CONSTITUENTS OF SOILS. 



83 



inso'iuble extractive matter destructible by 



heat - - 4-000 



Animal matter - 1*600 



Resin - ... 0'250 



Loss ..... 0-400 



Humus, soluble in alkalies 

 Nitrogenous organic matter 

 Wax and resinous matter 



1-950 

 0-236 

 0-025 



100-000 



This great chemist has strangely omitted 

 to detect in the soil potash, soda, chlorine, 

 sulphuric acid, and manganese. As this 

 soil is eminent for its fertility, there cannot 

 be the slightest doubt that all these ingre- 

 dients must have existed in it in notable 

 quantity. 



ISLAND OF JAVA. 



44. A very fine-grained loamy soil, co- 

 loured yellow by peroxide of iron, consisted 

 of: 



Silica and siliceous sand >'"-' 



Alumina - - *"" 



Peroxide and protoxide of iron 

 Peroxide of manganese 

 Lime , 

 Magnesia 



Potash, principally in combination 

 silica . - - *,/j 



Soda, idem ... 

 Phosphoric acid '*.--. 



Sulphuric acid 



Chlorine V " 



Humus ... 



Water with carbonic acid 



with 



67-660 



13-572 



10-560 



1-640 



0-912 



0-570 



0-030 

 0184 

 0-391 

 0.038 

 0010 

 0-368 

 4-065 



100-000 



WEST INDIES (PORTO RICO.) 



45. Surface-soil of a very barren field. 

 100 parts contained : 



Silica and siliceous sand - 70"900 

 Alumina .... 6'996 

 Peroxide and protoxide of iron (much mag- 

 netic iron sand) : v . . 6*102 

 Peroxide of manganese "*" - 0'200 

 Lime - - - .-*.:, . 2'218 

 Magnesia - . ;&\: -"- * 3'280 

 Potash - ;,. r . 0-130 

 Carbonate of soda - - .'>. 6 ' 556 

 Phosphoric acid, combined with lime - 1-362 

 Sulphuric acid, combined with lime 0"149 

 Chlorine in common salt - 0'067 

 Humus, soluble in alkalies * ' 0'540 

 Humus - - - .f * 1*500 



100-000 



This soil is improved by gypsum. Its 

 sterility is due to the excessive quantity of 

 carbonate of soda which is present. 



NORTH AMERICA. 



46. Surface-soil of alluvial land in Ohio, 

 remarkable for its great fertility. 100 parts 

 consisted of: 



Silica and fine siliceous sand 79'538 



Alumina, .... 7'306 

 Peroxide and protoxide of iron, (much 



magnetic iron sand) ... 5'824 



Peroxide of manganese - - 1*320 



Lime ..... Q'619 



Magnesia .... T024 



Potash, principally combined with silica 0*200 



Soda . . . 0024 

 Phosphoric acid combined with lime and 



oxirle of iron - - . 1'776 



Sulphuric acid, combined with lime - 0'122 



Chlorine - Q36 



lOO'OOO 



47. (A.) Surface-soil of a mountainous 

 district in the neighbourhood of Ohio. (B.) 

 Analysis of the subsoil, This soil is also 

 distinguished for its great fertility. 100 parts 

 contain : 



(B) 



94261 

 1*376 

 2-336 

 1*200 

 0.243 

 0-310 



0-240 



a trace 



0-034 



a trace 



(A) 



Silica, with fine siliceous sand - 87*143 

 Alumina ----- 5*666 

 Peroxide and protoxide of iron - 2'220 

 Peroxide of manganese - - 0*360 



Lime - - - 0*564 



Magnesia - - - 0*312 



Potash, principally combined with 



silica 0*120 



Soda - ... 0-025 



Phosphoric acid - - 0*060 



Sulphuric acid * 0027 

 Chlorine - 0*036 



Humus soluble in alkalies 1.304 



Humus .... 1-Q72 



Carbonic acid, combined with lime 0*080 

 Nitrogenous organic matter - 1*011 



100-000 100-000 



In the preceding part of the chapter we 

 have inserted a number of analyses of vari- 

 ous soils, as well as the conclusions deduced 

 from them, by means of which the farmer 

 may be enabled to ascertain the manures 

 best adapted for each variety of soil. By in- 

 specting the analyses of the sterile soils, it 

 will be apparent that it is in the power of 

 chemistry to point out the causes of their 

 sterility. The general cause which con- 

 duces to the sterility of soils is either the ab- 

 sence of certain constituents indispensable 

 for the growth of plants, or the presence 

 of others which exert an injurious or poi- 

 sonous action. The analyses are those of 

 Dr. Sprengel, a chemist who has unceas- 

 ingly occupied himself for the last twenty 

 years in endeavouring to point out the im- 

 portance of the inorganic ingredients of a 

 soil for the developement of plants cultivated 

 upon it. He considers as essential all the 

 inorganic bodies found in the ashes of plants. 

 Now, although we cannot coincide with him 

 in the opinion that iron and manganese are 

 indispensable for vegetable life, (for these 

 bodies are found as excrementitious matter 

 only in the bark, and never form a constitu- 

 ent of an organ,) yet we gratefully acknow- 

 ledge the valuable services which he has ren- 

 dered to agriculture, by furnishing a natural 

 explanation of the action of ashes, marl, &c., 

 in the improvement of a soil. Sprengel has 

 shown that these mineral manures af- 

 ford to a soil alkalies, phosphates, and sul- 

 phates ; and further, that they can exert a 

 notable influence only on those soils in 

 which they are absent or deficient. In a 

 former chapter of this book I have endea- 

 voured to point out the importance of consi- 

 dering these constituents as intimately con- 

 nected with the vital processes of the vege- 

 table organism, and have shown that the 

 different families of plants contain unequal 



