VOL. TCVIt. NO. 9. 



be obtained, tar, which is very cheap, may be fixed 

 with tow so as to burn long, and if the light be not | 

 brio-lit enoush, spirits of turpentine may be added. 

 The lights should be within two or tliree feet ot 

 each other. A thin piece of board tnight be eleva- 

 ted ten or twelve inches above the flat piece, be- 

 fore named, and on this might be fastened light 

 vessels for the tar. By proper care m fixing poles 

 or boards, a breadth could be taken through a piece 

 of grain of twenty or thirty feet. 



These suggestions as to an apparatus for destroy- 

 ■ incr tliis grea°pest of the former may be of advan- 

 tage to some ; others may fix a better contrivance. 

 \Ve reo-ret that we did not hear of this method ear- 

 lier thst It might have been tried when the flies 

 first made then- appearance. Though the season 

 in which the flies usually do mischief may be pas- 

 sed, yet farmers may judge, in a measure, of the 

 utility of this method by carrying lights through 

 their wheat as soon as it is dark, as there may be 

 some flics remaining. We think that it- appears 

 reasonable that the grain fly may be destroyed as 

 here recommended, and the experiments that have 

 been made, so far as we have heard, have been suc- 

 cessful. The vast amount of grain destroyed by 

 these insects, should induce every farmer in tlie 

 countrv to exert himself to discover a remedy 

 ao-ainst their ravages, and every method recom- 

 niended that has any reason to support it, should 

 be fairly tested ; and those who make experiments 

 should comnmnicate the result to Uie public that 

 others may benefit from their experience.— ii. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



69 



GEOLOGY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



BY PROFESSOR HITCHCOCK. 



New method of analtsing soils. — Continued. 

 Dr Dana's remarks in answer to these inquiries I 

 shall omit for the present, and qupte the remainder 

 of his remarks preliminary to his rules for analysis. 

 If any sentences seem to be somewhat repetitious 

 of those already quoted, it is sufiicient to say, that 

 they were communicated at difierent times, m pri- 

 vate letters in answer to inquiries which I had 

 made, that I might be sure not to mistake his mean- 

 ing. On a subject so new, some repetitions are not 

 undesirable. . , 



"Geine forms the basis of all the nourishing 

 part of all vegetable manures. The relations of 

 soils to heat and moisture depend chiefly on geine. 

 It is in fact, under its three states of ' vegetable 

 extract, geine, and carbonaceous mould,' the prin- 

 ciple which gives fertility to soils long after the 

 action of common manures has ceased. In these 

 tiiree states it is essentially the same. The ex- 

 periments of Saussure have long ago proved that 

 air and moisture convert insoluble into soluble 

 geine. Of all the problems to be solved by agri- 

 cultural chemistry, none is of so great practical 

 importance as the determination of the quantity ot 

 soluble and insoluble geine in soils. This is a 

 question of much higher importance than the na 

 ture and proportions of the earthy constituents and 

 soluble salts of soils. It lies at tlie foundation of 

 all successful cultivation. Its importance has been 

 not so much overlooked as undervalued. Hence, 

 on this point the least light has been leflected trom 

 the labors of Davy and Chaptal. It needs but a» 

 glance at any analysis of soils, published m the 

 books, to see that fertility depends not on tlie pro- 

 portion of the eartliv ingredients. Among the tew 

 facts best establislicd in chemical agriculture, are 

 these : that a soil, whose earthy part is composed 



wholly, or chiefly, of one earth ; or any soil, with 

 excess of salts, is always barren ; and that plants 

 .xrow equally well in all soils, destitute ot geine, 

 i]p to the period of fructification,— tailing of goine, 

 the fruit fails, the plants die. Earths, and salts, 

 and geine, constitute, then, all that is essential ; 

 and soils will be fertile, in proportion as the last is 

 mixed with the first. The earths are the plates, 

 the salts the seasoning, the geine the food of plants. 

 The salts can be varied but very little in their pro- 

 portions, without injury. The earths admit of wide 

 variety in their nature and proportions. 1 would 

 resolve all into ' granitic sand ;' by which I rnean 

 the finely divided, almost impalpable mixture of the 

 detritus of granite, gneiss, mica slate, sienite, and 

 aro-illite ; the last, giving by analysis, a compound 

 very similar to the former. When we look at the 

 analysis of vegetables, we find these inorganic 

 principles constant constituents— silica, lime, mag- 

 nesia, oxide of iron, potash, soda, and sulphuric and 

 phosphoric acids. Hence these will be found con- 

 stituents of all soils. The phosphats have been j 

 overlooked from the known dilBculty of detecting j 

 phosphoric acid. Phosphate of lime is so easily 

 soluble when combined with mucilage or gelatine, 

 that it is among the first principles of soils exhaust- 

 ed. Doubtless the good effects, the lasting effects, 

 of bone manure, depend more on the phosphat of 

 lime, than on its animal portion. Though the | 

 s-ame plants growing in difierent soils are found to | 

 yield variable quantities of the salts and earthy 

 compounds ; yet I believe that accurate analysis 

 will show, that similar parts of the same species, at 

 the same acre, always contain the inorganic princi- 

 ples above named, when grown in soils arising from 

 the natural decomposition of granite , rocks. These 

 inoro-anic substances will be found not only m con- 

 stant quantity, but always in definite proportion to 

 the veo-etable portion of each plant. The effect of 

 cultivation may depend, therefore, much more on 

 the introduction of salts than has been generally 

 supposed. The salts introduce new breeds. So 

 lono- as the salts and earths exist in the soil, so 

 lon^ will they form voltaic batteries with the roots 

 of Rowing plants ; by which, the ' granitic sand ' 

