270 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



^EB. 13, 1840. 



are in an acid or neutral state. Large tracts of 

 country, which are now barren, by proper applica- 

 tions might be remlered fertile. A farm within 

 his knowledge, which was a blowing sand, a pine 

 barren, and ahnost hopeless, on which ten bush- 

 els of corn to an acre could scarcely be grown, by 

 the judicious application of ashes, has been made 

 to produce forty to fifty bushels to the acre. 



The Dr here illustrated his position by giving 

 the chemical analysis of certain soils in Rhode Isl- 

 and, which it is understood will be presented to 

 the public in his report in a detailed form. Meth- 

 ods should be taken to render the insoluble matter 

 in soils soluble, that it may be taken up by the 

 plants ; and it is desirable that this process should 

 proceed gradually. If acidities abound in the soil, 

 correctives must be applied. It is easy to convert 

 one quality of soil into another. -The vahie of geo- 

 logical investigations is not properly estimated. — 

 An analysis of soils is greatly wanted. The sta- 

 tistics of agriculture are greatly wanted. Farmers 

 are not exact in their observation of their crops.. — 

 Many valuable agricultural districts are bottomed 

 upon clay. This is desirable in order to preserve 

 the manures whictasre applied to them. In soils 

 where the manures-applied pass through them by 

 infiltration, much loss is sustained ; and they are 

 not favorable to agricultural products. This infil- 

 tration of manures is doubted by some, but the con- 

 dition of our wells proves it. The water in a barn 

 yard is never pure. As much as a teaspoonful of 

 vegetable matter to a gallon is often obtained from 

 waters which are considered pure. This may be 

 seen by any one who will evaporate the Boston 

 water to dryness. In the purest water obtained 

 from lakes, I 1-2 grain of vegetable matter to the 

 gallon may be obtained. In the water of Boston, 

 38 grains are found to the gallon. Soils brought 

 from 150 feet deptli in this neighborhood, are found 

 charged with vegetable matter. 



Land with a foot of top soil on a gravelly sub- 

 stratum may be unproductive. This is the case 

 with the soil on Seekonk plains, which -has a foot 

 of soil containing 1] percent, of vegetable matter; 

 but manures applied pass through it by filtration; 

 and it sufiers from drought. 



All our waters come from the top soil. Clay is 

 a retainer of water. Bog iron ore is found in soils 

 and is prejudicial to vegetation. There is a ready 

 way for a farmer to tost his water. By the appli- 

 cation of a solution of lunar caustic to a glass of 

 water, if it contains vegetable matter, it will become 

 red. Distilled water will not exhibit this appear, 

 ance. 



Saline matters abound in soils in the form of 

 carbonates, sulphates and phosphates. Lime is an 

 important amendment to the soil by causing it to 

 furnish nutriment to the plants. It is a chemical 

 reagent and decomposes nianures and does not, as 

 has been supposed, form insoluble matters. In the 

 ashes of wheat, lime exists to the amount of 15 per 

 cent. It is found in some proixirtion in all soils. 

 The carbonate of lime is a valuable amendment to 

 soils and especially to those which contain iron or 

 copperas. Gypsum is a powerful stimulus to vege- 

 tation. Lime in the form of a carbonate is easily 

 applied. 'I'he management of lime is too generally 

 misunderstood. Fields perfectly barren have been 

 rendered fertile by the use of it. There are few 

 exceptions to this fact in Rhode Island. In some 

 cases its application has been triumphantly success- 

 ful, and in many cases of failure, the lime has been 

 found to be highly raagnesian. There are various 



matters connected with these subjects which will 

 furnish excellent te.xts for discussion hereafter. — 

 The action of manures is particularly important. 

 Science here is of great importance. Certain acids 

 in soils have been discovered by Berzelius. The 

 crenic and apocrenic acids. These are found in 

 the soils of both hemispheres ; in the soils of the 

 Mississippi and the Nile. These soils closely re- 

 semble each other. The soil of the Nile contains 

 2.8 per cent of the carbonate and phosphate of lime. 

 The soil of the Mississippi has less iron and more 

 clay. 



Tlie introduction of science into agriculture haa 

 been of great benefit. How soils are to be render- 

 ed fertile or how corrected, have hitherto been mat- 

 ters of empiricism. We should desire to act un- 

 derstandingly, not ignorantly. 



The changes which take place in the progress 

 of the growth of plants, are remarkable. In the 

 germination of the seed, carbonic acid is given out, 

 and o-vygen absorbed. After the leaves are form- 

 ed, they absorb carbonic acid and give out oxygen. 

 When the plant ripens, they give out carbonic acid 

 and absorb oxygen. All manures act on the foli- 

 age. If plants are overstrained they fail to pro- 

 duce fruit. It is important to find the proper point 

 or limit of manuring. A distinguished gardener 

 engaged to produce a geranium leaf as large as a 

 cabbage : it was effected, but the plant perished in 

 the effort. 



Bleaching powders or chloride of litre, are a 

 powerful manure, and produce astonishing effects 

 on vegetation. The ammoniacal gas or Sal Vola- 

 tile, operates powerfully upon plants, and this mat- 

 ter is produced by the fermentation of barn manures. 



