76 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



matter. In other words, 43 pounds more is 

 added in the guano than is abstracted in the 

 crop. 



But surely no one believes that any soil, how- 

 ever poor, is to be found entirely destitute of 

 the foregoing minerals. Is it not a fact known 

 and acknowledged by many observing farmers, 

 that pines spring up thickly and quickly on the 

 poorest soils when allowed rest, and eften in no 

 more than a quarter century, yield as much as 

 50 cords of wood to the acre ? Weil, then, this 

 wood, when burnt, will leave of ash about 50 

 bushels, which, at 50 pounds to the bushel, 

 would weigh 2,500 pounds. This amount of 

 ash, according to analysis by Dr. Dana, would 

 contain about as follows: 



Carbonic acid 430 pounds 



Sulphuric acid 85 " 



Silica 180 " 



Potash and Soda 875 " 



Water 100 



Phosphoric acid 125 " 



Magnesia 108 " 



Oxide Iron 275 " 



Oxide Manganese 70 " 



Lime 340 " 



That is to say, thia ash alone contains of 

 potash, soda, lime, magnesia, phosphoric and 

 •ulphuric acids, in the aggregate, about fifteen 

 times as much as a crop of 25 bushels of wheat 

 and 3,000 pounds of straw would consume /But 

 this is not all : the pine shatters annually re- 

 turned to the soil during the growth of pines is 

 known to be rich in saline matter, and the ex- 

 perienced farmer knows that pine land, even 

 after all the wood has been taken off, always 

 produces a good crop of any kind. 



The foregoing facts, which cannot be gain- 

 said, ought to be sufficient to quiet the fears of 

 all those nervous farmers who dread the stimu- 

 lating action of guano. But while they prove 

 beyond all question the presence in the very 

 poorest soils of a considerable quantity of min- 

 eral matter, they do not at all exhibit the actual 

 quantity present. This is done by Dr. Dana, 

 whose estimates are for a soil formed from drift 

 granite— being a minute analysis of true gran- 

 ite, which is universally regarded as nearly the 

 poorest rock in saline matter of any. The 

 composition of this rock in 100 parts is as fol- 

 lows : 



Silex 74.84 



Allumina 12.80 



Potash 7.48 



Magnesia 99 



Lime 37 



Oxides Iron and Manganese 2.05 



Showing that, in every 100 parts of true 

 grani'e, there is present about seven and a half 

 pounds of potash and three-eighths of a. pound 

 of lime, both in the form of insoluble silicates, 

 however, which, nevertheless, are slowly de- 

 composable and rendered soluble under atmos- 

 pheric and other agencies. On which Dr. Dana 

 remarks: "It is evident unexhausted and cx- 

 haustless stores of these substances are already 

 in barren pine plains, for let it be supposed 



that these are formed of the drift of granite as 

 stated, (many of our fine tobacco, as well as 

 other worn out soils, are formed from a species 

 of granite more decomposable and richer in 

 lime than true granite,) and the amount per 

 acre of lime and alkali, taking the soil at only 

 six inches deep, would be as follows: The cu- 

 bic foot of such soils weighs 90 pounds, or at 

 six inches deep, 45 pounds. The acre at this 

 depth contains 21,280 cubic feet, which will 

 atfbrd 3 626 pounds of lime, and 73,311 pounds 

 of potash." 



That is to say, supposing the soil to undergo 

 no physical change, and the roots of plants to 

 penetrate in the soil no deeper than the six 

 inches, there is lime enough in such a soil as 

 the above to gr-ow every year crops of 25 bush- 

 els of wheat for nearly a thousand years, and 

 of potash enough for about 2600 years! But 

 the soil is constantly changing under the level- 

 ing action of water, and the roots of the wheat 

 plant do extend much deeper than the six inch- 

 es, so that it may be very safely affirmed that 

 the supply in a generality of soils, of these and 

 all other necessary mineral matters, is quite 

 inexhaustible. 



But let us not be misunderstood on this point 

 It is not asserted, nor believed, that the supply 

 of soluble saline or mineral matter in these soiln 

 is ample, or even as much as would be neces- 

 sary to render them first rate grass or corn 

 lands. They are adapted by nature to tobacco, 

 and could not, perhaps, by any course of treat- 

 ment, be made very suitable tor many other 

 crops. But it is asserted as probably true, that 

 the supply of insoluble saline matter, as it ex- 

 ists in most of these soils, is inexhaustible. And 

 this arrangement of chemical combinations, 

 which endows the soil with a power of resist- 

 ance and sell-preservation, and enables it to 

 withstand, in a great measure, the wasting in- 

 fluences of nature and art, is but another man- 

 ifestation of the wisdom and goodness of Him 

 who doeth all things well. Without it, a speedy 

 and hopeless exhaustion of all soils would ne- 

 cessarily ensue. But by it, and under judicious 

 farming, a gradual but constant and sufficient 

 conversion of saline matter from an insoluble to 

 a soluble state is effected to satisfy, in the main, 

 the wants of most crops. 



Having now disposed of the very erroneous 

 notion that guano is a stimulant, and as such 

 injurious to the soil, it would be in order next to 

 no ice one other objection to its use: that of its 

 hurtful action on the soil as a caustic. But as 

 this will be considered presently in connection 

 with green manures, it, is now proposed to pass 

 on to notice very briefly, and in a desultory 

 way, some of the beneficial effects of guano. 



This fertilizer has been used by the under- 

 signed through a period of some eight years, 

 and has been in u?e by others, near neighbors, 

 and to a large extent, for about the same length 

 of time — many of these farmers using more 

 than 50 tons a year. It has been applied to all 

 sorts of crops, from wheat and tobacco down to 

 peas and potatoes, and succeeded well in the 



