322 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



APRIL. 17, isa9. 



But liow do the elements of soil act ? As I have xMuriatc of potash 



would show more lime, than the above tables, be- , , i , . .• , 



caTe he ahvTys employs a portionoflime to make stated in the report of Professor Hitchcock, by Aceta e of Ammoma 



h>s Ive ca'Istic This Is a variable portion; what- forn.ing galvanic batteries with the roots of hvmg I Acetate of Magnesia 



■ The most active element in the pile is tlie ^''"■■ 



ever it is, it adds so much to the value of the leech- 

 ed ashes. Besides the soap-muker always leaves 

 a portion of alkali, which is combined with the 

 silex. Exposure to air decomposes this, and then 

 the alkali can be extracted by water. This is one 

 great source of the active power of leeched ashes. 

 ■| he course of this wonderful power, not only in 

 fresh and in leeched ashes, but in some degree in 

 all sails, is to bo found in the action of the bases 

 on geine and on silicates. 



There is one great, simple principle running 

 through all the classes of soils. It is this, that in 

 all salts and silicatts Ihe action of tlit base is evtr 

 the same in vegetation. The base of the silicates 

 and salts acts always in one uniform mode. Pecu- 

 liarities of action depend on the acid constituent 

 of the salt. Lime, for instance, acts ever the same, 

 whether it is used as carbonate, sulphate, or phos- 

 phate, marl, plaster, or bone-dust. The salt is de- 

 composed by the living plant. The various acids 

 combine with the alkalies, as they are eliminated, 

 from the decomposition of the silicates, and the 

 lime, liberated, acts ever as lime. It acts in its 

 caustic state, as a converter of insoluble into solu- 

 ble geine. If this does not exist in the soil, all the 

 lime in the world would not cause plants to grow. 

 The base of the lime-salts acts primarily on geine, 

 either solving the soluble or converting the insolu- 

 ble. The same is true of alumine, iron, and the ba- 

 ses of all salts. The same general rule applies to all 

 alkaline, earthy or metallic salts and to silicates. 

 The order in which the farmer may apply salts 

 is the following. Carbonate, phosphate, and sul- 

 phate of lime, carbonates, niti'ates, muriates, and 

 sulphates of alkalies. No salts, excepting carbon- 

 ates, can be used in large quantities. The reason 

 is at once explained by the .principle of unity of 

 action of the bases. The acid of the salts, elim- 

 inated, decomposes the geates, rendering tlie solu- 

 ble insoluble, the acid combines with any free base, 

 produced from the decomposition of the silicates, 

 and thus prevents that forming soluble geine. Hav- 

 ing saturated the bases, any excess acts then as 

 free acid, poisoning the vegetable, as oil vitriol, or 

 muriatic acid would animals. In carbonates, the 

 acid forms part of the food of plants. The alka- 

 line geates are so very soluble, that when alkalies, 

 as ashes for instance, are freely used, we lose a 

 part, by its draining away, or in wet soils becoming 

 too dilute. But a small dose produces all the ben- 

 eficial effects of a large dose of lime. We have 

 in ashes, not only the alkali to solve geates, but a 

 very large portion of carbonate and phosphate of 

 lime. Experiments are wanting to prove the rela- 

 tive value of lime and ashes. I sliould not deem 

 it extravagant to say, that a bushel of ashes is equal 

 to a cask of lime. The alkalies and their salts 

 act more powerfully than any other substance, in 

 solving and converting geine. Lime in all its 

 forms, ranks next. These produce always decided 

 beneficial effects. The alkalies never fail. Ashes 

 show their effect at once, due to the alkaline part, 

 while their carbonate of lime produces more per- 

 manent effect. Lime, from peculiar states of the 

 soil, may not show any immediate good result, but 

 ultimately, this result is sure to follow. Permanent 

 barrenness never is produced by the free use of 

 carbonates. It surely follows the free use of all 

 other salts, yet in small doses, they all and ever 

 act beneficially, whenever their bases, combined 

 with carbonic acid, would be beneficial. 



plants. 



root. The soil, like the rocks from which it is de 

 rived, is slowly acted on by atmospheric agents. 

 The effect of this action annually is imperceptib'e. 

 A single plant in one season will effect a greater 

 amount of decomposition of a given portion of soil, 

 than that produced by all the atmospheric agents 

 in many years. The galvanic agency of plants is 

 not confined to the soil, in immediate contact with 

 their roots. It extends from these, in every direc- 

 tion, to undetermiued distances. Hence there is 

 a transfer, as is. usual in galvanic decompositions, 

 of substances quite remote from the plant. The 

 whole plant contributes to this galvanic agency. 

 It never exists in full force, perhaps not at all, till 

 the plant has pushed above ground — acted on by 

 air and light. 



