100 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



OtTOHF-R ■, ISDR. 



GEOLOGY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



[Concluiled from page 93.] 



Clay in JlgricuUure. — There is abundant evi- 

 dence that our cominon clays are of great value 

 whou spread upon land. I find that tliey have been 

 used to a considerable extent in the sltite ; so com- 

 monly, indeed, that I abandoned tlie idea I had 

 formed of giving a detailed accotuit of particular 

 instances. So far as my inquiries liave extended, 

 the testimony is decided that our blue clays exert 

 a very favorable effect upon the soil. When 

 spread upon sandy ground we might expect that 

 they would render it a better rescvoir for salts and 

 geine. JJut thoroughly to ameliorate our sandy 

 soils in this lyay, requires far more clay tlian is 

 usually employed, ami I am perfectly convinced 

 that they exert other than a mechanical influence ; 

 that in fact, their effect is analogous to that of lime. 

 I refer here to the blue clays which are far the 

 most common. As to the white clay I have not 

 learnt its effect upon the soil ; but from the fertility 

 of some of the soils in Kingston, Plymouth, and 

 Barnateblc, where white clay is mi.xed naturally 

 with sand, I presume this sort is equally valuable 

 with the blue. 



In view of the wide extent of our beds of clay, 

 and the use that might be made of it upon land, I 

 felt desirous to ascertain to what principle it owes 

 its fertilizing powers ; and therefore subjected a 

 few specimens to analysis in the ordinary way by 

 solution in alkali. The following are ttie results. 

 I omit however certain white clays, which I found 

 destitute of iron, and therefore probably not very 

 likely to be of much value upon land. But for 

 other purposes, of which I shall speak shortly, they 

 are of a good deal of importance. 



Analysis in the Dry way by Alkali. 



139 Northfield, 



blue. 

 HOiSunderland, 



light blue. 



142 Kineslon, 

 I wnite. 



143 Lowell, 



I white. 



I tried some of our blue clays also, for geine ; 

 but in general they yielde 1 only very little, and 

 perhaps none. For so strongly do they retain 

 water, that not improbably all the loss, especially 

 of soluble geine, might have been imputed to this 

 substance, which had not been all expelled by a 

 heat of 300" F. ; and then the peroxidation of the 

 iron by isrnition, renders this method of analysis 

 quite uncertain. I, therefore, omit the results ; 

 only observing, that the amount of sulphate and 

 phosphate of lime obtained, was about the same as 

 in good soils. I therefore suspect that we must 

 impute most of the good effects of clay as a manure 

 to the large quantity of iron which it contains. On 

 this point, however, I will present some sugges- 

 tions of Dr Dana, with which he \\sm kindly favored 

 me. 



"If we attempt," says he, "to account for the 

 action of cl ty, independent of its amending a sandy 

 soil, we should bear in mind that all our common 

 clays contain more or less of sulphuret of iron. — 

 The conversion of this into the persulphate of iron 



is the natural consequence ot exposure ; free sul- 

 phuric acid tiien results, which acts on any lime in 

 the soil, forming sulphate of lime : (the Gay Head 

 crystals of sulphate of lime are so formed ;) so that 

 by spreading clay, we spiead plaster. The iron in 

 clay also plays its pai-t thus. It is evident from 

 Cliaptal's e.xperiments, that protoxide of iron is net 

 beneficial in agriculture. He attributes this t6 the 

 oxidation of tlie iron, depriving the plant of its in- 

 tended oxygen. Nature is no niirgard ; nor is the 

 reason of Chaptal very philosopliical. We have 

 seen above thai protoxide of iron does not act on 

 geine. Now by exposure, the protoxide becomes 

 peroxide ; and theti, I conceive begins an action 

 similar to that of lime. If the free sulphuric acid, 

 produced as we have supposed, finds not lime 

 enough, it will decompose all earthy geates, and 

 tlms a fresh portion of nutriment is set at liberty. 

 Both the effects of clay — the production of plaster 

 and the formation of peroxide of iron, are speedily 

 produced by burning tlie clay, as is often prac- 

 tised."* 



Still more recently, Dr Dana adds the following : 

 " Somff facts have lately come under my eye, and 

 have recalled others to mind, which I have follow- 

 ed up experimentally ; all tending to show, tluit if 

 iron peroxidates itself in contact with vegetable fibre, 

 the texture of the vegetable fibre is tvcakened, and 

 geine is produced, and that in a few hours. It is 

 daring the passage from protoxide to peroxide that 

 the 'saponifying'' action tittccs place, geine is pro- 

 duced, and then combines with peroxide." 



In the few analyses which I have given above of 

 our clays, I have considered all the iron in them as 

 existing in the state of protoxide ; although I made 

 no attempt to ascertain whether some of it mrght 

 not be a peroxide. Very probably this may to 

 some extent be the case: especially where the 

 clay has a yellowish tin'je. Yet for the most part, 

 I doubt not it is a protoxide. A slight error here 

 cannot affect the reasoning above presented. 



