if it stood up and 

 filled well, nothing more than a medium crop 

 could be obtained. Straw generally falls because 

 It lacks a due portion of silica, (silex, flinstone.) 

 It is this that adds due strength to It. Now it is 

 true that almost, if not all soils, muck excepted, 

 contain silex enough, but It is not In a state to be 

 dissolved by water. If potash be added you get 

 a silicate, a new compound, which Is soluble. If 

 common yard manure, unfermented, be applied 

 freely to soils not well supplied with silica in a 

 soluble state, you will get a large growth of straw, 

 extremely weak and almost certain to fall early. 

 But If the soil is rich from manure applied the 

 year previous, and now well decomposed and 

 thoroughly mixed with the earth, and a due pro- 

 portion of alkalies and other Ingredients of the 

 crop are present, you may set as heavy a growth 

 of straw standing erect and carrying to perfect 



