84 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



SEPTEilinER 19, IS3S. 



C'EOLOGY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



Continued from page 59. 



Gei'ne — It may be well, fo state the avrrage 

 quantity of geine in the different geological varie- 

 ties of our soils, ■nhich is as follows : 



Soluble Geine. InsoIuMe Geiiie. 

 Alluvium, 2.25 - 2.15 



Tertiary argillaceous soils, .3.94 - 5.22 

 Sandstone do. 3.28 - 2.14 



Graywacke do. .'IbO - 4.00 



Argillaceous slate do. .j./T - 4..")3 



Limestone, do. 3.40 - 4.04 



Mica slate do. 4..34 - 4.60 



Talcose slate do. 3.G7 - 4.U0 



Gneiss do. 4.30 - 3.40 



Granite do. 4.05 - 3.87 



Sienito do. 4.40 - 4.50 



Porphyry do. 5.1I7 - 4.10 



Greenstone do. 4..5G - 0.10 



One fact observable in the above results may 

 throw doubts over the fundamental principles that 

 have been advanced respecting geine ; viz., that 

 it constitutes tJie food of plants, and that they 

 cannot flourish without it. It appears that our 

 best alluvial soils contain less geine, in both its 

 foriM, than any other variety, e.xcept those very 

 sandy ones that are not noticed in the above results, 

 because their number is so small. Ought we hence 

 to infer that alluvium is a poor soil ? I apprehend 

 that we can infer nothing from this fact against al- 

 luvial soils, except that they are sooner exhausted 

 than others, without constant Supplies of geine. 

 For if a soil contain enough of this substance 

 abondantly to supply a crop that is growing upon 

 it, that crop may be large although there is not 

 enough geine to produce another. Now analysis 

 shows that our alluvial soils contain enough of 

 geine for any one crop : and I apprehend that their 

 chief e-xcellenco consists in being of such a de- 

 gree of fineness that they allow air, moisture, and 

 lime, rapidly to convert vegetable matter into so- 

 luble geine, and yield it up readily to the roots of 

 plants : but I presume that without fresh supplies 

 of manure, they would not continue to produce as 

 long as most of the other soils in the state. A 

 considerable part of our alluvia are yearly recruit- 

 ed by a fresh deposite of mud, which almost al- 

 ways contains a quantity of geino and of the salts 

 of lime, in a fine condition for being absorbed by 

 the rootlets of plants. And on other parts of al- 

 luvial tracts, our farmers, I believe, are in th*e ha- 

 bit of expecting but a poor crop unless they man- 

 ure it yearly. Ydt so finely constituted are tliese 

 soils, that even if exhausted, they are more easily 

 restored than most others ; so tliat taking all things 

 into tlie account, they are among the most valua- 

 ble of our soils ; and yet I donbt wiiether they pro- 

 duce as much at any one crop as many other soils ; 

 though the others perhaps require more labor in 

 cultivation. 



Western Soils. — Tu addition to the arguments re- 

 specting the existence of phosphate of limejn the 

 soils, I would state that I found it in every analy- 

 sis which I have made of tiie Berkshire mark, the 

 results of which I shall soon present. I hav« also 

 recently analysed five specimens of soils from Ohio 

 and Illinois, presented to me by H. G. Bowers, 

 Esq., formerly of Northampton, in this state, and 

 now resident in Illinois. Tlioy were taken from 

 some of the most productive spots in those states, 

 and, in regard to some of them, it is certain, tliat 

 JIG animal or any oth«r manure has ever been ap- 

 plied by man, and at least one of them seems not 



to have been cultivated, so far as I can judge from 

 its appearance. Yet all these soils contain phos- 

 |)hate of lime. The following are the results of 

 their analysis ; which I give, partly because of the 

 subject under consideration, and partly because I 

 thought it might be gratifying to compare tlie com- 

 position of some of the best soils at the west with 

 those in Massachusetts. 



