THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



359 



where two clover crops intervene in the five 

 years. 



I have now, Mr. President, shown the inex- 

 haustible supply of organic food lor plants 

 within the atmosphere which surrounds us — a 

 supply which is constantly kept up by com- 

 bustion, the decay of organic matter and the 

 respiration of animals — producing an eternal 

 circulation of matter between the earth and 

 air, by those unchanging laws, which an all 

 wise Creator has ordained. Whilst combus- 

 tion, respiration and decay tend constantly to 

 render the air impure and unhealthy by con- 

 suming its oxygen and increasing its carbonic 

 acid, vegetable life is continually absorbing 

 the carbonic acid and throwing back pure 

 oxygen. And so, upon the nitrogen of the 

 atmosphere by means more obscure, but still 

 as certain and invariable, the uniform relation 

 is preserved between the air and earth by 

 means of'the vegetable creation. The earth 

 must produce its vegetation to purify the air 

 for the health of man. The winds will sow 

 noxious seed, if the industry of man does not 

 scatter those that are valuable. If you do hot 

 sow grasses for stock, the earth will produce 

 its weeds for vermin. The material world 

 has its unchanging laws, and amongst these it 

 is plainly written that a living vegetation must 

 spring up to purify the air, in exact proportion 

 as combustion, respiration and decay proceed. 

 Under the direction of intelligent industry this 

 living vegetation furnishes the food for ani- 

 mals and men. The air can supply nutri- 

 tious crops as easily as it can noxious weeds. 

 Man has his obligations and duties to perform 

 in respect to the material world — made after 

 the likeness of his Creator, with the linea- 

 ments of divinity traced upon him, and a 

 living soul breathed within him, he is sent 

 forth to subdue the earth and to have dominion 

 over every living thing; not with folded hands 

 and in slothful idleness, but in the sweat of 

 his face shall he eat his bread, until he returns 

 unto the earth. If like the sluggard he folds 

 his hands, thistles and briars will spring up 

 around him, and poverty and want will come 

 as an armed man. It was not promised to 

 the slothful, that bounteous crops should crown 

 his sloth, but that thistles and briars, the pests 

 of the vegetable creation, should be the min- 

 istering agents to purify the air which he con- 

 taminated. 



That element of the air which is the nutri- 

 tious principle of food is also the ingredient 

 of fertility to the soil. We have already seen, 

 that the clover crop has the peculiar power, 

 with the leguminous plants, of assimilating 

 the nitrogen of the air. A good clover crop 

 on every field should be a paramount object 

 with the farmer. A considerable outlay may 

 be justified to bring the land into such condi- 

 tion that it will produce it. A large propor- 

 tion of the materials for manuring may be 

 profitably applied to aid it. Special manures 

 may be safely purchased to effect this object. 

 When the land has been so far improved as 



to secure a good stand of clover, plaster is the 

 specific manure for that crop. There are some 

 soils upon which plaster produces no effect. 

 It is stated in Coleman's European Agricul- 

 ture, (273) that in all England, he had not 

 been able to find a well attested example of 

 its being applied with any benefit whatever. 

 Some soils, marls and limestones, contain it 

 in sufficient quantity to render its application 

 unnecessary— and the mere application of 

 marl or lime may decompose some sulphate 

 in the soil and furnish a sufficient supply. Its 

 general effect is to double the crop of clover; 

 and I cannot more strongly impress upon far- 

 mers its great value in producing this result, 

 than by quoting from an eminent French au- 

 thor. Direct analysis shows, where the clover 

 crop is increased one ton by the intervention 

 of plaster, there is a gain of over one hundred 

 pounds of ammonia, and this gain is caused 

 solely by the application of plaster.— [Bous- 

 singault, 325] This is more than sufficient 

 to supply a large wheat crop. The plaster 

 has no direct action upon wheat, and it is only 

 through the medium of the clover that its be- 

 neficial influence is exerted. 



The quantity of plaster applied to the acre 

 in many parts of Europe, varies from 1£ cwt. 

 to 16 cwt., or three-quarters of a ton per acre. — 

 [Boussingault, 320.] It is stated that in a mo- 

 derately manured soil, as all the world knows, 

 plaster shows no sensible improvement; and 

 that it is to throw away both money and trou- 

 ble to put plaster upon an unkindly and impo- 

 verished bottom.— [Boussingault, 326 ] 1 am 

 not informed of any trials with plaster in such 

 quantities in this State as prevails in European 

 practice. But in many respects the observed 

 effects of the application differ on the two con- 

 tinents. Our soils have not been sufficiently 

 studied, nor has our observation been suffi- 

 ciently collected and compared, to account for 

 the conflicting results. The effect of plaster 

 is certainly much greater as organic matter 

 accumulates in the soil, and more invariable 

 in its benefits; yet I have frequently seen very 

 remarkable benefits from its use on land so 

 far exhausted that it would not produce ten 

 bushels of corn per acre. The effects of plas- 

 ter are as stiking upon corn and tobacco as 

 upon the clover, and its benefits seem to in- 

 crease in proportion to the quantity of unrolled 

 litter applied to the soil, and the longer inter- 

 vals between the hoe crops. Many of the 

 failures in the use of plaster may have been 

 caused by a want of organic matter in the soil, 

 and where the system heretofore pursued in 

 the State has been one so exhausting, it may 

 be proper to guard the farmer against an er- 

 roneous conclusion as to the value of plaster 

 from a single failure. Wherever it succeeds, 

 I regard it in connection with clover, by far 

 the most economical and valuable fertilizer; 

 and that one of the chief benefits of all other 

 applications to our land, is to bring the soil 

 into that condition, which will enable plaster 

 and clover to act efficiently. A good clover 