 is decomposed and the nascent earths, in this state 

 readily soluble, are taken up by the absorbents of 

 the roots, always a living, never a mechanical Oper- 

 ation. Hence so long as the soil is granitic, using 

 the term as above defined, so long is it as good as 

 on the day of its deposition ; salts and geme may 

 vary, and must be modified by cultivation. The 

 universal diffusion of granitic diluvium will always 

 afford enough of the earthy ingredients. The fer- 

 tile character of soils, I presume, will not be found 

 dependent on any particular rock formation on 

 which it reposes. Modified they may be, to a cer- 

 tain extent, by pecul-ar formations ; but all our 

 granitic rocks aff^ord, when decomposed, all those 

 inorcfanic principles which plants demand. This 

 is so true, that on this point the farmer already 

 knows all that chemistry can teach him. Clay and 

 sand, every one knows : a soil too sandy, too clayey, 

 may be modified by mixture, but the best possible 

 mixture does not give fertility. That depends on 

 salts and geine. If these views are correct, the 

 few properties of geine whicli I have mentioned, 

 will lead us at once to a simple and accurate mode 

 of analysing soils,— a mode, which determines at 

 once die value of a soil, from its quantity of solu- 

 ble and insoluble vegetable nutriment,- a mode, 

 requirim'- no array of apparatus, nor delicate exper- 

 imentaltact,— one, which the country gentleman 



may apply with very great accuracy ; and, with a 



little modification, perfectly within the rciich of 



any man who can drive a team or hold a plough." 



To Ix; continued. 



THE CROPS— (iRASSHOPPERS— THE 

 DROUTH. 



Columlnis, August 1, 1838. 

 We are> cheered from every quarter with infor- 

 mation of the abundant harvests which have been 

 made this year in all parts of the country. The 

 wlieat harvest has been particularly fine and abun- 

 dant ; and husbandmen in all the wheat growing 

 states, h-ave been blessed with unusu-al plenty.— 

 The hay harvests have also been'good, and if the 

 yield of clover and timoUiy and other grasses has 

 not been as great this season as has been known, 

 the weather has been of the finest for making and 

 spcurino- the crops. The oat crop where it has 

 been gathered is of excellent quality and yield, but 

 I we have noticed many fields of late and unripe oats 

 1 much damaged by grasshoppers. Corn, which m 

 I the early part of the season, was backward and un- 

 I promising, is now looking unusu-ally fine, and gives 

 I promise of great plenty. 



The heat and dryness of June and .Tuly, seem to 

 have been peculiarly favorable to all the insect 

 tribes. We find our meadows and fields swarming 

 I with innumerable hosts of grasshoppers and other 

 ' insects, which are doing much damage. Oats, as 

 before observed, are suff^ering much from this cause, 

 and even corn has been attacked by them. We 

 are beginning too to feel the want of ram very 

 much, it being now several weeks smce we have 

 had even a shower. We trust, however, that these 

 causes will operate only as slight drawbacks to a 

 season of unusual plenty and rejoicing. — Ohio 

 Farmer. 



To the Editor of the New England Farmer. 



Respected Sir— Enclosed in a package is a 

 sample of seed corn taken from the field on the 18th 

 inst. to all appearance fully ripe, being just ninety 

 days from the time it was planted, which was 14th 

 to 22d May. The original seed was what is gen- 

 erally termed the small size Canada corn which I 

 beo-an to plant about four years ago, occasionally 

 mLxin<r some of a little diff-erent and larger sort in 

 some part of the field, and selecting the earliest 

 and laro-est for planting tlie ensuing year, a bushel 

 was o-a'thered and ground at the mill 22d of this 

 montlt, bei'ng 25 days earlier than I was able to 

 obtain any from the same field fit for grinding the 

 last year. The land on which it grew is rather 

 hi<rh, inclining to a sandy appearance, formerly used 

 for a pasture. Should the above be worth accepting 

 you will please distribute to any who may wish to 

 try the same, or more if wanted. 



Yours, most respectfully, &.C. 



JOHN S. CHAMPNEY. 

 Abinglon, August 24, 1838. 



Great crop of oats.— It will be seen by a 

 communication in this paper, that our correspon- 

 dent, A Livington Co. Farmer, raised tlie last year 

 nine hundred bushels of oats on nine acres of land. 

 i The land had been many years under the plough, 

 I and without manure. The Genesee Flatts have, we 

 1 believe, produced the largest wheat crop on record, 

 (68 43-(i(lth3 bushels per acre,) and we shall be glad 

 ' to hear where a greater crop of oats than the one 

 i here recorded has been raised.— Gen. Farmer. 