The soil, as we have explained, consists almost 

 wholly of silicates, though it has been proved, that 

 carbonic acid slowly decomposes these, and an ar- 

 gument, for the mutual action of the elements of 

 silicates, derived from their admitted electrics 

 states, yet the amount of this action is never meas- 

 urable in one season. Being silicates, they have 

 no tendency to act on each other. We can only 

 excite this action by introducing new elements, 

 salts, which in this sense only, can be said to be 

 excitants or stimulants. The silicates are the flour, 

 the salts the yeast The galvanic agency is excit- 

 ed by the salts, but above all, over all, and con- 

 trolling all, this action of soils is the living plant. 

 The influence of the last unfolds the mystery of 

 the often-repeated experiment of growing plants in 

 pure water. Granting the water to have been 

 chemically pure, the galvanic agency of the vege- 

 table would decompose the containing vessel. The 

 most barren sand would be made fertile by living 

 H>lant3. Sand containing no appreciable quantity 

 of geine, may yet from its origin from sedimentary 

 rocks, contain carbon. Water it, and grow in it 

 plants. Let these perish. They return to the 

 sPTid, not only organic matter, the source of geine 

 for a new crop, but various salts, of whose previous 

 existence in tlie same it required the most delicate 

 chemistry to detect traces. The living plant is a 

 consummate analyst. This is the process nature 

 employs. Mr Keely, acting on this principle, and 

 following out and assisting the natural mode, has 

 opened the whole soul of raising crops. The mem- 

 orable experiment of the Haverhill rye-field, ought 

 to be engraved on the thresholds and lintels of 

 every farm-house in the country.* It teaches us 

 that salts, so important in agriculture, are within 

 the reach of every farmer. Every farmer has a 

 lime-quarry on his own land. He onght also to 

 have constantly burning a lime-kiln. The farmer 

 has on his own grounds, lime sufficient for all 

 wants. Let all brushwood, unfit for the kitchen, 

 be burned for the ashes. But let the soot too be 

 saved. It is too valuable to be lost in air. Look 

 at its composition as stated by Bracannot. 



Geine "30.70 



Extractive matter and nitrogen 'SO. 



Carbonate of lime and traces of magnesia 14.(;6 

 Acetate of lime ■ 5.05 



Sulphate of lime 5. 



Phosphate of lime and iron 1.50 



Acetate of potash 4.10 



.30 



.20 



.53 



Silex .05 



Carbon , 3.85 



Water l"2.oO 



100. 



I have nearly finished the analysis of Adams 

 soil. I will send it to you next week, together 

 with the composition of the substance used by Web- 

 ster, in Dracut. 



With great respect, 



I am very truly yours, 



SAMUEL L. DANA. 

 Rev. H. CoLMAN, Boston. 



•See .Appendix E. page 113, Firsl Reporl of Agricultu 

 Massachusells. 



:or 



(For the New England Farmer.) 

 REPORT OF THE COxMMITTEE ON INVEN- 

 TIONS, &c. 



The committee regret that the claims for premi- 

 ums under this offer were so few. There were 

 only three applicants. One for an improvement in 

 the construction of the plough — one for a supposed 

 improvement in the construction of a bee-hive, and 

 one for a machine for dropping and covering corn 

 in planting, and also for a machine for sowing the 

 lighter grains with more evenness and equality than 

 can be done by the hand in sowing broad cast. 



The ingenuity and calculation of Americans, 

 has, in almost all departments of active life, except 

 the farmer's, been a balance for the advantage of 

 Europeans, in their regulated and very low price of 

 manual labor ; but in farming, from the axe to the 

 plough, until a few years, no improvement was at- 

 tempted ; all were contented with the depth and 

 smoolhness of cutting with their old instruments, 

 and the contest in skill was more in manual dex. 

 terity and power, than in improvement of the in- 

 struments used. Of late, the attention of the prac- 

 tical and philosophical, has been called to observe 

 and suggest alterations in the usual implements of 

 husbandry, that labor might be saved, and, by in- 

 creased facility in the operation, time might be 

 saved, and "time is money." Our agricultural hall 

 has many machines, purchased or presented by those 

 who have an interest in the objects of the society; 

 most of them are complicated and cumbrous, expen- 

 sive, and only adapted to lands long cultivated and 

 off'ering little obstruction from rocks or roots. 



The implements for which premiums are now- 

 claimed, are entitled to much credit for their sim- 

 plicity and economy, the ease with which they may 

 be used, and the facility with which they may be 

 repaired when necessary. 



The improvement already made in the construc- 

 tion of the plough, and the study of the principles 

 on which it should be made, justifies the conclu- 

 sion, that it is better economy for the farmer to 

 keep three ploughs, adapted to specific purposes, 

 than two of the same construction, differing only in 

 size, as has heretofore been most common. 



The sward plough of Mr Prouty, to whom the 

 offered premium of twenty dollars is awarded, ap- 

 pears to have been the result of continued attention 

 and minute observation, with practical skill as a 

 farmer in the use of the plough, as well as mathe- 

 matical calculation in the principles of its construc- 

 tion, as will appear by the letter of Mr Prouty, rec- 

 ommended to be published. In the Yankee Far- 

 mer of the 28th April, 1838, there is a communica- 

 tion headed " Ploughing and Ploughs, by E. P., ol 



