THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



411 



destitute, or almost destitute of carbonate of 

 lime, a fact which has been repeatedly veri- 

 fied by the analysis of limestone soils. I have 

 repeatedly tested such soils for carbonate of 

 lime, and have invariably found, except when 

 small pebbles of limestone were disseminated 

 through the soil, that they contain no carbo- 

 nate of lime, and that the lime which they con- 

 tain in other forms of combination, such as the 

 sulphate, phosphate, and silicate of lime, is 

 frequently less than is to be found in soils 

 which result from the disintegration of other 

 rocks. 



When the limestones have such slight cohe- 

 rence originally, that they disintegrate easily 

 when exposed to frost, &c, this explanation 

 does not apply ; in such cases the rock breaks 

 down to a sort of calcareous sand, yielding a 

 soil which is highly calcareous. Such soils, 

 however, are very rare in our country, the 

 great mass of them having been formed from 

 comparatively hard limestone, and in the man- 

 ner explained above. 



. But while most limestone soils are destitute 

 of carbonate of lime, and frequently contain 

 very little lime in any form, it is a well known 

 fact that these soils are almost invariably well 

 adapted to the growth of an important class of 

 lime plants — the grasses. Indeed so constantly 

 are the grasses associated with limestone soils, 

 that it is only necessary to turn out a field for 

 a year or two, to have it covered with a thick 

 sod of nutritious grass, and fine pasture may 

 be had almost any where, by clearing out un- 

 dergrowth, &c, sufficiently to admit the rays 

 of the sun. This peculiarity of these soils, i*s, 

 I conceive, to be attributed to the presence of 

 the limestones, rather than to any thing pecu- 

 liar to the soils themselves. We know that all 

 running water in limestone countries, is 

 charged with carbonate of lime, which is de- 

 rived from the rocks while in contact with 

 them ; now I maintain that the same thing is 

 true with regard to most of the water which 

 finds its way to the roots of plants growing 

 upon limestone soils. The water after falling 

 upon the soil sinks down through it to the rock, 

 and being charged with more or less carbonic 

 acid which it has absorbed from the air and the 

 soil, it takes up a small amount of carbonate 

 of lime. Evaporation taking place at the sur- 

 face of the soil, this water, with its charge of 

 lime, rises by capillary attraction, comes in 

 contact with the roots of plants, and yields to 

 them its supplies of lime and other mineral 

 food, y 



If the above be the true explanation of the 

 origin of the limestone soils, we can see no 

 reason why the application of lime to them 

 should not be attended with beneficial results. 

 Indeed the principles of science teach, that 

 while the application of lime to them may not 

 be attended by such very marked results as 

 sometimes attend the application of lime, we 

 certainly ought to look for the same benefits 



here, that ordinarily attend the application of 

 lime to other soils'; and the fact that lime has 

 been, and is now, applied to limestone soils 

 with great success, ought not to excite any 

 feeling of surprise. — Country Gentleman, 



Ploughing in Green Crops. 



Among the unsettled questions in regard to 

 agricultural practice, is the effort of ploughing 

 in green crops. Can land be improved in this 

 way, and if so, what is the best mode? What 

 crops are best for the purpose, and at what 

 stage should they be turned in ? These are ques- 

 tions on which more light is wanted, and we 

 shall feel obliged for any facts relating to them 

 which our readers may communicate. 



Until experience convinced us to the contra- 

 ry, we supposed that crops were most valuable 

 for manuring the soil at the time of their great- 

 est weight. Among the instances which tended 

 to show the erroneousness of this supposition, 

 the following may be mentioned : An acre of 

 stout grass was measured off in a field, and on 

 the 4th of July, the grass being in fujl Blossom, 

 it was rolled flat and then carefully ploughed 

 in. On the adjoining portion of the field the 

 grass was immediately cut and made into hay. 

 The following spring the rest of the field was 

 ploughed, the whole manured alike, and plant- 

 ed to corn. The crop where the grass was 

 ploughed in was inferior from the start, and 

 continued so,to the end — giving a less 3neld than 

 the land which had the grass taken off. Oats 

 followed with similar results, and grass, follow- 

 ing the oats, was still poorest where the soil 

 was manured (?) with the green crop. 



A case is recollected which is given in the 

 Transactions of the Essex (Mass.) Agricultural 

 Society. A heavy growth of green Indian corn 

 was buried by cutting it and laying it in the 

 furrows as the ground was ploughed. The ef- 

 fect was to injure the following crops for seve- 

 ral years. 



We have lately heard of more cases of the 

 same kind. A correspondent of the New Jersey 

 Farmer says he " rolled and ploughed under 

 about six acres of large oats, while in blossom 

 and milky." Wheat followed, but lie " did not 

 perceive that the oat crop ploughed under had 

 a beneficial effect on the growth of the wheat, 

 anywhere." He tried another experiment the 

 same year, which he relates as follows : 



" I ploughed under one acre of good oats, in 

 another field, on a sandy loam, while in about 

 the same state, as to ripeness. The land, as 

 well as that adjoining, had been, a short time 

 previously, covered with calcareous earth — 30 

 loads to the acre. Immediately after plough- 

 ing, sowed on two bushels of broom-corn seed, 

 and then harrowed in. When the corn had at- 

 tained a height of from three to six feet, and as 

 thick as it could grow, I ploughed it under and 

 sowed wheat. I cut the oats when ripe on all 

 other parts of the field, and the land adjoining, 



