228 
WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
sufficient inducement to lead to its expenditure in improving 
our sandy lands at the present time. A man with means is 
likely to go elsewhere, and leave the lands in question in the 
hands of those who occupy them. Present cheapness is the 
greatest inducement it offers to new settlers. 
We will now look at the soil and see what we have, before 
we consider the question of what we need in order to render 
it more fertile. 
In chemistry this sand is known as silex, which is one of 
the most refractory substances met with in the laboratory. It 
is totally insoluble in water and in most of the acids. It 
enters slightly into the composition of the straw of plants, but 
is hardly found at all in grain. Time does not crumble or 
dissolve it into any form of plant food. It only fulfils the 
office of a sponge to hold the water and the plant food accu¬ 
mulated in it, in a form accessible to the rootlets of the plants ; 
so we must look elsewhere for any increase in the fertility of 
the soil. If the soil were pure sand it would be worthless, but 
the term “ sandy ” is applied to soils in which the sand pre¬ 
dominates. It is in all cases largely mixed with earths, which 
to a great extent causes it to resemble other soils, and gives 
to it its value. 
The question of artificial manures, such as guano, super¬ 
phosphates, etc., may be dismissed at once, for though none can 
doubt their value, yet they cannot be used economically at 
present. Lime and plaster depend for their value on the 
presence of organic matter in the soil, as they do not directly 
help to maintain plant life. So that the great question for us 
to consider is, how to provide and keep up a supply of organic 
matter in the soil. 
There are often marshy tracts of land from which the set¬ 
tlers cut their annual supply of hay, interspersed through the 
sand region, which are underlaid by heavy deposits of muck 
-or peaty substance. This might be profitably hauled on to 
the adjoining fields and make an excellent base for the action 
of lime or plaster—and it would likewise be invaluable in the 
compost heap or barn yard—yet even this requires an amount 