The above soils are evidently of the very first 

 quality : the geine being in large proportion, and 

 the salts quite abundant enough, while there is still 

 a small supply of carbonate of lime to convert 

 more insoluble into soluble geine, whenever occa- 

 sion demands. Still, if we compare the preceding 

 analysis with some of those that have been given 

 of the Massachusetts soil, the superiority of the 

 western soils will not appear as great as is gener- 

 ally supposed. And there is one consideration re- 

 sultipg ffofrf [he facts that have been stated respect- 

 ing geine, that ought to be well considered by those 

 who are anxious to leave the soil of New England 

 that they may find a more fertile spot in the West 

 Such soils they can undoubtedly find : lor geine 

 has been for ages accumulating from the decom- 

 position of vegetation in regions which have not 

 been cultivated : and for many years, perhaps, 

 those regions will produce spontaneously. But 

 almost as certain as any future event can be, con- 

 tinued ciiltivation will exhaust the geine and the 

 salts, and other generations must resort to the same 

 means for keeping their lands in a fertile condition 

 as are now employed in Massachusetts, viz., to pro- 

 vide for tlie yearly supply of more geine and more 

 salts. 



Importavce of the Snlls of Lime. — I apprehend 

 tliat t)ie importance of the salts of lime in a soil is 

 but little appreciated by farmers in general. Their 

 crops may fail, although they have manured and 

 tended them well ; but it is almost always easy to 

 find a cause tJiat satisfies, in the character of the 



season ; but hard to convince them that the faiUir 

 may have been owing to the deficiency of a singl^ 

 grain in a hundred, of some substance, that can b^ 

 discovered when present, only by chemical exand- 

 nation. And yet, I doubt not many a crop has 

 failed from the want of that one per cent, of sul- 

 phate or pliosphate of lime. Facts, indeed, seem 

 to me to warrant the conclusion, that, without lime 

 in some form, land will not produce any valuable 

 vegetation. 



General Conclusions. — Without stopping to no- 

 tice some things of minor importance, I will state 

 at once the most important conclusions that have 

 forced themselves upon my mind, from all my ex- 

 aminations and analyses of our soils, respectino' 

 their deficiencies and the means of remedyi 

 them. 



First, the grand desideratum in our soils is calca- 

 reous matter; that is, carbonate of lime. 



The second desideratum is an additional qxMntiti) 

 of geine ; that is, a larger supply of the food of 

 plants. 



Hence, thirdly, the great object of the agricultural 

 chemist should be, to discover and bring to light new 

 supplies of both these substances. 



Tlie discovery of either of them would, indeed, 

 be of no small value ; but it is a principle that 

 ought never to be lost sight of, that an additional 

 quantity of lime in the soil, will commonly require 

 an additional quantity of organic matter, and ani 

 increase of the latter, will be far more serviceable, 

 if attended by an increase of tiie former. 



These fundamental principles and conclusions 1 1 

 have kept in view continually ; and will now pro-! 

 ceed to show with what success I have searched 

 for new sources of lime and of geine. I shall be- 

 gin with tlie former as the most important, because 

 the farmer already possesses the means of increas- 

 ing the quantity of liis manure, but not of obtain- 

 ing calcareous matter; for, with the exception of 

 Berkshire ::ounty, Massachusetts is very deficient in 

 limestone. 



Marls — No form of calcareous matter is so 

 valuable in agriculture as rich marl. This term, 

 however, has been till recently very loosely appli- 

 ed ; often meaning nothing more than loose clay, 

 entirely destitute of lime. But all accurate writ- 

 ers now understand it to mean a friable mixture of 

 lime and clay; although the term is extended to 

 beds of calcareous shells that are somewhat hard. 

 Till within a few years, this substance has been 

 neglected in our country ;.but its remarkable effects 

 in some of our middle and southern states have 

 awakened the public attention ; and it is now- 

 sought af^er with no small tividity. From the na- 

 ture of our rocks, I had no hope of finding rich 

 marls in any other part of tlie state except tho 

 county of Berkshire. 



The purest of these marls when dry, are almost 

 as white as chalk, and much lighter than common 

 soil, as may be seen from the specific gravities of a 

 part of them in the table of their analysis below. 

 When wet they are of a light gray color, especial- 

 ly if tliey contain much organic and earthy matter : 

 indeed the degree of their wliiteness is no bad in- 

 dex of the quantity of lime that they contain. 

 When wet they are quite plastic and adliesive : 

 when dry, they fall into a fine powder. Hence 

 they are in a most fiivorable state for being spread 

 upon land. They are found almost exclusively in 

 swampy ground, generally in quite wet swamps, 

 and are always covered by a stratum., often several 

 feet lliick, of black vegetable matt'jr api^roaching 



