THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



553 



supplied ? Remember this is only mie of 

 the inorganic parts ihat you exhaust in this 

 quantity from each acre of soil grown in 

 wheat, barley, clover, &c., annually. Is 

 it not a great exhausting process ? Is there 

 no necessity for supplying this food, of 

 plowing deeper, of manuring more ? If 

 your soil is wanting lime, ashes may be 

 substituted. But this suj)ply of inorganic 

 matter in some form must not be withheld 

 from your farm. It is a great study to 

 learn how to economically supply it — of 

 great importance you should learn. Pot- 

 ash may be used on sandy soils with good 

 effect, and is a valuable aj^plication as a 

 top-dressing for young plants, Jor insects 

 do not like it. 



Soda is another alkali found in the ashes 

 of plants, and is not unlike potash in its 

 office in the construction of the plant. 

 Common salt contains it ; hence the ap- 

 plication of the thistle-kiJler — salt — to the 

 soil furnishes soda for the plant, and is of- 

 ten the best application that can be made ; 

 this, however, is a disputed question. In 

 passing, we wish to say that hriiie is a 

 great vermin antidote, and if carefully ap- 

 plied to the soil and to the compost heap 

 will do quite as much good as harm. 

 Caustic soda, produced by boiling the com- 

 mon carbonate of soda with quicklime, is 

 dangerous to the vegetable. Common 

 salt and lime mixed together and used in 

 composting is very valuable as a supply 

 of soda, for the plant is thus obtained. 



Lime. The reader may perhaps con- 

 sider himself posted in leference to this 

 alkali. But its importance to the plant 

 is oftener under than over-estimated, and 

 it is often blindly applied, and often not 

 applied at all when it should be. It sweet- 

 ens the soil, decomposes vegetable matter, 

 and as a sulphate is a good absorbent of 

 the different gasses. But the importance 

 of this inorganic part of the plant to the 

 agriculturist must be the subject of another 

 chapter. 



Phosphoric acid, although combining 

 with any of the alkalies, is most impor- 

 tant when compounded with lime. It is 

 composed of phosphorus and oxygen. The 

 white smoke of a match when it is ignited 

 is phosphoric acid, created by the union of 

 the phosphorus on the end of the match 

 with the oxygen of the atmosphere. Its 

 importance will be understood when we 

 tell you it forms nearly one half of the 



ashes of wheat, rye, oats, buckwheat, 

 barley, peas, beans, &c., and enters large- 

 ly in the perfection of vegetables and ani- 

 mals ; and yet it is found in limited quan- 

 tities in most soils, particularly those where 

 cultivation has not been remunerative — 

 where the whole system has been to get 

 all possible, and pay nothing to the soil 

 for its harvest. This acid does not exist 

 in nature in a free state, and hence, iso- 

 lated, does not affect vegetation ; but as 

 we have said, it unites with the alkalies 

 and forms phosphates, which are essential 

 to the growth of the plant, without which, 

 perfection in the development of grains 

 and roots cannot be obtained. It is solid 

 and colourless, soluble in water, sour, cor- 

 rodes and destroys animal and vegetable 

 substances. It is found in combination in 

 all plants, hence its necessity to them as 

 an article of food ; and yet it must be di- 

 luted or mixed, hence the double impor- 

 tance of the different alkalies as fertili- 

 zers. 



The intelligent, thoughtful reader will 

 not wonder at the constant diminution of 

 fertility in cuhivated — -aye skinned soils. 

 What debts would some farmers have to 

 pay, if the earth were to make the de- 

 mand to each one, "pay that thou owest," 

 in the shape of inorganic matter taken 

 from their farms, and never returned ! It 

 is estimated that in every hundred bushels 

 of wheat sold, there are removed perma- 

 nently from the soil on which it grew, 

 sixty pounds of phosphoric acid ! and that 

 for each cov/ kept on a pasture throughout 

 the summer, there are carried off in veal, 

 butter, and cheese, not less than fifty 

 pounds of phosphate of lime, of which 

 perhaps nearly or quite one-fourth is phos- 

 phoric acid. 



Warring says well, "This would be one 

 thousand pounds for twenty cows; audit 

 shows clearly why old dairy pastures be- 

 come so exhausted of this substance, that 

 they will no longer produce those nutri- 

 tious ga«es which are favorable to butler 

 and cheese making." We may as well 

 quote the next paragraph, and endorse it, 

 viz: " That this removal of the most val- 

 uable constituent of the soil has been the 

 cause of more exhaustion of farms, and 

 more emigration in search of fertile dis- 

 tricts, than any other single effect of inju- 

 dicious farmitig, is a fact which multiplied 

 instances most clearlj^ prove." 



