5i VIRGINIAN SOILS NOT CALCAREOUS. 



no calcareous earth were often found in Scotland and tlie northern 

 part of G ermany, and that they were comparatively rare in England 

 and France. 



With iny early impressions of .the nature and composition of 

 soils, derived in like manner from the general descriptions given in 

 books, it was with surprise, and some distrust, that, when first 

 attempting to analyze soils, in 1817, 1 found most of the specimens 

 entirely destitute of calcareous earth. The trials were repeated 

 with care and accuracy, on soils from various places, until I felt 

 authorized to assert, without fear of contradiction, that no naturally 

 poor soil, below the falls of the rivers, contains the smallest propor- 

 tion of calcareous earth. Nor do I believe that any exception to 

 this peculiarity of constitution can be found in any poor soil above 

 the falls y but though these soils are far more extensive and im- 

 portant in other respects, they are beyond the district within the 

 limits of which I propose to confine my investigation. 



These results are highly important, whether considered merely 

 as serving to establish my proposition, or as showing a radical 

 difference between most of our soils, and those of the best cultivated 

 parts of Europe. Putting aside my argument to establish a par- 

 ticular theory of improvement, the ascertained fact of the universal 

 absence of calcareous earth in our poor soils leads to this conclusion, 

 that profitable as calcareous manures have been found ta be in 

 countries where the soils are generally calcareous in some degree, 

 they must be far more so on our soils that are quite destitute of 

 that necessary earth.* 



[* Since the first and even the last edition (1842) containing the above 

 deductions, the later agricultural chemists have removed much of the ob- 

 scurity before resting upon the calcareous character of European soils. 

 Two recent European works have been republished in the United States, 

 which, on soils and calcareous manures especially, are more full and satis- 

 factory than any which had previously reached me. One is Boussingault's 

 "Rural Economy, in its relations with Chemistry, &c.,&c." This volume 

 was first published in this country in 1845 (by Appleton, & Co., N. Y.), from 

 the English translation and first edition. There is no date given to show 

 the time of publication of the original work in French, nor of the English 

 translation. But both were manifestly very recent; and probably neither 

 had been introduced or was accessible in this country before the American 

 edition appeared. As there is contained a reference to analyses of all the 

 crops made in 1841. on the author's farm, in which "long and tedious 

 labour" he "spent nearly a whole year," the original work could not have 

 been printed before the close of 1842, even if so early. The author, be- 

 sides being one of the most profound and able of modern chemists, and 

 who has directed much research to agricultural chemistry, was also a prac- 

 tical farmer, on a scale of operations sufficient to inform him how to pro- 

 perly direct his scientific investigations. Therefore, many of his subjects 

 and reported results are full Tf instruction, and doubtless are to be relied 

 on as among the latest and most certain lights and truths yet derived from 

 applying chemistry to agriculture. The other work referred to above is 



