674 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



this past season, but it ^a-os an unusually wefc, 

 cold fall, and spring. The Wyand(,tte corn 

 certainly is worth trying, but don't depend 

 upon it for a crop. 



Essay, on the Physical Properties of Soils 

 as Affecting Fertility. 



BY SAMUEL W. JOHNSOX, 



Professor of Analytical and Agricultural Che- 

 mi sir ij ill Yale College, and Chemist to the 

 State Agricultural Society of Connecticut. 



The fertility of a soil depends upon no 

 one cause or class of causes. The farmer 

 who is acquainted with the results of gen- 

 erations of agricultural experience but 

 who has not mastered the principles of 

 science ; the chemist who regards only 

 the revelations of his reagents ; the geolo- 

 gist who merely traces the soil to its ori- 

 ginal rock : the physicist who sees in it 

 only a theater for the play of mechanical 

 forces — can each suggest so;me of the con- 

 ditions of fertility, and can account for 

 the productiveness of this and the barren- 

 ness of that soil ; but none of them can 

 give accurate rules universally applicable 

 to the valuation or improvement of soils 

 in general. There is haidly another sub- 

 ject of such wide connection and extent, 

 it involves the whole range of the physi- 

 cal sciences ; Geology, Chemi>try, Bota- 

 ny, Physiology, Meteorology, Mechanics, 

 Hydrodynamics, the sciences of heat, light 

 and electricity, all are intimately related 

 to it. That labors to illustrate such a topic 

 should have only recently met with any 

 degree of success is not strange ; neither 

 are we to wonder that our present know- 

 ledge of it is very limited, or that the 

 opinions of those best qualified to judge 

 upon it, are divided. 



The function of the soil is two-fold, first 

 to^serve a.s the station or home of the plant, 

 and second, to supply it with food. 



In nature these two offices are not by 

 any means separable. The same materi- 

 als that lorm the bed in which the plant 

 preferably fixes itself, in which it extends 

 its roots most naturally, and developes it- 

 self most healthfully, also contribute food 

 to its growth. 



The study of the physical characters of 

 soils involves the investigation of the first 

 of these functions, that of their chemical 

 characters the investigation of the second. 

 There are soils whose texture, situation, 

 degree of moisture, &c., are apparently 



faultless, which are nevertheless unpro- 

 ductive ; they lack some necessary form 

 of food for the growing plant. There are 

 other soils which reveal by chemical an- 

 alysis the presence of every substance 

 needed by the plant as food, and prove to 

 contain them all in sufficient quantity, and 

 yet are not productive, or not regularly so; 

 they may give a fair crop one season and 

 entirely fail the next. These soils have 

 some physical defect which nullifies their 

 excellencies of composition 



An advanced, and rational or scientific 

 system of farming, kee]'s in view both the 

 chemical and the physical qualities and 

 wants of the soil, and reclaims and im- 

 proves the lands under its control, by a 

 judicious combination and succession of ap- 

 propriate chemical and physical agencies. 

 Thus in England and Scotland, countries 

 which are the world's example in agricul- 

 ture, the first thing that is done wnth a soil 

 by a thorough farmer, is to inquire into its 

 physical condition, and to correct the same 

 when necessary and practicable. The Bri- 

 tish farmer will have his soil just so dry, 

 just so deeply tilled, just so finely pulver- 

 ized, before he feels warranted in putting 

 seed into it, or m.anure upon it. In this 

 country, however, where nature has favor- 

 ed us with a climate in some respects bet- 

 ter, comparatively little attention is be- 

 stowed on the mechanical preparation of 

 the ground, the usual loutine of ploughing 

 six inches, more or less, harrowing and 

 rolling a traditional number of times, be- 

 ing all that generally succeeds the removal 

 of forests and of stones. Beyond this 

 .simple preparation of the ground, which 

 is uniform for nearly all soils and all crops, 

 Ithe farmer if he go farther, expends his 

 'strength in efl^orts to raise the fertility of 

 I his fields by chemical means — by the ap- 

 I plication of much and many manures, 

 j It is quite plain, on a moment'sthought, 

 I that physical improvements of the soil de- 

 serve to come first in order of time, be- 

 cause where they are needed, and not sup- 

 plied, chemical improvements ^manures) 

 I must fail to give the full effect proper to 

 them. It is of the utmost importance for 

 the farmer to be able to judge accurately 

 how favorable to his purposes are the phy- 

 sical characters of any soil he proposes to 

 occupy, and to know^ how to maintain these 

 qualities of a new soil in their original ex- 

 celllnce. 



