THE CULTIVATOR. 
309 
PLANK ROADS. 
George Geddjes, Esq. of Camillus, N. Y., has visit¬ 
ed Canada for the purpose of examining the plank roads 
there. From his report, we gather the following. On 
the great road from Toronto to Kingston, there is 14 
miles of planks. They were laid eight years ago—16 
feet long and 3 inches thick, on 4 sills, 4 inches square, 
fastened by one spike in each end of the plank. These 
planks are just worn out, and are now being replaced on 
the old sills, which are yet sound. A part of the road 
above alluded to, was McAdamized, and Mr. Geddes was 
informed by one of the commissioners, thatthe repair of 
the McAdamized part had cost $400 per year, while the 
planked part had required no repairs for eight years. 
Heretofore only one track has been used, by which the 
planks have been worn out in the middle, while the ends 
are sound. It is now proposed to lay two tracks, 8 feet 
wide and 4 feet apart, which will obviate the inconve¬ 
nience of meeting teams or carriages on the same track. 
Large loads are carried on these roads—a single pair of 
horses haul three cords of pine wood at a load—-and they 
are the most agreeable roads to ride on imaginable. 
The experiment of plank roads has been fully tried, 
and the success has been such, that in Canada "West, four 
are now building. 
Mr. Geddes submits an estimate of two tracks, each 8 
feet wide, made of 3 inch hemlock plank, and sills 4 
inches thick and 6 inches deep, estimating the price of 
the lumbe£ at $5. per M. delivered on the track, and the 
necessary grading, based upon the contract prices in Ca¬ 
nada, for the like work. 
Estimate. 
126,720 feet of plank per mile, at $5 M. $633 60 
31,680 feet stringers, at $5 M. 158 40 
Laying down per mile,. 272 00 
$1,064 00 
For two tracks, double,. 2,128 00 
Ditching per mile,. 160 00 
$2,288 00 
Add 10 per cent,... 228 00 
$2,516 00 
For 10 miles, at $2,516 per mile,. 25,160 00 
Three gate houses, at $300 each,. 900 00 
Engineering, say,.. 500 00 
$26,560 00 
Mr. Geddes has no doubt that where lumber can be had 
at these prices, plank roads are to be preferred to any 
other kind. 
ANALYSIS OF SOILS. 
volumes of the Cultivator, given distinct modes of analy^ 
sis, but the one adopted by Dr. Jackson, appears to be 
very complete in its results, (though perhaps partaking 
too much of the chemist’s laboratory for the common far¬ 
mer,) and we copy his process as given in the Geologi 
cal Report of Rhode Island. The analysis was of the 
soil from the valley of the Nile. 
cc One hundred grains of the soil dried at 300 deg. Fah¬ 
renheit lost 7.05 grains. Its vegetable matter was then 
burned out in a platina crucible, and the loss was 6.90 
grains. The soil was then mixed with four times its 
weight of potash, and was fused at a full red heat in the 
platina crucible, so as to render the whole soluble in wa¬ 
ter. The mass was then dissolved out from the crucible 
by means of boiling water, and was acidulated with mu¬ 
riatic acid, and then evaporated to dryness, so as to ren¬ 
der the silica insoluble. The whole mass was then rub¬ 
bed to a fine powder with an agate pestle, and moistened 
with muriatic acid. Then all the matters soluble in aci¬ 
dulated water were taken up by means of distilled water. 
The whole was then poured on a double filter, and the 
silex was collected, washed till pure, dried and ignited; 
the second filter being burned and counterpoised against 
it. The silex, weighed while warm, amounted to 47.39 
grains. The solution that had passed the filter was then 
treated with a little nitric acid, and boiled to per-oxidize 
the iron. Ammonia then being added in slight excess, 
the aluminse and per-oxide of iron precipitated together, 
and were collected, washed thoroughly for several days 
with boiling water, until the water came through the fil¬ 
ter pure. The alumina and per-oxide were then separa¬ 
ted by means of a boiling solution of pure potash, in a 
silver crucible. When all the alumina was taken up by 
the potash, and the iron had subsided, it was filtered in a 
double filter, and the per-oxide being collected, washed, 
dried, ignited and weighed, amounted to 11.20 grains. 
The alumina was separated by neutralizing the alkaline 
solution, and was then precipitated by means of a solu¬ 
tion of carbonate of ammonia. When collected on a fil¬ 
ter, washed, dried, ignited and weighed, it amounted to 
32.10 grains. The solution from which the alumina and 
iron had been separated, was then treated with a solution 
of oxalate of ammonia, and the brine was precipitated in 
the state of an oxalate, and when collected, washed, dri¬ 
ed, ignited and converted into a carbonate, weighed 2.85 
grains. The solution remaining being treated for mag¬ 
nesia, gave no trace, but a little manganese was detected 
by hydro-sulphate of ammonia.” 
The soil of the Nile then, (and this method of analysis 
is applicable to all other soils,) contains in 100 parts of 
dry soil— 
Yegetable matter,. 6.90 
Silex, . 47.39 
Alumina,. 32.10 
Per-oxide of iron,. 11.20 
Phosphate and crenate of lime,_ 2.62 
Every farmer should have an understanding of the na¬ 
ture of the soil he cultivates, of its constituents and their 
proportions, as else he may add that which is of little use, 
and withhold that which is most essential. The most 
material parts of soils are sand, clay and lime. All are 
essential to a good soil, though the last is much more spa¬ 
ringly distributed by nature than the first, and some plants 
are found to flourish in that in which no trace of lime can 
be discovered. Some of the most fruitful soils on the 
globe, such as the alluvial of the Nile or the Mississippi, 
contain but two or three per cent of it. In ordinary soils, 
however, one per cent is one pound to the cubic foot, 
which would give ten and a half tons to every six inches 
of depth in soil on an acre. From the quantity of the 
earths found in the cereal grains, and particularly lime 
in some of its forms, it seems probable that where it ex¬ 
ists in but small quantities, and no immediate source of 
supply is at hand, that substance may be exhausted by 
constant cropping, at least to such an extent as to render 
the perfection of such grains impossible. It wofild ap¬ 
peal necessary then by analysis of the soil to determine 
whether any of the matters essential to vegetation are 
absent, that they may be supplied. We have in former 
99.61 
For further examples of the analysis of soils from 
some of the best farms in New-England, from Batavia,, 
Africa, Cuba, New-Orleans, &c. we must refer to the Re¬ 
port itself, which on this point is one of the most instruc¬ 
tive that has yet been presented to the American public. 
We are not of the number who imagine that lime appli¬ 
ed to poor soils will give them fertility; but we have 
reason to believe that although in a soil destituteof lime 
in any of its forms, manures will produce a great growth 
of plants, wheat for instance, yet the stalk will be flexi¬ 
ble, the grain likely to lodge, and the berry light and 
worthless, without the presence in some form of this ne¬ 
cessary earth. 
To kill Crows. —A writer in an English paper says, 
“a short time ago a farmer took a quantity of corn 
(grain) and steeped it in arsenic, and placed it in differ¬ 
ent parts of the field, to see whether the rooks (crows) 
would eat it or not. They soon carried it off, and they 
were found dead many miles from the place where they 
had got it, and the man was of course troubled with them 
no more.” 
