THE SOUTHEHN PLANTER. 



301 



you can raise fifty thousand dollars in your 

 city for such a purpose as the one under con- 

 sideration ? Will your citizens pay this amount 

 for the pleasure of entertaining the farmers of 

 the State once a year? When they feel so dis- 

 posed, just let us hear from you; but until 

 then, let Richmond wear in peace the honors 

 she has so gloriously won. 



N. 



Albemarle County, Sept. 24, 1854. 



From the New England Parmer, 



ANALYSES OF SOILS. 



From no branch of scientific agriculture, 

 perhaps, is more expected than from that which 

 teaches the analysis of soils. If the farmer, 

 by subjecting a few handfuls of earth from his 

 various fields, could ascertain exactly what was 

 necessary to promote its fertility, he might pro- 

 ceed intelligibly — would know exactly what to 

 do. He might then laugh at the plodding ex- 

 perience of his fathers, and, following the sure 

 teaching of positive knowledge, be certain of 

 the most happy results. But is it safe to en- 

 courage such expectations ? Do men who are 

 learned in these matters profess to be able by 

 an analysis of the soil, to answer the questions 

 which an intelligent farm-hand might propose ? 



For one, I have little confidence in the ana- 

 lyses of soils ill the ]jreseyit state of the science. 

 My skepticism on this point I ascribe to my 

 agricultural reading, and to the cautions and 

 confessions of chemists themselves ; as well as 

 to the unsettled and contradictory theories 

 which have been based upon the results of at- 

 tempts to analyze soils. The lamented Prof. 

 Norton, in one of his letters to the Albany 

 Cultivator, makes the following acknowledg- 

 ment : " The laboratory alone is j^retty sure to 

 go ivrong when it attempts to prescribe rules 

 for practiced Speaking of the change of Prof. 

 Liebig, from the ammonia to the mineral theory, 

 Mr. Norton uses the following language : 



"The principal supporter, and indeed the 

 originator of this theory, (the mineral manure 

 theory,) is Prof. Liebig. This distinguished 

 chemist, distinguished no less by his clear, lu- 

 cid style, than by his high scientific reputation, 

 was for a time devoted to " the ammonia theo- 

 ry," excluding those mineral manures to which 

 he now attaches so much importance. A few 

 years since, however, he saw cause to change 

 his ground, and has since held, that if we fur- 

 nish mineral manures in abundance, plants will, 

 without doubt, always obtain their ammonia, 

 or rather their nitrogen, from the atmosphere 

 or the soil. In pursuance of this idea, he went 

 so far as to compound, after careful study 



of ash analyses, specific mineral manures for 

 wheat, rye, oats, turnips, &c., which were to 

 take elfect upon all soils in a proper physical 

 condition. The failure of these specific ma- 

 nures, which were patented in England, was, 

 as many of your readers doubtless are aware, 

 very decisive." 



The chemist to the Ohio Board of Agricul- 

 ture, Mr. David A. Wells, devoted the summer 

 of 1851 to " examining, analyzing and report- 

 ing upon the nature and composition of the 

 soils of that State." He gives the following 

 as the result of his analysis of some of the 

 richest soil of the celebrated Scioto valley — 

 soil that has been cultivated fifty years, and 

 now, says he, " with the most ordinary culture, 

 yields on an average, one year with another, 

 eighty bushels of corn to the acre." 



ANALYSIS OF SCIOTO VALLEY SOIL. 



Whole amount of insoluble matter, 



silicious sand and clay 83.00 per cent. 



Lime 0.40 " 



Phosphoric acid 0.04 " 



Alkalies 0.16 " 



Organic matter 6.00 " 



He compares this with analyses of Massa- 

 chusetts soils, as given in the Greologieal Re- 

 port of the State, by President Hitchcock. 

 The following is the result of the analysis of 

 soil from Palmer, Hampden County, Mass.: 



Insoluble silicates 88.00 



Phosphates 0.60 



Lime 2.00 



Organic matter 8.00 



On this comparison of analyses, Mr. Wells 

 remarks: "We find but little difference in the 

 amount and value of the mineral constituents 

 of the Ohio and Hampden county soils; if any 

 thing, the advantage is on the side of Massa- 

 chusetts soils." 



Having witnessed the growth of corn in both 

 States, I must here confess my surprise at these 

 results; and will acknowledge they have done 

 much to shake my fiiith in the value of all 

 chemical analyses of soils. Is it possible, that 

 by careful analyses of soils from sterile Mas- 

 sachusetts, and of those from the Scioto valley, 

 famous for its wonderful fertility, no clue to the 

 vast difference between the two can be detected ! 



The Editor of the Ohio Cultivator, after 

 admitting that, in common with other agricul- 

 tural writers, he has urged the importance of 

 analyses of soils, for some ten years past, now 

 says: 



"We confess, however, that we are disap- 

 pointed in regard to the practical advantages 

 that have resulted thus far from the analyses 

 of soils in Ohio and elsewhere ; and we do not 

 at present see what benefit is likely to be soon 

 realized from such analyses." 



