575 



have left them ; filial love will watch over and 

 guard your dowuThill totterin2;s, and keep alive 

 your memory in gratitude more glorious than 

 glittering monuments or ornamented shrines, 

 and, like dew on Ilermon, shall fall holy tears 

 foi" you departed. 

 S WANTON, Vermont. 



. From the Rural New Yorker. 



The Soil. 



• The soil is the farmer's capital— to make 

 it pay him good profits, his business. His 

 means are invested in land, and from its gen- 

 erous bosom he must draw support for himself 

 and family — house, food, clothing, fuel, books, 

 papers, education for his children— all the ne- 

 cessaries of life, without which man cannot 

 live, and all these luxuries without which life 

 is hardly worth the having. The President in 

 the White House, or ministers at foreign 

 courts, the American loungers in Paris or 

 Rome, the missionary on the burning sands of 

 Africa, the merchant in his counting-room, and 

 the mechanic at his bench, all derive sustenance 

 from American soil. Truly do the Scriptures 

 say, " The profit of the earth is for all ; the 

 king himself is served by the field." This fact 

 no political economist can deny, no sophism 

 can conceal. To keep his capital from depre- 

 ciation, and in such a condition that it may 

 be able to honour his many and necessary 

 drafts, so as to be in no danger of a panic, and 

 that no suspension may become necessary, is 

 the great business of the farmer. It is, then, 

 of the greatest importance that we should know 

 the character of the soil which a kind Provi- 

 dence has provided for our sustenance, and the 

 best method of securing this desirable result. 



We need not tell American farmers that our 

 soil difi'ers in character, that we have clayey, 

 loamy, and sandy soils — nor that these differ- 

 ent soils require a different treatment, and are 

 suited to different crops. And yet we often 

 think those important matters are forgotten ; 

 for how few, who send us reports of their crops, 

 of their success, or their failures, give even a 

 hint as to the nature of the soil in which the 

 crops were grown, or the experiments tried! 



Then there is much need of information as to 

 the best manner of cropping and manuring 

 the different varieties of soil. We know of 

 land in this section, that ten or fifteen years 

 ago was considered so entirely unsuited to ag- 

 ricultural purposes that it was thought no sane 

 man would buy it for farming purposes. Star- 

 vation or retreat was supposed to be the sure 

 fate of any one bold enough to try the experi- 

 ment. These lands are now the most produc- 

 tive and valuable of any in this part of the 

 State. This change has been brought about by 

 skilful culture and a wise adaptation of crops 

 to the soil. 



Every farmer should possess a general know- 



ledge of the formation, composition, character, 

 and classification of soil, and on these points 

 we shall endeavour to make the whole subject 

 so plain that it will be understood and remem- 

 bered by all. 



CHARACTER AND FORMATION OF SOILS. 



Soils are those portions of the earth's sur- 

 face which contain a mixture of mineral, ani- 

 mal, and vegetable substances in such propor- 

 tions as to adapt them to the support of vege- 

 tation. We quote from a valuable article in 

 Morion's Encyclopedia : 



" On examining the various soils in this or 

 any other country, they will be found to consist 

 generally, 1. Of larger or smaller stones, sand 

 or gravel. 2. Of a mere friable, lighter mass, - 

 crumbling to powder when squeezed between 

 the fingers, aad rendering water muddy. 3. 

 Of vegetable and animal remains, (organic 

 matter.) 



"On further examination of the several por- 

 tions obtained by means of washings, we find, 

 " 1. That the sand, gravel, and fragments of 

 stones vary according to the nature of the rocks 

 from which they are derived. Quartz-sand, in 

 one case, will be observed as the predomina- 

 ting constituent ; in another, this portion of the 

 soil consists principally of a calcareous sand; 

 and, in a third, a simple inspection will ena- 

 ble u^ to recognize fragments of granite, feld- 

 spar, mica, and other minerals. 



" 2. In the impalpable powder, the chemist 

 will readily distihguish principally fine clay, 

 free silica, free alumina, more or less oxyde of 

 iron, lime, magnesia, potash, soda, traces of ox- 

 yde of manganese, and phosphoric, sulphuric 

 and carbonic acids, with more or less organic 

 matter. 



"3. The watery solution of the soils, evapo- 

 rated to dryness, leaves behind an inconsider- 

 able residue, generally coloured brown by or- 

 ganic matters which may be driven off by 

 heat. In the combustible or organic portion 

 of this residue, the presence of ammonia, of 

 humic, ulmic, crenic, and apocrenic acids (sub- 

 stances known under the more familiar name 

 of soluble humus,) and frequently traces of 

 nitric acid, will bo readil}^ detected. In the 

 incombustible portion, potash, soda, lime, mag- 

 nesia, phosphoric, sulphuric, and silicic acid, 

 chloride, and occasionally oxyde of iron and 

 manganese, arc present." 



All cultivated soils present a great similari- 

 ty in composition — all containing the above 

 chemical constituents ; and yet, notwithstand- 

 ing this similarity of composition, we observe 

 a great diversity in their character. This is 

 caused by the different proportions in which 

 the constituents are mixed together, the state 

 of combination in which they occur, and the 

 manner in which the different soils are formed. 

 All arable soils contain organic matter, vary- 

 ing from half to twelve per cent. Good gar- 

 den mould frequently contains from twenty to 



