62 
THE SOIL OF THE COTTON STATES. 
4. A fresh portion of the soil (say 200 grains), in its 
moist state, may now be taken and washed, to determine 
the quantity of silicious sand it contains. If the residual 
sand be supposed to contain calcareous matter, its amount 
may be readily determined by treating the dried sand with 
diluted muriatic acid, in the same way as when determin- 
ing the whole amount of lime contained in the unwashed 
soil. 
We have in the South all these varieties of soil ; and in 
order to determine what kind of soil is best adapted to the 
culture of cotton, the following general principles must be 
understood : 1. A soil suitable for the production of any 
given vegetable, Avhether grain or fruit, must contain all 
the inorganic constituents ^vhich the plant requires, and 
none that can do it any injury. 
2. A defective soil can be fertilized only by the addi- 
tion of a manure containing the substance or sxibstances 
which were originally wanting. 
With these explanations we present the following anal- 
yses of cotton soils, and of the ash of the cotton plant, by 
Charles T. Jackson, M.D., of Boston ; 
ANALYSES OF COTTON-PRODUCING SOILS. 
No. 1. 
Soil from St. Simon^s IsJyand, Georgia, on wh ich the Sea Island 
or Long-staple Cotton is grown. 
This soil consists of a gray sand, mixed with a fine 
loam, containing black particles. One thousand grains of 
it yield to boiling distilled water 1|- grains of soluble mat- 
ter, lyL- grains of which consist of vegeta,ble organic mat- 
ter, and half a grain of mineral salts, consisting of chloride 
