THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



70 



of their approbation to the theory which 

 they oppose ? Explode this doctrine, and 

 do you not destroy the principle of ma- 

 nuring, and the necessity of rotation of 

 crops ? Trees exhaust the soil of certain 

 ingredients, and, like animals,- must have 

 their appropriate food. All know how 

 difficult it is to make a fruit tree flourish 

 on the spot from which an old tree of the 

 same species has been removed. 



The great practical question now agita- 

 ting the community is, how shall we as- 

 certain what feitilizing elements are ap- 

 propriate to a particular species of vege- 

 tation? To this two replies are rendered. 

 Some say analyze the crop ; others the 

 soil. Each, I think, maintains a truth ; 

 and both together, nearly the whole truth. 

 We need the analysis of the crop to teach 

 us its ingredients, and that of the soil to 

 ascertain wheiher it contains those ingre- 

 dients ; and if it does not, what fertilizer 

 must be applied to supply them. Thus, 

 by analysis, we learn that nearly a quarter 

 part of the constituents of the pear, the 

 grape, and the strawberry, consists of 

 potash. This abounds in new soils, and 

 peculiarly adapts them to the production 

 of these fruits, but having been extracted 

 from soils long under cultivation, it is sup- 

 plied by wood, ashes or potash, the value 

 of which has of late greatly increased in 

 the estimation of cultivators. 



Among the arts of modern civilization, 

 universal experience attests to the great 

 advantage of ''mulching" the soil around 

 fruit trees, as a means of fertilization and 

 of preservation from drought and heat, so 

 common with us in midsummer. In illus- 

 tration of this, experiment has proved that 

 on dry soils, where the earth has been 

 strewn With straw, the crops have been as 

 large without manure as with it, where 

 evaporation has disengaged the fertilizing 

 elements of the soil — Marshall P. Wil- 

 der, in Patent Office Report. 



Remarks. — Mr. Wilder is President! 

 of the Pomologica 1 Society, and an intelliJ 

 gent, experienced fruit grower. His opin-i 

 ions, therefore, are entitled to great con- 

 sideration. He is evidently in favor of, 

 "special manures," and of analyzing the! 

 crop and the soil in order to determine the 1 

 "fertil izing elements appropriate for a par-' 

 ticular species of vegetation." Enter-' 

 taining somewhat different opinions, we' 

 would most respectfully point out our| 



reasons for rejecting the doctrine of spe- 

 cial manures, as taught in the above arti- 

 cle. 



Fruit trees, and all our cultivated plants, 

 are composed of precisely the same elements, 

 some fourteen in number, four of which 

 are termed organic, and ten inorganic. 

 The former exist in the atmosphere, and 

 may be inhaled by the leaves of plants ; 

 the latter are obtained only from the soil. 

 If every one of these ten inorganic ele- 

 ments do not exist in the soil, no plant fit 

 for food can grow on that soil, unless the 

 lacking element or elements are supplied 

 in manure. On this point all are agreed. 

 Furthermore, we are willing to admit that 

 it matters not whether the missing element 

 is supplied in ordinary barn-yard manure, 

 or in any artificial manure, or in its 

 chemically pure state. To ascertain 

 whether any particular soil is deficient 

 in one or more of the elements of plants, 

 it has been proposed, as Mr. Wilder 

 states, to 11 analyze the soil." Such an 

 analysis is unnecessary, for if all plants 

 contain the same elements, and no plant 

 can grow on a soil unless it contains every 

 one of the inorganic elements of plants, 

 it follows that if the soil does produce a 

 single spear of grass, a Canada thistle or 

 a white daisy, it contains every one of the 

 inorganic elements of plants. So that to 

 V analyze the soil," for the purpose of as- 

 certaining whether it is destitute of any 

 element of plants, is unnecessary, if any 

 plant is growing on the soil. If, therefore, 

 a soil does not produce so much as a blade 

 of quack-grass, and cannot be made to 

 produce a plant of any kind by tillage 

 alone, it may be necessary to analyze it, 

 in order to ascertain which of the ten in- 

 organic elements are missing; — on any 

 other soil it is certainly useless. 



" But," says the advocate of soil analy- 

 sis, " the soil may contain enough of every 

 element for the production of one species 

 of plant, and not enough for another 

 species which require a larger quantity." 

 This is true. But no soil analysis can de- 

 termine the point. For instance, a soil ten 

 inches deep would weigh about ten thou- 

 sand tons, gross, per acre. A crop of 

 wheat of fifty bushels per acre contains 

 40 pounds of phosphoric acid. This 40 

 pounds mixed up with 22.400,000 pounds 

 of soil, is one pai t of 560,000. Now, we 

 have had some experience in determining 



