176 [Assembly 



great errors may be fallen into. It may occur occasionally thus. 

 European agriculture being more advanced, and a greater num- 

 ber of ascertained facts existing there ; these facts may be as- 

 sumed to he true and applicable here — a very erroneous assump- 

 tion. The error of adopting chemical analysis of one country's 

 crops as being the true analysis of the crops of other countries, 

 is nov7 fully exposed, and it is only by a series of well conduct- 

 ed analyses, prepared under varied circumstances of climate and 

 soil, that at last there can be arrived a general formula^ which 

 will express without error what the constitution of any plant 

 may be. Once the general formula is obtained, the special formula 

 of any locality may be estimated from its soil. 



Another instance occurs with regard to the use of lime. This 

 mineral exists very abundantly in the soils of western Europe, 

 and without its presence in a marked quantity, the cereal plants 

 do not flourish. In Britain it is a common impression that soils 

 which contain less than three per cent, of lime will not raise 

 wheat crops remuneratively, and hence the rule in practice to 

 bring the quantity of lime as near as possible to five per cent, by 

 artificial addition, to form a good wheat soil. Such a recom- 

 mendation would, in this country, if followed into practice, be 

 not merely useless, but injurious in its result. In point of fact, 

 we find luxuriant crops of wheat growing upon soils containing 

 less than one per cent., and this is the character of some of the 

 finest wheat lands in this State. This absence of lime is not 

 peculiar to this State. Throughout tlie whole Union, as far as 

 is examined, the proportion of lime in the soil is very much be- 

 low the European standard, and as abundant crops are harvest- 

 ed, it is not required. Hence the error which would ensue from 

 adopting an European maxim. 



Solar heat in lower latitudes appears to effect what lime does 

 in colder and more humid regions; and the influence of this 

 element upon our soils, not merely in decomposing organic mat- 

 ter more rapidly in the soil, but also its power of pumping up 

 nourishment from the saline matters of the sub-soil by capillary 

 action, deserves more study than it has obtained. We sliould 

 never forget that if the sun's rays are capable of making a gar- 

 den out of a cold marsh, they are also capable of making a far- 



