THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



261 



then the farmer has to give it the materials that 

 belong to all those plants. The ground must be 

 constantly supplied with those matters which 

 every plant draws from it. On pure sand, clay 

 must be used, to give it sufficient tenacity and 

 density. And every farmer must know the na- 

 ture of soils before he can accomplish much. — 

 We have been trying to regenerate lands when 

 we know nothing of the materials of which the 

 soil is composed. If muck (composed princi- 

 pally of peat and leaves and other decomposed 

 vegetable matter,) is used, it requires the addi- 

 tion of lime to decompose the sulphate of iron 

 or copperas which always abounds in bogs. If 

 lime is put upon muck, layer for layer, it will 

 make good manure in a very short time. (We 

 believe the Doctor said six weeks, but are not 

 certain.) If manure is wanted at once, put 

 lime in, and you have it. 



Judge Van Wyck said the gentleman had 

 undoubtedly taken a very correct view of the 

 effects of these manures on soils ; he coincided 

 in the views of the Doctor, and proceeded to 

 classify the fossil and mineral manures, the latter 

 being composed of the four primitive earths, 

 showing that if any plant is deficient in any one 

 of these, it will not mature. 



Professor Mapes stated that near Spotswood, 

 New York, there is a large tract of sandy land 

 that seemed nearly useless. Dr. Underbill's ex- 

 periment with muck had been tried there with 

 success. The water of two or three mill streams 

 brought down and deposited great quantities of 

 this muck. On the banks a large deposit has 

 been made, which was used alone and as mixed 

 with lime on farms in the vicinity ; and from 

 one acre of previously entirely unproductive land 

 were obtained 318 bushels of potatoes, 50 loads 

 of manure being used to the acre. In that land 

 there is a great deal pyrites, which form sulphate 

 of iron. He was not aware that these are de- 

 composed, although they are of great benefit to 

 all agricultural operations. In the vicinity of 

 that town, the farmers, by the use of muck, can 

 raise peaches at two-thirds the cost of potatoes, 

 and find them equally profitable. Every vege- 

 table from which alcohol is made, contains a 

 trace of iron, and very generally of copper. 



Mr. Hyde inquired if the alluvial deposit does 

 not contain quantities of calcareous earth ? . . . . 

 Professor Mapes answered " Yes, but not in large 

 quantities." 



Mr. Watson related an experiment he had 

 tried, we think, in England on one-eighth of an 

 acre of land, in order to test the effect of large 

 quantities of lime. People in the vicinity repu- 

 diated the idea of applying more than forty 

 bushels of lime to the acre, but this quantity, he 

 said, is of no account at all when it is ploughed 

 in. On this eighth of an acre he put thirty-five 

 bushels of lime, and planted various vegetables 

 in alternate rows in the patch, which flourished 



luxuriantly, while all the remainder of the field 

 became so hard that a plough made not the least 

 impression, the land being very much parched. 

 Lime, as exemplified in the patch he had culti- 

 vated so carefully, has the property of holding 

 water, and thus affording nourishment to plants, 

 even in the driest seasons. In order to make 

 sandy land retain moisture, clay should be used ; 

 marl is better. What is called fat marl will 

 produce good vegetation without the aid of either 

 animal or vegetable manures. An instance of 

 the trouble arising from couch grass in fields was 

 mentioned by the speaker, who had rid his land 

 of this pest by paring and burning ; and approved 

 of this practice, as being of great benefit to any 

 land. After the grass was exterminated he en- 

 deavored to cultivate that land. He sowed oats 

 the next year, and the first that grew up had 

 stems of the thickness of a man's finger, but 

 not an oat in them. The fourth year barley 

 was planted and yielded sixty-four bushels to 

 the acre, which he sold at ten shillings sterling 

 per bushel. Lime should not be used on land 

 that is already free, unless clay is first employed 

 to stiffen the soil. 



Professor Mapes said that in New Jersey the 

 farmers use lime on very sandy land, so light as 

 almost to be blown about, and the practice is 

 explained by them thus : that the lime partially 

 makes mortar of the soil, and thus brings the 

 land into good condition. The next best manure 

 to muck alone is lime alone, but to have them 

 mixed they do not act so well. Either lime or 

 muck alone should be used. It has now be- 

 come a question among scientific men whether 

 manure does not configure the earth, enabling a 

 plant to retain carbonic acid until it becomes 

 suited to receive it from the atmosphere. 



Messrs. Hyde and Watson followed in farther 



remarks on the same subject Professor 



Mapes related an instance of making the ground 

 rather too rich for proper vegetation on Phila- 

 delphia Neck Mr. Watson made a few re- 

 marks on breast ploughing— he did not think 

 as good as the ordinary mode, on account of the 

 expense — for a man cannot breast plough one 

 acre under eight days. 



The Club then adjourned. 



CASTOR OIL MADE PALATABLE. 



Castor oil may be most easily taken mingled 

 with orange juice, if the orange be not ripe and 

 sweet. The difference between this and any 

 other mode of taking this valuable medicine is 

 surprising. 



POPULAR ERRORS. 



Shrinking and Sivelling of JSleat in the Pot. — 

 When children, we used to be told that pork, 

 ! beef, &c, killed in the old of the moon, would 



