302 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



President Hitchcock, in a letter to a friend 

 and pupil, who had been appointed State Ge- 

 ologist, by the Executive of Yermont, writes 

 as follows : 



" I should not think it strange if some should 

 be disappointed, as they have been in other 

 States, by anticipating too much from the mere 

 analyses of soils. The impression is very strong, 

 through the comm.unity, that the chemist, by 

 such an analysis, can determine what is want- 

 ing to render a soil fertile, or what renders it 

 barren. Now even admitting that he could do 

 this, an analysis of the soil from almost every 

 farm in the State, nay, from almost every field, 

 would be necessary to make it of much value ; 

 and it is not generally known that every such 

 analysis, accurate enough for this purpose, could 

 not consume less than two or three weeks. But 

 I do not believe tliat agricultural chemistry is 

 yet advanced enough to enable the chemist to 

 say in many cases what ingredient added will 

 be sure to render a barren soil prolific." 



I have written this article Mr. Editor, not for 

 the purpose of throwing doubt or suspicion 

 upon the just claims of science; but simply 

 to bring before your readers the question whe- 

 ther the popular mind is not demanding and 

 hoping more from her than she has ever pro- 

 mised to do — more than she can perform ; and 

 consequently whether there is not danger of 

 fostering expectations, the certain disappoint- 

 ment of which will strengthen prejudice against 

 all scientific teachings. And I will close with 

 a few reflections. The experience of the prac- 

 tical farmer may be undervalued, in the advo- 

 cacy of scientific knowledge. The impotence 

 and fallibility of what is called science, rather 

 than the stupidity of farmers, a reason for the 

 slow advance of " scientific agriculture." In- 

 stead of the aj)plication of science to agricul- 

 ture, the creation or ^^e^ybc^io/i of science for 

 agriculture, is needed. " The first thing to be 

 done is, [not] to prepare the mind [of farmers] 

 for a better system," but to prepare the "bet- 

 ter system." "The preparation of competent 

 teachers will necessarily precede the in- 

 struction of pupils." 



• S. F. 



Winchester^ January, 1854. 



From the Boston Cultivator. 



BUTTER MAKING. 



Messrs. Editors, — I find in a French work on but- 

 ter making the following remark : " To procure but- 

 ter of an excellent flavor and extreme delicacy, it 

 must be washed finally with new milk; the cream 

 of this new milk is incorporated with the butter, 

 and communicates to it its sweetness and delicacy." 

 Now, have any of our Cultivator butter making 



friends tested the value of this discovery 7 The 

 idea is new to me, and as I am not in the way of 

 practising for myself, will those who could put the 

 question to issue please do so and report the result 

 through the Cultivator, and receive the thanks of 



Many. 



The following essay is a substitute for another, 

 withdrawn by Dr. Pendleton, from the Virginia 

 State Agricultural Society, to whom it was sub- 

 mitted and ordered to be printed by the Executive 

 Committee. — Editor Southern Planter. 



LIME— ITS ACTION, &c. 



There is no mineral, perhaps, the application of 

 which is more beneficial t6 a generality of soils 

 than lime, yet none about which practical farmers 

 have at all times so widely differed. Some regard 

 it a sovereign panacea for all the ills the soil is heir 

 to, while others contend as the result of repeated 

 experiment, that on thin soils, at least, it is utterly 

 worthless. Now, while it is borne in mind that this 

 mineral, in one form or another, is constantly pre- 

 sent in every plant tlie farmer grows, and is, in the 

 aggregate, far more abundant in the vegetable 

 kingdom, than any other — that in barren soils, it is 

 always in small, and in those of known productive- 

 ness, always in large proportion, it would appear 

 strange that its application should not, in all cases, 

 prove highly beneficial ; yet certain it is, that it does 

 not always exhibit its peculiar, good effects, even on 

 those soils, which Mr. Rulfin, of this State, would 

 call " acid,'" and to which, according to his theory, 

 it would be most beneficial. The writer of this 

 proposes briefly to examine Mr. II. 's views on the 

 subject of lime, not, however, v/ith any intention 

 of disparaging his theory, farther than may be ne- 

 cessary to arrive at correct conclusions - for if there 

 is any man who deserves the everlasting gratitude 

 of his countrymen every where, and especially in 

 " Tide Water Virginia," because of his many inva- 

 luable labors in the cause of agriculture, it is the 

 modest author of the " Essay on Calcareous Ma- 

 nures." 



Mr. R.'s theory I understand to be this : A growth 

 of such acid plants as the sheep sorrel" — "broom 

 grass" and old field pine," is indicative, he infers, 

 of axid soil. The soil he supposes to be poisoned by 

 an acid, and until this poisonous acid is neutralized 

 by the antacid, lime — acid plants only will flourish 

 on it, and such a soil, he assures us, ^'cannot be dn- 

 rably and profitably improved by putrescent manures, 

 iirithout previously making it calcareous." But by 

 liming, or calxing as he prefers to call it, all this 

 supposed free acid in the soil is neutralized, and 

 all its acid vegetation, for want of the proper food, 

 is thereby exterminated. 



Now this test (diagnosis, as a medical man would 

 say) of the disease is certainly very simple, and the 

 treatment equally so. But unfortunately for a large 

 section of "middle" Virginia, at least, where these 

 acid plants flourish in their greatest luxuriance and 

 perfection — owing to the cost of lime and its trans- 

 portation, calxing, to the extent he proposes, can 

 never, in all probability, be practised; therefore, 

 according to his doctrine, such soils can never be 

 " durably and profitably improved," and for this 

 reason the sooner their owners abandon them to 

 their fates the better. But being myself unwilling 

 to admit the correctness of his premises, I must be 



