120 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
$1)0 Soutl)0rn $ulttx 3 atou 
AUGUST^, GA. 
VOI., HI., «0. 8... AUGUST, 1845. 
Improvement of Soils. 
Our correspondent, BIr. N. Ashley, propounds 
inquiries as to the effect of putting clay, swamp 
mud, and lime, on the light sandy soils of the 
piney woods. 
So much depends on the character of the sand, 
clay and mud which it is proposed to mix togeth- 
er, and so much on the minuteness with which 
these ingredients have been divided, by the ac- 
tion of air and water, and the intimacy with 
which they shall be blended together, that the 
precise effect of such mixture can be determined 
only by careful experiment. If Mr. Ashley will 
take an acre of his light, sandy soil, and experi- 
ment upon it, carefully noting the result, and 
keeping an account of the expense, he will soon 
be able to determine for himself what his interest 
requires him to do. In the meantime, if any of 
our readers, situated as Mr. Ashley is, have 
turned their attention to this subject, and are able 
to throw any light upon it, we would be pleased 
to have the results of their experience laid before 
the public in the pages of the Cultivatoe. 
As regards the use of swamp mud, we have a 
statement by the committee of the Pendleton 
Agricultural Society, who examined the farm of 
Mr. R. A. Maxwell, of an experiment at manur- 
ing a very exhausted piece of land with leaves 
spread upon the surface and plowed in, and a 
spade fuU of swamp mud to each hill. The re- 
sult, the committee say, when compared with a 
portion of the same field not thus managed, was 
said to be the difference between an ear and a nub- 
bin. Still, we do not mean to say that because 
the application of swamp mud made ears in place 
of nubbins in Pendleton District, South Carolina, 
the same result will certainly folio w in Telfair 
county, Ga., until we know the chemical charac- 
ter of the mud in both cases. It remains for ac- 
tual expeiiment to determine what the result 
will be in the latter case. 
So far as our own experience and observation 
have gone, we are entirely satisfied that all light, 
sandy soils are wonderfully improved by the addi- 
tion of clay and lime. As regards the addition 
of cl’ y, our experiments have consisted in bring- 
ing a clay subsoil to the surface and mixing it 
with the light gravelly cop soil. The good effects 
of such an operation on the soil have been very sa ■ 
tisfactory indeed. And we imagine that most per- 
sons tilling the light, sandy soil of the piney 
%voods will find it least expensive to bring up the 
clay that usually underlies the sand, and incor- 
porating it with the sand, either by subsoil or 
french plowing. As for lime it is so essential an 
ingredient in all good soils, both as a mechanical 
and chemical agent, that even the spoonful to 
the hill proposed by Mr. Ashley must be better 
than none. The analysis of soils quoted in the 
subsequent part of this article, must conviitce 
every one of the indispensable necessity of the 
presence of large quantities of lime in all soils 
that admit of very profitable cultivation fora long 
series of years. In Pennsylvania formerly one 
hundred bushels of lime to the acre every ten 
years was considered a moderate application of 
it. Mr. Patterson, of Springfield, Carrol county, 
Maryland, in reclaiming the poor, worn out land 
of his estate, commences by putting on two 
hundred bushels of unslaked lime pur acre, 
which is equal to about four hundred bushels of 
lime, as usually applied. He lets it lie undisturb- 
ed for two or three years, and then incorporates 
it thoroughly with the soil, adding all the manure 
he can get. Even this very heavy dressing of 
lime is found not to be too tiiuch. In our piney 
woods, in very many places, lime may be applied 
with equal liberality ; for this region, so much 
needing lime, has the singular advantage of hav- 
ing in many localities, convenient of access, de- 
posits of shell marl of sufficient extent to answer 
all the demands of its Agriculture for lime, for 
hundreds of years to come. A careful geological 
survey is all that is wanting to bring these hidden 
treasures to light. 
On this subject of mixing sand, clay and lime 
together to improve the soil, what do the books 
say? With the reader’s leave we will look into 
them a little. The first thing that strikes us is 
the fact that, without exception, they all urge 
upon us the importance of correcting the excess 
of clay by the addition of sand, and of sand by 
the addition of clay, perfecting the whole by a 
plentiful supply of lime. 
