212 
THE ANALYSIS OF SOILS—ITS HIGH VALUE TO THE INTELLIGENT FARMER. 
in hops; the ground has not yet been dug, but 
the hop hills are cut; thus leaving, at every six 
feet, little circular basins, six inches deep, most 
excellent receptacles, therefore, for the reten¬ 
tion of surface water, if there had been any. 
Afterwards, indeed, on returning home, on lands 
not drained, I found these little basins filled to 
the brim with water. 
. —-—-—-«♦ ■ 
THE ANALYSIS OF SOILS—ITS HIGH VALUE TO 
THE INTELLIGENT FARMER. 
Formerly, the attempt to examine the soil of 
any particular field, with the view to ascertain 
the proportions of the various elements neces¬ 
sary to support vegetation which it contained, 
would have been considered a downright ab¬ 
surdity. But, with the introduction of steam 
engines, magnetic telegraphs, and the thousand- 
and-one improvements of the present age, which 
are made to contribute directly, and to an in¬ 
credible extent, in the perfection of every art, 
and the economy of the processes by which it 
is accomplished, the farmer has, at length, come 
forward to the man of science, and asked his 
aid in furtherance of their ancient and honora¬ 
ble craft. They find—the most intelligent of 
them at least—that there is something besides 
mere chance which presides over their fields and 
crops, and that brains applied to the soil are 
capital manure, a most excellent stimulus to 
production. They consequently have sought 
for the materials entering into any particular 
crop they wish to produce; next they have as¬ 
certained how many, and in what condition 
these elements are to be found in the field to 
be tilled; then, by comparison, they know 
what is necessary to add, to give an abundant 
nourishment for the crops proposed to be grown 
upon the land. This is so plain and common- 
sense-like, that a school boy just commencing 
his addition and subtraction, and even before 
he reached his multiplication, would be able to 
understand and readily admit its propriety. 
Yet, strange to say, a large portion of the farm¬ 
ers of this, and every other country, do not yet 
comprehend it. Many, however, who have long 
cherished a desire to thus examine their fields, 
have been incapable from their own want of 
chemical knowledge, nor have they known 
where to procure the information from others. 
We are happy to be able to direct the atten¬ 
tion of such to our intelligent correspondent, 
Dr. Antisell, who is fully competent to make 
the analyses of all soils. 
The advantages resulting to the farmer from 
this knowledge, are, that he may know with en¬ 
tire certainty, the particular kinds of manure 
required to be furnished to the soil in addition 
to what it now contains, for the crop to be 
raised. The field may have an abundance of 
lime, potash, and soda, yet be deficient in sul¬ 
phuric and phosphoric acids. For the former, 
it is necessary to apply sulphate of lime (gyp¬ 
sum) ; for the latter, bone dust only is necessa¬ 
ry. Is soda wanting, salt is to be added, barilla 
or sea weed. If potash is the deficient ingredi¬ 
ent, then ashes, leached or unleached, are to be 
applied; the last containing much the greater 
proportion of potash. But in addition to potash, 
ashes are full of vegeto-mineral matter—it is all 
vegetable remains, the skeletons, (broken up 
and reduced to powder,) of the ancient mon- 
archs of the forest, or it may be its youngest 
saplings; but, from whatever source derived, 
they are pure vegetable remains, and are best 
suited to the reproduction of new forms of veg¬ 
etable life. Thus, besides yielding potash, 
which is held in large proportions in ashes, and 
being easily soluble, is most readily parted with, 
they furnish soda, magnesia, phosphoric and 
sulphuric acids, lime in large proportion, the 
silicates, &c., so that, in applying them for ma¬ 
nure, we give a more comprehensive variety to 
the land than can be had in any other form, 
unless it be in the unburned remains of what 
once constituted organic life. If the land be 
well supplied with mineral manures, vegetable 
matter only may be required, and this may be 
found in peat, chip manure, or green crops, to 
be plowed in. 
Sometimes the soil may be abundantly sup¬ 
plied with all the elements for plants, yet be un¬ 
suited to their growth, from too great moisture, 
as in low lands; too impervious to rain and air, 
as in very stiff clay ; too loose and light to hold 
the moisture and the roots of plants. For all of 
these mechanical deficiencies, not the chemist, 
but the skillful laborer is required. You must 
drain the first; drain the second, if possible, be¬ 
sides loosening the texture by deep subsoil 
plowing, and applying coarse vegetable ma¬ 
nures. For the third, you must add lime, ashes, 
peat, green crops, or other vegetable manures, 
and especially must you apply the roller, thor¬ 
oughly to compact and settle the particles of 
the soil together, and around the rootlets of the 
plant, thus enabling the soil both to retain the 
water, (by the capillary attraction of its parti¬ 
cles, which do not act at greater distances,) to 
give firm support to the roots and to supply by 
their immediate contact with them, their solu¬ 
ble food to the spongiules of the plants. 
Again, some crops take a great deal more of 
