462 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



texture, and constitution of soil and subsoil ; 

 and greatly to lessen or entirely remove, all ill 

 effects of other peculiar bad qualities— as ex- 

 cess of clay and impermeable texture, miry 

 fields and roads, and a deficiency of sand. 



But even if all these positions were ad- 

 mitted, the great cost of such thorough 

 draining will prevent its being attempted, 

 or a thought of its execution being enter- 

 tained by an^'- planter. It is true that it 

 might cost as much as the present average 

 price of good land in Marengo, or $50 the 

 acre. But that would be only equal to an 

 annual expenditure of the interest of $50, 

 which, at 8 per cent., would be |4 a year. 

 What planter is there who does not lose 

 much more than ^1 annually on each acre, 

 by the disadvantages which thorough drain- 

 age would remove ? And if removed, be- 

 sides the gain in saving labour, who might 

 not expect to make twice as much of addi- 

 tional crop to the acre, as would sell for $4 ? 



Besides the remarkable qualities of most 

 of these soils, in the unusual and great 

 abundance of carbonate of lime, and of fine 

 clay, and of the great deficiency of silicious 

 sand — compared to all other soils, previ- 

 ously or elsis where known to me — it seems 

 that there is another rare character of 

 constitution, in the sometimes, if not gen- 

 eral, uncommon abundance of organic mat- 

 ter in these soils, sub-soils, and under-beds. 

 •I regret much, that on this interesting point 

 I have but little of precise information. 

 In making my own early examinations and 

 partial analyses of specimens of these soils, 

 selected for me by residents, my attention 

 was directed almost exclusively to the then 

 novel and interesting subject of ascertain- 

 ing the absence or presence, and the pro- 

 portion when present, of carbonate of lime. 

 I was not competent, and did not attempt to 

 conduct a full analysis of soil — and did not 

 then extend my search even to results 1 

 might have obtained, if then known to be 

 of great interest. Thus, I did not suspect 

 any remarkable quantities of organic mat- 

 ter, until I saw such reported of sundry 

 specimens analized by Drs. Cooper, Glbbes, 

 and Nott, (of S. C.,) and which I repub- 

 lished in the Farmer's Register, (vol. ii., p. 

 716, and iii, p. 272 ; and also vol. iii, p. 332- 

 3, in condensed form.) And while yield- 

 ing all deference to the general knowledge 

 of these gentlemen in chemical science, I 

 cannot help suspecting that, in conducting 

 these analyses, they may have erred, as 



Davy, and all of the greatest as well as all 

 inferior chemists had formerly done, in the 

 method for ascertaining the true proportions 

 of carbonate of lime. I infer this, because, 

 while professing to report alt the contents 

 of the various soils, there is stated in the 

 results no other salt of lime except the car- 

 bonate — when there is strong indirect evi- 

 dence (as I will show) of the presence of 

 some other salts of lime. But even if this 

 error existed, it has no bearing on the par- 

 ticular to which I shall refer, and in which 

 I presume these analyses may be relied 

 upon. This is the general and remarka- 

 ble large proportion of organic matter. 

 Of 12 specimens of soils or sub-soils, 

 (which will be stated with others hereaf- 

 ter,) and none including any of the surface 

 or of the recent and undecomposed vegeta- 

 ble matter, all containing proportions of vege- 

 table matter, in no case less than 20 per 

 cent., and in one case only, less than 25 per 

 cent., and from that to as much as 38 per 

 cen*-. ! All this vegetable matter must 

 have been not only fully decomposed, but, 

 (according to my views,) chemically com- 

 bined with the lime, and by that means 

 fixed in the soil. But for the very large 

 amount of lime, it would have been impos- 

 sible for any soil to have retained, and al- 

 most concealed, the presence of one-half or 

 one-third of such large proportions of vege- 

 table or organic matter. These 12 sam- 

 ples were all, except two, (which were not 

 stated,) taken at not less than 6 or 8 inches 

 below the surface. And one of them, at 

 18 inches below the surface, contained more 

 vegetable matter (and also more carbonate 

 of lime,) than the soil 12 inches immedi- 

 ately above. But before making farther 

 comments, or deductions, I will offer in a 

 condensed form, a statement of all the anal- 

 yses made heretofore by myself or by 

 others, and formerly published by me, of 

 soils of the calcareous region of Alabama. 

 Some others from other states only, and re- 

 mote locolities, will be omitted here. I 

 will arrange them in separate classes — but 

 each one before reported will be referred to 

 by its former number, and the page and 

 volume where it was more fully described 

 in the Farmer's Register. 



I. Marl, or " Rotten Lime-Stone," op 

 BOTH Upper and Lower Beds. 



Several specimens from Marengo county 

 (sent by Richard Cocke) varied in the pro 



