100 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



CCTOTiFK , I!"!!*. 



GEOLOGY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



[Concluded from page 93.) 



Clay m Jgricnlture.— There la abiHul:.i.t evi- ^ 



(lonco tint our common clays are of great value i 



when spread upon land. I find thai thoy have been 



used to a considerable extent in the -state ; so com- | 



rnonly, indeed, that I abandoned the idea I had j 



formed of giving a detailed account of particular 



instances. So far as my inquiries have extended, 



the testimony is decided that our blue clay.f exert 



a very favorable effect upon the soil. When 



spread upon sandy ground we might expect that 



they would render it a better resevoir for salts and 



geine. But thoroughly to atiieliorato our sandy 



soils in this way, requires fur ninrc clay than is 



usually employed, and 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 son* of the soils in Kingston, Plymouth, and 



Barnstable, where white clay is mixed 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 princi]de it owes 

 its fertilizing powers ; and therefore subjected a 

 few specimens to analysis in the ordinary way by 

 S(dution in alkali. The following are the 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 ivay hy Alkali. 



in.S 46.93 28 97 



8.2 49.00 29.15 13.1 0.15 s'.i?h 



III v'^'^' 



3.5 71.00 16 30, 7.3,0.30 do. 



' I I 



4 01 62 20 50! 9 2 O.CSl 0.56 



0,3 1.3 

 0.44 3.22 



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

 but in general they yiclde 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 30^= V. ; and then the peroxidation of the 

 iron by ignition, renders this method of analysis 

 quite unc'ertain. 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 has kindly favored 



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

 action of d \y, independent of its amending a sandy 

 soil, we should bear in mind that all our common 

 clays contain more or less of sulphurel of iron.— 

 The conversion of this into the persulphate of iron 



is the natural consequence oi exposure ; free sul- 

 phuric acid then results, which acU 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 part thus. It is evident from 

 Chaptal's experiments, that protoxide of iron is not 

 beneficial in agriculture. He attributes tiiis to the 

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

 tended oxygen. Nature is no ni'.'gard ; nor is the 

 reason of Chaptal very philosophical. We have 

 seen above that protoxide of iron does not act on 

 .i-eine. Now by exposure, the protoxide becomes 

 peroxide ; and then, 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 

 thus a fresh portion of nutriment is set at liberty. 

 Both the effects of clay— the production of plaster 

 I and the formation of peroxide of iron, are speedily 

 produced by burning the clay, as is often prac- , 

 tised."* . I 



Still more recently, Dr Dana adds the following : j 

 " Some facts have lately come under my eye, and ] 

 have recalled others to mind, which I have follow- 1 

 ed up experimentally ; all tending to show, that if ^ 

 iron peroxidates itself in contact with vegetable fibre, j 

 the textjtre of the vegdahle fibre is iveakened, and | 

 geine is produced, and that in a fcto hours. It is j 

 duriiig the passage from protoxide to peroxide that 

 the ''saponifijing' action takes 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 iu the state of protoxide ; although I made 

 no attempt to ascertain whether some of it might 

 not be a peroxide. Very probably this may to 

 some extent be the case: especially where the 

 clay has a yellowish tin re. 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 accurate experiments 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 abou.ids 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 be used. How much ought to be used 

 is a fair subject for experiment. 



• The agency of geine in the fermentation of manure | 

 is thus explained by Dr Dana with his usual clearness j 



°"" By' "ermenting dung vast volumes of ammonia are I 

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

 such, which we want or which nature intends as food ot i 

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

 of all which this fermenting manure can supply m a 

 easeous form. The true actions of ammonia and carbonic 

 teid resolve into their effects on geinc. The ammonia 

 combines as alkali with that, and thus it becomes very 

 soluble, and the carbonic acid produces sur-salts ot the 

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

 the moment the plant demands them, w uch cause all 

 tlie geine of the manure to become alkaline soluble 



"''"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 them as they arc 

 liberated from decomposing gtanitic 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 cspe°cially 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 mixed with mud to be 

 easily burnt, and sometimes the vegetable fibre is 

 i scarcely changed. Yet the whole of it is capable 

 ' of being converted into vegetable nutriment. And 

 i I am convinced, from all that I have seen and 

 I 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 

 the black matter from swamps, is rarely spread 

 upon soils without producing some benefit Yet 

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

 require some chemical change before it will be- 

 t come soluble nutriment fit to be absorbed by roots. 

 I It is an important inquiry then, what is the best 

 ' mode of accomplishing this change. This has 

 1 been attempted, first, by mixing the peaty matter 

 1 with good manure in alternating layers, and suffer- 

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

 in much the greatest quantity. Secondly, 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 geim 

 which" have been advanced in tliis Report, wil 

 probably enable us to decide as to the preferenc. 

 to be given to any one of these methods. Am 

 here Thave it in my power to give the opinion o 

 Dr Dana, whose remarks I am always happy tc 

 substitute for my own, on a subject with which hi 

 is so familiar, and which he has done so much t. 

 elucidate. 



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



soluble, in alkali, seems not to be known amon; 



our farmers. The usual practice of mixing lim 



with peat or turf is decidedly the worst which ca 



be followed. The geine which constitutes a larg 



part of peat bogs, tbrms witli lime a compound littl 



soluble in water, requiring at least 2000 parts ( 



water to one of geate of lime ; and if the coinpoun 



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



jtion of water is required; it becomes, in truth, a 



most insoluble. With alumina, geine forms a con 



pound still more insoluble than with lime: ar 



' though the vegetable matter in combination wil 



I these earthy b "ses, is actually absorbed by the roo 



I of growing"plaiits, still the geine is inastatemut 



less favorable that when in combination with alka 



Mix ley of wood ashes with peat, and we form 



dark browu vegetable solution: the alkaline pro 



erties are completely neutralized by the geine, ai 



very often ammonia escapes from turf when treat( 



by caustic alkali. When we add, that this geii 



absorbs and retains nearly its own weight of wat 



without seeming moist, it is evident, that with tl 



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



manure will be very much increased." 



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



' very desirable to have a series of experiments pe 



formed by a practical chemist upon the differe 



