1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



385 



ANALYSIS OF SOILS. 



OME years ago 

 the idea became 

 quite general 

 that the farmer 

 could hand the 

 chemist a quart 



^! or two of soil 



taken from any of his 

 fielils, and that by an 

 analysis of that soil the 

 chemist would tell him, 

 — if anything were lack- 

 ing, — just what to add to it, 

 so that he could raise what 

 crop suited his circumstances 

 the best. 



This was encour- 



^^s^ffeSs, aging, to say the 



■'■'.'^ least, and some 



'"^'^i- .V ^ ,-. . ..i w- -'i^ thought the fa- 

 ~ ''"^^'-fe^^^li'^ bled "philoso- 



pher's stone" had been found, which was to 

 "turn everything into gold !" And it encour- 

 aged another class, — those who had little faith 

 in farming, — but who, under this grand dis- 

 covery would never miss securing a crop, and 

 therefore would engage in the cultivation of 

 the soil. 



Analysis, therefore, soon became popular, 

 and gi'eat expectations were entertained, even 

 of the poorest soils. Much money was paid 

 in order to learn the secret of success, and 

 more careful attention and investigation given 

 to the soil than was ever given it before, by 

 those who handle it themselves. And thus 

 the analysis fever was not without a beneficial 

 effect. 



Few common farmers now plod over the 

 soil on which they are at work, in an unthink- 

 ing and careless frame of mind ; but look 

 upon "it as the store-house where their treas- 

 ures are hidden ; the generous soil that liber- 

 ally responds to all fair and seasonable treat- 

 ment. All this has been a decided gain in 

 the art of cultivating the soil and securing 

 paying crops. 



The practical analysis of soils, however, has 

 not met the expectations which were based 

 upon it as a theory. The lime, for instance, 

 is added, where the analysis declared it lack- 

 ing in a soil devoted to wheat, but still the 

 wheat crop does not prosper as it does on a 



new soil. And so in other cases ; the labora- 

 tory does not furnish the information as to 

 what we can apply to the soil to bring the 

 crop we desire. 



From what we learn of soils by reading the 

 reports of those who have manipulated them in 

 the laboratory, it appears thatyow/' earths are 

 almost always the chief constituents of all cul- 

 tivated soils, viz : silica (flint,) alumina 

 (clay,) carbonate of lime (chalk,) and car- 

 bonate of magnesia. These are mixed to- 

 gether in an endless variety of proportions, 

 and are interspersed with animal and vegetable 

 remaii;^, salts, (fee, to an equally varying 

 extent. It is to ascertain the presence and 

 extent of these substances that the analysis of 

 soils is resorted to. 



But entirely beyond the knowledge which 

 an analysis would afford, there is probably a 

 combination of elements, and a yjrinciple of 

 action going on in the soil, of which we know 

 nothing and perhaps never shall know here. 



Certain articles of food, as the potato, for 

 instance, are analyzed and declared not to be 

 nutritious, because they are made up of a 

 very large proportion of water. The potato, 

 it is said, cannot be very nutritious because 

 eighty-three of its parts in one hundred are 

 water ; and yet that vegetable will probably 

 sustain life longer than wheaten bread. If 

 the water were extracted, life would be short 

 if dependent upon what was left. And so 

 we take it, it may be with soils. Some that 

 are decidedly of a sandy character, produce 

 crops that surprise every beholder. Some- 

 thing lurks in them which gives them fertility, 

 and which, if taken away, however small in 

 amount, would check or destroy its capacity 

 for vegetable growth. 



If soils then are made up as stated above, 

 we ought to learn this lesson from that fact, 

 viz : to mingle all soils by turning them to- 

 gether and pulverizing them much more 

 thoroughly than we do. Then the particles 

 which are the most essential can be acted 

 upon by heat, air and moisture, and all have 

 fair opportunity to act in conjunction and 

 bring a crop. 



COARSE-WOOL SHEEP IN" MICHIGAN. 



The Port Huron Times says that Mr. S. B. Carl 

 of that to^vnship sheared eighty -three and one-half 

 pounds of wool from thirteen sheep, a cross be- 

 tween the Cotswold and Leicester breeds, the pres- 