In soils which are porous it is advisable to use 

 manures in a long state. The manures which are 

 obtainable are different in different places. Expe- 

 riments have been made with bone manure, lime, 

 and ashes, and, as reported, with different results. 

 There are, undoubtedly, differences in soils, which 

 affect their operation. These subjects deserve in- 

 quiry and observation. Agricultural observations 

 should be made exact and certain. As the pursuit 

 becomes intelligent it rises in dignity. Why 

 should farmers be ignorant of their great art, when 

 it is the aim and boast of eVery other profession 

 and pursuit, to study their art thoroughly.-' Agri- 

 culture may be rendered scientific ; and science 

 well applied must conduce to render it more profi- 

 table. 



Pacts in these matters are of the highest impor- 

 tance. In Maine ashes were thrown away. The 

 Long Island farmers are willing to send to Massa- 

 chusetts to obtain them. The intrinsic value or 

 efficiency of the material cannot be affected by the 

 different estimation in which they are held. Peat 

 we see in some places is highly esteemed as a ma- 

 nure. In many places it is utterly neglected ; and 

 this can arise only from ignorance of its value or of 

 the proper mcde of applying it. 



Facts, he repeated, are of the highest importance. 

 Peat in a crude state, is not suited for application 

 to the land. It must be decomposed, and its acidi- 

 ties corrected. A farmer in Rhode Island has 

 made much use of swamp mud compounded with 

 fish, the Menhaden, which ai-e taken in their bays 

 in great abundance. To eight cart loads ofswamp 

 mud or peat, he applied one barrel of fish. This 

 compost is denominated fish-pie. The rotting of 

 the fish decomposed the peat and the peat absorbed 

 the ammoniacal gases, which escaped from the de- 

 caying fish. The farmer deemed this mixture of 



equal value with the best of unmixed barn manur^. 

 On a level field, planted with corn at right anglea, 

 every row maimred with this compost was distinct- 

 ly observable atjd was eight times as large as that 

 part dressed with hog manure. At the harvest the 

 crop from the rows manured with this compost gave 

 an increase over the other parts of the field of fifty 

 percent. Any decaying animal substance, on be- 

 ing mixed \i'ir,h it, wiH produce a decomposition of 

 peat. 



The pliysiology of vegetation is a subject de- 

 serving of much attention. The mode in which 

 plants receive their nutriment from the soil is not, 

 as has been supposed, by capillary attraction, but 

 (lie vegetable food in a liquid form is forced into 

 the minute vessels of the plants by an electric or 

 voltaic agency. This is the discovery of a French- 

 man by the name of Detrochet, and is called by 

 him endosmose. [Dr Jackson here illustrated this 

 matter by a small apparatus.] This operation is at 

 once suspended by the presence of certain substan- 

 ces, such as sulphuretted hydrogen or one drop of 

 fcEcal matter in the vessel. Acids and alkalies in 

 their combination, act as galvanic batteries and for- 

 ward the process of vegetation. 



The physiology of plants should be studied by 

 the farmer. Innumerable, curious and wonderful 

 operations are continually going on before him. 

 No situation is more favorable than his to intellec- 

 tual and moral improvement ; and no employment 

 more interesting than the contemplation of the phe- 

 nomena of the natural world. 



The green sand spoken of is as difficult of solu- 

 tion as the feldspar in granite. In Sweden the 

 carbonate of potash is used to decompose the ni- 

 trate of lime, which is formed in their artificial 

 nitre beds, which are similar to compost heaps. — 

 Nitre is produced abundantly in our dung heaps. 

 Slany other salts are produced by chemical chan. 

 ges, which are continually going on in the earth 

 ami air. The putrefaction of animal and vegetable 

 substances is productive of various changes, and of 

 substances useful in vegetation. The crenic and 

 apocrenic acids are always found in soils, and the 

 degree of their presence when ascertained, will in- 

 dicate the applications to be made to the land. 



The skeletons of all plants and animals have 

 lime for their bases. Silex gets into plants in s 

 manner altogether mysterious. It is found in al 

 plants with hollow stems, such as many of the 

 grasses, in wheat and the cereal grains, in bamboc 

 and flags. The crenic and apocrenic acids ope- 

 rate to dissolve silex. The absorption of plants is 

 not wholly by their roots, but by their leaves, whicl 

 are the lungs of plants and gather the carbonic 

 acid gas from the air, and its carbon is convertec 

 into solid wood. Nature pursues her operations ii 

 one eternal round, and all things combine mutually 

 to assist and modify each other. Plants are highlj 

 beneficial to life and health, in absorbing and de 

 composing the elements of the air, and returning 

 that portion which is necessary to respiration am 

 life. 



Agriculture is yet to make great advances 

 this country. The value of peat lands is very im 

 perfectly understood. A farmer in the vicinity o 

 Boston, distinguished for his scientific and practica 

 skill, has obtanied one hundred bushels of corn ti 

 the acre upon redeemed peat meadows ; and ob 

 tains from these lands an income of ten to twelvi 

 per cent, profit. Land might be cultivated will 

 much more skill and to much higher profit in pro 

 portion to the skill applied. Liquid manures amon; 



