270 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



perable barrier" to improvement or suc- 

 cessful culture. This " red sorrel" is one 

 of the most familiar native plants, grow- 

 ing every where. Every body knows 

 what it is — and we put the question to 

 every intelligent man, — does he really con- 

 sider tliis plant the indication of an "insu- 

 perable barrier," or any sort of a barrier 

 to the improvement of his land ? How 

 does the writer know thai these " free 

 acids," he speaks of, exist in the soil ? 

 Then does he infer, from the growth of 

 the gooseberry and the currant, that free 

 acids are present, and will lime change 

 the character of these fruits, or by neutral- 

 izing the " free acids" deprive the plants 

 of their proper food, and so destroy them ? 

 Does an apple tree which bears sour fruit 

 indicate acid in the soil, and will one bear- 

 ing a fruit of entirely different character 

 not grow along side of it until the acid is 

 neutralized ? The absurdity of the idea is 

 here apparent, yet we hear continually of 

 this bug-bear of "free acids' ' as an " in- 

 superable barrier" to " successful culture," 

 and of the "red sorrel" as its certain in- 

 dex. Put the lime on to neutralize the 

 dicid, diud pj' est the "sorrel" disappears, 

 and all good things will grow at once. 



The writer has a direct personal acquain- 

 tance with this plant, from the days that 

 he rolled on the green sward and ate grass 

 like Nebuchadnezzar; chewing up with a 

 gusto the little-poinled, pleasantly acid 

 leaves of this "sheep sorrel," as he al- 

 ways called it. When he commenced 

 reading agricultural publications he im- 

 bibed these theories about " free acids," 

 and the necessity^ of neutralizing them, 

 and practiced upon them to his cost; and 

 now, after many years of experience in 

 the cultivation of such soils, he not only 

 thinks hut knows ihhit the " red sorrel" is 

 not an indication of " free acids," as they 

 are called, or that if it is, then these "free 

 acids" are no impediment whatever to the 

 most successful cultivation and improve- 

 ment. 



He has now in cultivation a considera- 

 ble body of land, not very long since taken 

 out of the woods, lie verily thinks that 

 there is not one foot of this land which, if 

 ploughed and thrown out without being 

 cultivated, but would produce sorrel in lux- 

 uriance. He can point out at this moment 

 a piece of sward thoroughly "' set" with 

 white clover and timothy, and not a sprig 



of "sorrel" apparent, and, a part of it, 

 ploughed up during the last summer, cul- 

 tivated in turnips, and not'yet ploughed 

 again, which is covered with a growth of 

 " sorrel," now in full bloom. There they 

 stand, the sorrel showing to the line the 

 ground which was broken up the past sea- 

 son, and the white clover and timothy turf 

 along side, showing as distinctly that the 

 lurking enemy has no power to hurt them. 



Immediately adjoining this is a lot of 

 fifteen acres of clover, which has just been 

 harvested, and which justifies fully the re- 

 mark of the worthy manager who super- 

 intended it, that he " don't reckon clover 

 ever does grow much heavier than that." 

 Take the lot through, it was a specimen of 

 luxuriant growth, which we do not recol- 

 lect to have seen surpassed. Now as we 

 have said, we know that every foot of this 

 ground, if merely ploughed and let alone, 

 would produce " sorrel" luxuriantly. If 

 the "sorrel" indicates a " free acid," and 

 the "free acid" is " an insuperable bar- 

 rier to successful culture," how could such 

 a crop of clover grow ? But mark, the 

 clover is classed in the books as a lime 

 plant ; that is, one of a class of plants to 

 which an abundance of lime is essential. 

 But acid plants and "free acids" show a 

 deficiency of lime ; then where did such a 

 crop of clover get its supply of lime ? 



But there were exceptions to the gene- 

 ral character of this croj) of clover: on a 

 stony knoll where there was little depth 

 of soil, the clover failed and the sorrel had 

 possessioii. On the spots upon which the 

 grain was shocked and the clover smoth- 

 ered out, the sorrel appeared. At the foot 

 of a tree, where the plough and the hoe 

 failed of a thorough cultivation, sorrel 

 abounded. On a spot where the water 

 failed to get easily away, and a portion of 

 the clover was winter-killed, there the sor- 

 rel grew. 



It grew every where in the absence of 

 the clover, it grew no where when the 

 clover flourished. Wherever the clover 

 failed, it was readily accounted for by an 

 accidental cause, entirely independent o( 

 the "sorrel" or the " acid," and notwith- 

 standing the universal prevalence of this 

 s;ime condition, the clover failed no wheri^ 

 when the other necessary conditions wer? 

 present, viz : thorough cultivation, and £• 

 freedom from accidental obstructions. I 

 is a common thing in passing a field where 



