THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



75 



"Doctor, vrhat will be the consequence if I 

 give him brandy and salt V 



" Why, madam, if you give him enough of 

 it, the consequence will be that he will be in a 

 drunken pickle." 



And so if one shall dose his land with lime 

 and salt, the consequence will be that his land 

 will be limed and salted — nothing more. 



[Ed. So. Pl. 



Mr. Editor — Some years ago, "Prof. Mapes," 

 the " Chilian guano" discoverer, gave a receipt 

 for a mixture of lime and salt, and in almost 

 every issue of his paper, urged the use of it, 

 asserting that by standing a certain time, mu- 

 tual decomposition of the two substances would 

 take place, with the formation of soda and chlo- 

 ride of calcium; that the caustic soda would 

 draw carbonic acid from the air, and become 

 carbonate of soda ; and that the whole would 

 constitute a very valuable mixture for manures, 

 composts, &c. 



At your suggestion, I undertook to prepare 

 some of the mixture in exact accordance with 

 the directions, and, after allowing it to stand 

 the required time, to test it for the purpose of 

 ascertaining whether what the "Prof/' assert- 

 ed was really true. The mixture was made, 

 plied with water, stirred repeatedly, &c, for 

 weeks, just as the directions called for ; but 

 something interferring the mixture was set to 

 one side, and there remained for two or three 

 years. 



A few months since I tested it, and found 

 that after all my trouble it was still lime and 

 salt. Thinking, however, that possibly I had 

 not done the mixture full justice, I had another 

 portion prepared. Even this, after standing for 

 months, proved to -be lime and salt, without a 

 trace of soda. 



I communicate the result of this experiment 

 at this* late day, for those who still use this 

 mixture with the belief that the assumed 

 changes really do take place. I have nothing 

 to say against the use of either lime or salt, or 

 both, as they are both good in their way ; but 

 I do say that to make this mixture, and com- 

 post it with any sort of manure containing 

 nitrogen, will result in injury rather than 

 benefit, because the lime not undergoing de- 

 composition, is caustic, and will expel ammonia 

 as fast as it is formed. If, however, it is com- 

 posted with leaves, straw, mould or swamp mud, 

 it must produce the same efficacious results that 

 are known to follow the use of lime in com- 

 posts of this character generally. 



At first sight the mutual decomposition of 

 the lime and salt, would seem to be a sort of 

 matter of course operation ; but there is a well 

 established law of chemistry, which makes it im- 

 possible. According to that law. no two bodies, 

 one or both of which are more insoluble than 

 those which would result from their mutual de- 

 composition, will decompose each other. Lime 



' is almost insoluble, and its carbonate is quite 

 so ; whereas the chloride of calcium and soda, 

 or its carbonate, the bodies which would result 

 from the mutual decomposition of lime and 

 salt, are very soluble ; and hence their forma- 

 tion if?, according to the above law, out of the 

 question. 



If the lime and salt mixture really under- 

 went decomposition with the formation of car- 

 bonate of soda, by the absorption of carbonic 

 acid from the air, the discoverer might justly 

 pride himself for having made a very valuable 

 discovery in applied science ; and would find 

 the manufacture of carbonate of soda, even 

 more profitable than manufacturing "improved 

 superphosphate of lime" or "Chilian Guano." 

 In former times the only source of the carbo- 

 nate of soda of commerce was in the ashes of 

 sea weeds, the article was high in price, and 

 the supply limited. The discovery was made, 

 however, that by strongly heating sulphate of 

 soda, mixed with chalk or powdered limestone, 

 and fine coal, in a furnace of peculiar construc- 

 tion, the sulphate would be decomposed and 

 carbonate take its place. This discovery, cou- 

 pled with the well known fact that, by heating 

 a mixture of sulphuric acid and common salt, 

 sulphate of soda would be formed, led to a com- 

 plete revolution in the manufacture of socla ; 

 and nearly all of the carbonate of soda of com- 

 merce is now gotten by the action of sulphuric 

 acid on sab, the subsequent heating of the sul- 

 phate of soda so formed with chalk and fine 

 coal, and the after solution and crystalization 

 of the carbonate. But this process .is compli- 

 cated, involves the use of fuel, furnaces, &c, 

 together with the loss of large amounts of sul- 

 phuric and muriatic acids, and would inevita- 

 bly be immediately abandoned if the mere mix- 

 ture of salt and lime in certain proportions, by 

 being kept moist, exposed to air, and frequent- 

 ly stirred for a few weeks or even months, was 

 going to effect the same end. 



William Gilliam. 



V. M. Inst., Jan. 1857. 



TO CURE CATTLE OP HOVEN. 



Make a rope of straw or hay about the s'ze 

 of your wrist and pass it through the animal's 



mouth, and tie it tightly behind the horns — it 

 will cure certain. 



The friend who sent us the above knows all 

 about cattle. — [Ed. So. Pl. 



IRISH POTATOES.— HOT BEDS. — EARLY 

 PEAS. 



The following gardening directions are taken 

 from the Cotton Planter and Soil of the South, 

 whose Horticultural Editor, Mr. Peabody, al- 

 ways has something good in his department. 



The directions for covering Irish Potatoes we 

 know by. experience to be good. But it is an 



