234 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 



matters having great absorbing power. Char- 

 coal consists chiefly of carbon, and it has been 

 found that plants will prove more luxuriant in 

 soils containing a large proportion of carbona- 

 ceous matter, if well supplied with water, than 

 in any other soil. Charcoal is not only a me- 

 dium of absorption, but when water is present, 

 it is decomposed, and its oxygen, combining 

 •with the carbon of charcoal, carbonic acid is 

 furnished to the vessels of the plant. 



Third. The soil should be capable of fur- 

 nishing a supply of ammonia to the roots. This 

 is also much assisted by the presence of gyp- 

 sum or charcoal, which absorb it from the at- 

 mosphere. The usual mode of supplying it is 

 by the addition of animal matter from the sta- 

 ble. Ammonia imparts its nitrogen to the 

 plant, and it is to this that much of the nutri- 

 tive value of the cereal grains and many escu- 

 lent vegetables is due. 



Fourth. It should contain those mineral in- 

 gredients which are necessary to the growth of 

 plants. These, if wanting, must be supplied. 

 The usual mode of doing this is by the mixture 

 of other soils, as will be presently stated. 

 This is also advantageously resorted to when the 

 soil is too little or too much retentive of mois- 

 ture, in consequence of being too loose or 

 sandy, or calcareous, or too compact and stiff. 

 This is called tejnjyering the soil. When a 

 soil is too loose and porous, or too stiff, the 

 mixture of the opposite kind in just propor- 

 tions will bring it to a more suitable condition. 

 In this way a body is given to those lands that 

 are too porous, and those which are too heavy 

 and tenacious are made more light and loose. 

 This process brings no nutriment to the plant 

 directly, but only mediately, by attaining a re- 

 tentive power in the right degree, and thus 

 furnishing nutriment by a proper supply of 

 water ; and it also acts favorably on the health 

 and quality of the plants. 



A decidedly gravelly or sandy soil is un- 

 suitable for garden purposes. So is a heavy, 

 clay soil ; such a soil would be wet in its nat- 

 ural state, and a wet soil is a cold one. But 

 all these may be so altered and attempered, by 

 drainage and combinations of materials, as to 

 make such a sandy loam as will meet all the 

 wants of common plants. ^loist, heavy soils, 

 that rest upon clayey subsoils, are better 

 adapted to pasturage, moAving fields and the 

 production of trees, and can only be made 

 suitable for a vegetable garden by thorough 



draining, and then by trenching or deep plow- 

 ing, and the intermixture of sand and muck. 

 Without these helps, such land is too wet in 

 rainy seasons, and is liable to become hard 

 upon the surface during dry seasons, and 

 in either case is unfavorable for the free growth 

 of plants. But "by the removal of the water, 

 the physical properties of the soil are in a re- 

 markable degree improved. Dry clay can be 

 easily reduced to a fine powder, but it natur- 

 ally, and of its own accord, runs together 

 when water is poured upon it. So it is with 

 clays in the field. When wet, they are close, 

 compact, and adhesive, and exclude the air 

 from the roots of the growing plant. But re- 

 move the water and they gradually contract, 

 crack in every direction, become open, friable, 

 and mellow, more easily and cheaply worked, 

 and pervious to the air in every direction." 

 Thorough drainage, then, and the intermixture 

 of sand and coarse and warming dressings 

 from the horse stalls will bring a heavy soil 

 into one upon which any plants will grow. 



There are many flirms made up entirely of 

 sandy plain lands, upon which there is no soil 

 of a different character. When such a soil is 

 highly cultivated it will bring certjin early 

 vegetables to perfection, but fails to mature 

 crops that require a longer growth. It may 

 be amended, however, by the application and 

 complete mixture of clay and muck. These 

 should be hauled upon it in the autumn or 

 winter, so that frosts and i-ains may pulverize 

 and sweeten them, and then be thoroughly 

 plowed and otherwise mingled with the sandy 

 soil. Under such a practice, and with suitable 

 manuring, this forms a sandy loam, which is 

 the best soil for all garden purposes. But it 

 may become necessary to drain even a sandy 

 soil. If springs rise to the surface, as they 

 frequently do, it must be drained. On many 

 soils water is obtained in the wells by digging 

 only eight or ten feet, because the sand rests 

 upon a hard or clayey bottom. In such cases, 

 draining is indispensable to success. The ac- 

 tion of manure on a light, sandy soil, is to in- * 

 crease its cohesibility, its capacity for absorb- 

 ing and retaining moisture, and to render it 

 more compressible. Applied in sufficient 

 quantity, it communicates an unctuous or 

 pasty condition, and renders it less likely to 

 be injui-iously affected by the sudden atmos- 

 pheric alternations of wet and dry. It also 

 constitutes a better medium for the roots of 