Davy, in his 4th lecture on Agricultural Chem- 
istry, says ; — If on washing a sterile soil it is 
found to contain the salt of iron, or any acid mat- 
ter, it may be ameliorated by the application of 
quick lime. If there be an excess of calcareous 
matter, it may be improved by the application of 
sand or clay. Soils too abundant in sand are 
benefited by the use of clay, or marl or vegetable 
matter. A deficiency of vegetable or animal mat- 
ter must be supplied by manure. The best na- 
tural soils are those of which the materials have 
been derived from different strata, wdrich have 
been minutely divided by air and water, and are 
intimately blended together : and in improving 
soils artificially, the farmer cannot do better than 
imitate the processes of nature. The materials 
for the purpose are seldom far distant : coarse 
sand is often found immediately on chalk, and 
beds of sand and gravel are common below clay. 
The labor of improving the texture or constitu- 
tion of the soil is repaid by a great permanent ad- 
vantage : less manure is required, and its fertility 
is insured.” 
These instructions of Davy were delivered an- 
nually for ten years before the Board of Agri- 
culture, viz. from 1802 to 1812 ; and the whole 
series of eight lectures was published in 1813. 
Ten years afterwards, to wit, in 1823, Chaptal 
published his work — ” Chemistry applied to Ag- 
riculture.” Davy’s doctrines had, therefore, 
been subjected to the test of practical experi- 
ment for nearly twenty years, and were then con- 
firmed by the scientific researches of Chaptal. 
In the 4th article of his 2d chapter Chaptal says : 
“The best basis for good lands is a mixture of 
lime, silica and alumina I but in order that they 
may possess all the desirable qualities, it is neces- 
sary that certain proportions, which an analysis 
of the best lands has made known, should be ob- 
served in the mixture.” What these proportions 
are, he tried to establish by an analysis of the best 
soils of various climates, made by scientific men 
in whom the utmost confidence could be placed. 
One of the most fertile soils in Sweden was 
found by Beigmann to consist of 
Cnarse Silex 30 parts. 
Silica 26 
Alumina 14 
Carbonate ofl.irne 30 
100 
A fertile soil from the neighborhood of Turin, 
analysed by Giobert, was composed of 
Silica 7? to 79 
Alumina •••■.... 9 to 14 
Carbonate of Lime 5 to 12 
Tillet, at Paris, made a great number of ex- 
periments in making fertile mixtures, of which 
the most fertile contained; 
Coarse Silex 2.5 
Silica. 21 
Alumina 16.5 
Carbonate of Lime 37.5 
An excellent wheat soil from near Drayton, in 
Bliddlesex, England, gave, on analysis. 
Carbonate of Lime 28 
Silica 32 
Alumina 39 
These results are to be understood as excluding 
animal and vegetable matter, and water. 
The reader, on referring to Chaptal’s work, 
will find statements of the analysis of other fer- 
tile soils; all, however, showing the same gene- 
ral result, and going to establish his doctrine, 
that the fertility of soils diminishes in proportion 
as one or the other of the three principal earths, 
lime, sand, or clay predominates, and becomes 
almost nothing in those which poss 'ss the pro- 
perties of but one and, therefore, that the mix- 
ture of these earths is necessary to the formation 
of a productive soil. 
In 1332, nine years after the publication of 
Chaptal’s work, Edmund Ruffin, of Virginia, 
published his “ Essay on Calcareous Blanures.” 
In the 1st Chapter of Part I, he says : “ The 
earths important to agriculture, and which form 
nearly the whole of the known globe, are only 
three — silicious, aluminous and calcareous. All 
the earths, v/hen pure as they are ever furnished 
by nature, are entirely barren — norwouldany ad- 
dition of putrescent manures enable either of 
the earths to support healthy vegetable life. The 
mixture of the three earths indue proportions, 
will correct the defects of all, and with a suffi- 
ciency of animal or vegetable matter, putrescent, 
and soluble in water, a soil is formed in which 
plants can extend theii roots freely, yet be firm- 
ly supported, and derive all their needtul supplies 
of air, water and war.mth, without being oppres- 
sed by too much of either.” 
In 1341, Johnston’s Lectures on Agricultural 
Chemistry and Geology were published. In the 
lecture on the improvement of soils by mechani- 
cal means, he says : “There are some soils so 
obviously defective in constitution, that the 
most common observer can, at once, pronounce 
them likely to be improved by mechanical ad- 
mixtures of various kinds. VVe naturally impart 
consistence to a sandy soil by an ad mixt are of c! ay, 
and openness and porosity to stifTclaysby the ad- 
dition of sand. The good effects which almost in- 
variably follow from the addition of clay to peaty 
or sandy soils, are due to the production, at on 
and the same time, of a physical tind of a chemi- 