I hope our farmers will make more numerous 

 and acciuate e.vperiments upon the use of clay as 

 a manure ; not merely upon sandy land, but fol- 

 lowing the suggestions of Dr Dana, upon other 

 soils, in the expectation that its action will be an- 

 alogous to that of lime. Probably, the best clay 

 for this purpose occurs in the valley of the Connec- 

 ticut river; but it abouuds in almost every part of 

 the state, and perhaps it may in a good measure 

 supply the deficiency of lime. It will of course 

 require to be laid on in much greater quantity than 

 marl, and probably, as in the case of marl, too 

 much may ^le used. How much ought to be used 

 is a fair subject for expermient. 



* The agency of geine in tlie fermentation of manure 

 is thus explained by Dr Dana with his usual clearness 

 and felicity. 



" By fermenting dung vast volumes of ammonia are 

 liberated. I do not think that it ife the action of gases as 

 such, which wo want or which nature intends as food of 

 plants to be derived from the soil. The air is always full 

 of all which this fermenting manure can su])ply in a 

 gaseous form. The true actions of ammonia and carbonic 

 acid resolve into their effects on geine. The ammonia 

 combines as alkali with that, and thus it becomes very 

 soluble, and the carbonic acid produces sur-salte of the 

 earthy geates of lime and magnesia. It is those, liberated 

 the moment the plant demands them, which cause all 

 the geine of the manure to become alkaline soluble 

 geates." 



"How wide is the influence of geine ! It not only 

 enters by itself into the food of vegetables but becomes 

 the very solvent which nature has proposed to act on the 

 alkaline earths and oxides, dissolving iheni as they are 

 liberated from decomposing granitic sand." 



Peat Swamps. — The peat swamps of New En- 

 gland have become a vast repository of organic 

 matter, which is, and has been, for ages increasing. 

 In addition to the larger vegetables, which, as they 

 die, fall and are enveloped in the soft matter on 

 which they grew, there is a thick mat of moss, 



which — especially the sphagnum continues to 



flourish at the upper part while the lower part dies 

 and decays. In favorable circumstances as to wet 

 and temperature, this mass of vegetable matter be- 

 comes converted into peat. Only a small part, 

 however, of what is thus accumulated, becomes 

 peat of such a character that it answers well for 

 fuel. Often it is too much mi.xed with mud to be 

 easily burnt, and sometimes the vegetable fibre is 

 scarcely changed. Yet the whole of it is capable 

 of being converted into vegetable nutriment. And 

 I am convinced, from all that I have seen and 

 heard, that Massachusetts contains enough of this 

 geine and vegetable fibre in her swamps, to ren- 

 der all her fields fertile for centuries. In other 

 words, here is an exhaustless source of geine. Some 

 of it is already in a soluble state ; and therefore 

 tlie black matter from swamps, is rarely spread 

 upon soils without producing some benefit Yet 

 for the most part tlie geine is in such a state as to 

 require some chemical change before it will be- 

 come soluble nutriment, fit to be absorbed by roots. 

 It is an important inquiry tlien, what is the best 

 mode of accomplishing this change. This has 

 been attempted, first, by mixing the peaty matter 

 with good manure in alternating layers, and suffer- 

 ing them to ferment for a long time, the peat being 

 in m'lch the greatest quantity. Secondlj'-, by mix- 

 ing it in a similar manner with lime ; and thirdly, 

 by mixing it with alkali, or some compound con- 

 taining alkali. The principles respecting geine 

 which have been advanced in this 'Report, will 

 probably enable us to decide as to the preference 

 to be given to any one of tliese methods. And 

 here I have it in my power to give the opinion of 

 Dr Dana, whose remarks I am always happy to 

 substitute for my own, on a subject with which he 

 is so familiar, and which he has done so much to 

 elucidate. 



" The fact," says he, " that peat or turf is very 

 soluble, in alkali, seems not to be known among 

 our farmers. The usual practice of mixing lime 

 with peat or turf is decidedly the worst which can 

 be followed. The geine which constitutes a large 

 part of peat bogs, forms with lime a compound little 

 soluble in water, requiring at least 2000 parts of 

 .water to one of geate of lime ; and if the compound 

 has been dried and sun-baked, a still larger por- 

 tion of water is required ; it becomes, in truth, al- 

 most insoluble. With alumina, geine forms a com- 

 pound still more insoluble than with lime: and 

 though the vegetable matter in combination with 

 these earthy bases, is Actually absorbed by the roots 

 of growing plants, still the geine is in a state much 

 less favorable that when in combination with alkali. 

 Mix ley of wood ashes with peat, and we form a 

 dark brown vegetable solution : the alkaline prop- 

 erties are completely neutralized by the geine, and 

 very often ammonia escapes from turf when treated 

 by cttustic alkali. When we add, that this geine 

 absorbs and retains nearly its own weight of water 

 without seeming moist, it is evident, that with tlie 

 use of ley or wood ashes, the value of peat as a 

 manure will be very much increased." 



I will only add, that in my opinion, it would be 

 very desirable to have a series of experiments per- 

 formed by a practical chemist upon the different 



