SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. 121 



Since writing the preceding remarks I have re- 

 ceived from Dr. Dana, the analysis of the soil on 

 which I have experimented the two last years, and 

 of the swamp muck used on the same in my compost 

 manure. These I have added to the extracts from 

 Professor Hitchcock's table annexed. 



The muck is not so rich in geine as I had suppos- 

 ed, and the quantity of silicates much greater. It is 

 not peat, but a rich black soil, full of water and lying 

 on a bed of pure white, moderately coarse, quick- 

 sand — the same granitic sand that is mixed with the 

 geine. The geine is, doubtless, formed chiefly of 

 upland vegetables, and the leaves of trees, &,c. 

 growing on the adjacent hills, and washed down 

 therefrom with the sand, into the depot where it now 

 lies. The fertilizing qualities of this muck, proved 

 by my experiments, and the knowledge now obtain- 

 ed of its constituents, suggests several important 

 queries — viz : Does its whole value depend on its 

 geine and salts of lime? Is not the sand on which 

 it lies and with which it is mixed a "muck sand,"* 

 possessing fertilizing qualities? Does it not contain 

 a free alkali which Doctor Dana's mode of analysis 

 w^ould not detect? The last question I am able to 

 answer in the affirmative, having tested and proved 

 it alkaline.f 



Three parcels of the soil on which my corn grew, 

 taken from between the rows, manured as described 

 in my statement, in the hills were mixed so as to 

 get, as near as possible, an average lot as to quality, 

 and from this lot the specimen analyzed by Doctor 

 Dana, was taken. The results are stated in the 

 table. 



* Note, A. 



t The purple juice of cabbage.blossonis of violets,. and other vegetables, obtained 

 by macerating them in pure water, is changed to a red color when mixed with a li- 

 quid in which any acid predominates, and to a green when it contains any pure alka- 

 li. Pour pure hot water on peat muck or other specimens of soil, let it settle, pour 

 off the clear liquor and mix with it some vegetable purple juice, and its acid or alka- 

 line condition will be soon determined by the change of color. 



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