712 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



tive, will be added, and in far greater power to 

 the above mechanical action.* Any other 

 fertilizing minerals, or neutral salts, added in 

 small quantities and thoroughly diffused, will 

 be thus extended, and in equal diffusion, over 

 broad surfaces of land. Such will be the bene- 

 ficial use, if no other, of additions of gypsum, 

 bones, common salt, and ashes or other sub- 

 stances supplying potash, nitre, &c. Compost 

 heaps, made of these and of any other mate- 

 rials capable of supplying manuring princi- 

 ples, are once or oftener cut down, and inter- 

 mixed more thoroughly. Those containing lime 

 and also animal or other rich organic matters, 

 are in fact artificial nitre beds — in which the 

 production of nitre, obtained mostly from the 

 atmosphere, is continually in progress.! In 

 this way, of use, (and even without the ad- 

 dition of any animal matter,) lime in compost 

 (as supposed) has been found very beneficial 

 in France, in quantities less than twelve bushels 

 (of lime) to our acre. With all my exalted 

 opinion of the value of lime as manure, these 

 effects, in such smaller quantities, were incom- 

 prehensible to me, until viewing the effects in 

 connexion with the nitre-producing action of 

 lime in composts. 



Many of (us and I for one) have used as 

 manure, and alone, marsh mud, or other earth 

 largely composed of inert vegetable matter, and 

 in almost every case without remunerating re- 

 turns. Yet the same, or much poorer earthy 

 material, is used after being prepared in com- 

 posts, with unquestionable good effect and 

 profit. This material has been largely used in 

 compost in Talbot, Maryland; and there and 

 also in Edgecombe, North Carolina, the princi- 

 pal proportion of most compost heaps, is the 

 much poorer earth of ditch-banks,. head-lands, 

 and other scrapings of margins of fields, and 

 corners of worm-fences. Indeed, I have seen 

 in large use earthly materials apparently so 

 poor in fertilizing matter, that nothing but the 

 reported practical good effects of like manures 

 could convince a stranger that such labors 

 would not result in absolute loss. 



To Pickle Green Tomatoes. 



Chop the tomatoes fine, adding a few green 

 peppers, (and onions if you like them,) add one 

 tea cup of fine salt to a gallon of tomatoes; 

 let it stand twenty-four hours ; then drain it 

 through a cullender, adding two table-spoons 

 of black pepper, three of fine mustard, two of 

 cloves, and one of cinnamon. Put in a jar 

 and cover with vinegar. 



* This principal agency of calcareous earth 

 (or carbonate of lime) in aiding- fertilization, is 

 maintained and established in Essay on Calca- 

 reous Manures, pages 92-7, of 5th Edition. 



tSee full view of this particular action, in 

 Essay on Calcareous Manures, pp. 263-7 of 5th 

 Edition. 



From the Transactions of the Va. St. Jlgr. So. 

 for 1858. 



[published by order of the executive com- 

 mittee.] 



On the Occurrence of the Phosphates in 

 some of the Tertiary Deposits of Vir- 

 ginia. 



To the Executive Committee of the Virginia 

 State Agricultural Society : 



Gentlemen. — Some years since, I had the 

 honour to submit to your body a report upon 

 the composition of some of the marls and 

 other deposits belonging to the tertiary region 

 of Virginia. (Transactions of Va. S. Agr. So., 

 pages 62 and 179, Vol. I.) Under the head of 

 "Olive and other Earths/' several analyses 

 were given, in which I report the presence of 

 phosphoric acid in appreciable quantity, and 

 in one instance, I found 1.18 per cent., equiva- 

 lent to 2.55 per cent, of bone phosphate of 

 lime. In every case a solution of the earth in 

 dilute hydrochloric acid was made, and filter- 

 ed ; the phosphoric acid was subsequently pre- 

 cipitated as the phosphate of iron, by means of 

 the acetate of soda. Knowing that all of these 

 earths contained iron, no compound of iron 

 was added to the solution, because I believed 

 the quantity of iron present sufficient for the 

 separation of the whole of the phosphoric acid. 

 Subsequent experience in the analysis of ma- 

 nures containing the phosphates, in which the 

 chloride of iron had to be added in order that 

 the phosphoric acid might be separated from 

 the other constituents, led me to think that in 

 the analysis of the earths above referred to, 

 the proportion of iron might have been too 

 small for the object desired, and that in con- 

 sequence of my not observing the re-actions as 

 carefully as after experience proved to be ne- 

 necessary, I might not have separated the whole 

 of the phosphoric acid from these earths, and 

 that therefore the percentage reported was 

 probably too low. 



Having several samples of these earths still 

 in my possession, some of which I never had 

 examined, I subjected them to analysis, adding 

 the chloride of iron to the solution in each case 

 until I was certain that I had precipitated all 

 the phosphoric acid. I soon found that nearly 

 all of them contained appreciable quantities 

 of the phosphate of lime, while some of them 

 contained from 5 to 7 per cent. This fact hav- 

 ing been communicated to Mr. E. Rufiin, the 

 President of the Society, he very kindly un- 

 dertook to procure other specimens for me from 

 the various localities within his reach. A num- 

 ber of these specimens have been analyzed for 

 the phosphates, with varying results, all of 

 which will be found below. 



Whilst engaged (in ISO'S) upon the analy- 

 sis of the marls, Mr. Ruffin sent me one or 

 more samples of " olive earth," containing nu- 



✓ 



