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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

[May

and then, believe nie or deny Scripture, which I hope thou darest not, asBildad said unto Job, ' can the rush grow without mire, can the flag grow without water V Job viii. 11. That interrogation plainly shows that the rush cannot grow, the water being taken from the root; for it is not the moystnesse upon the surface of the land, for then every shower v/ould increase the rush, but it is that which lieth at the root, which, drayned away at the bottom, leaves it naked and barren of relief"

The author frequently returns to this charge, explaining over and over again the necessity of removing what Ave call bottom-' water, and which he well designates as filth and venom, observing "I am forced to use repetitions of some things, because of the suitableness of the things to which they are applied; as also because of the slownesse of people's apprehension of them as appears by the non-practice of them—the which, wherever you are so draining and trenching, you shall rarely find few or none of them wrought to the bottom." As to the distance between the draining and floating trenches, he prescribes no certain rule, saying, " If the land is sounder and drier, or lietli more descending,thou mayestlet it (the water) run the broader; and as thy land is moyst, sad, rushy, and levell, let it run the less breadth ■or compasse;" thus exhibiting afar more correct and intimate acquaintance with his subject than is often to be /ound among the water-meadow artificers of the present day; my opinion being that many of these mea-•dows have been converted into swamps for want of systematic and deep under-drain-age. Our author gives a most just account of the cause of those isolated boggy places and swamps so often formed on the slopes of hills, and at their foot, and describes the mode of treating them, so as to effect a perfect cure, which coincides with the best practice of the present day; but I fear to be tedious, and therefore refrain from this quotation.

For all drainage purpose he reprehends shallow trenches, observing, in respect to bog-drainage, "Rut for these common and many trenches, oft times crooked too, that men usually make in their boggy grounds, some one foot, some two, never having respect to the cause or matter that maketh the bog; I say, away with them as a great piece of folly, lost labour, and spoyle, which I desire as well to preserve the reader from,

as to put him upon a more profitable experiment; as to destroying the bog, it doeth just nothing, only taking away a little water ' which falls from the heavens and weakens the bog nothing at all, and to the end it pretends is of no use." Finally, he describes, -admitting such a work to be more expensive, but more efficacious and durable, the use of deep covered drains, placing at the bottoms of the trenches, " good green faggots, willow, alder, elm, or thorne," or in firmer stuff", "pebble stones or flint stones, and so fill up the bottom of thy trench about fifteen inches high, and take thy turf and plant it as aforesaid, the green soard downwards, being cut very fit f:r the trench, so as it may joyne close as it is layd down; and then having covered it all over with earth, and made it even as the other ground, waite and expect a wonderful eff"ect through the blessing of Grod." He prescribes, also, in all cases excepting the water-meadows, the driving the drains right up and down the fall of the land. In this account of the draining of water-meadows and swampy lands, one cannot but recognize very sound principles, and these are represented by Captain Bligh as having been put into practice by himself, copied by others, and as having raised the value and rent of land so treated from a few shillings to two, three, and four pounds per acre. There is no indication in this work of any systematic plan of under-draining generally wet and retentive soils; but the author seems, nevertheless, to have been thoroughly penetrated with its importance, referring to the "incredible expense" it would occasion, and he prescribes in this difficulty the ridging up wet clay lands, or the laying them in balks. As no instance, or "precedcat," as Captain Bligh terms it, of any general under-diaining is referred to by him, we may, I think, conclude that this practice has had its origin within the last

two hundred

years.

struggling

onwards to

perfection through the diflScultics presented by the absence or expensiveness of good materials wherewith to perform permanent subterranean water-conduits.

In the course of my operations as a drainer, I have met with, or heard of, so many instances of swamp draiftnge executed precisely according to the plans of this author, and sometimes in a superior^ manner-—the conduits being formed of walling stone, yet at a period long antecedent to the memory of the living—that I am dis-

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pOMd to consider the practice of doop drain-Age to have orii;inuted with Captain IJIiuh, and to have been preserved by imitators in various parts of tlie-country; since a book wliich passed throu;;h three editions in the time of tlie CommonwcaUh, must necessarily have had an extensive circulation, and enjoyed a high renown. Several complimentary autograph verses, written by snnie imitators and admirers of the ingenious ]{lij;h, are bound up with the volume, which I beg to put into your Ijordshii)'s hands as proof of the statements I am making. 1 find also, not unfrecjuontly, very ancient deep drains in arable tields, and some of them still in good condition ; and in a case or two I have met with several ancient drains six feet deep, placed parallel with each other, but at so great a distance asunder as not to have commanded a perfect drainage of the intermediate space.

The author from whom 1 have so largely quoted, is the earliest known to me who has had the sagacity to distinguish between the transient eftect of rain and the constant action of stagnant bottom-water in maintaining land in a wet condition. It is this subterranean water, as it may not be improperly termed, to which excessive and injurious wetness is attributable; and if such water be not removed and kept down at a depth exceeding the power of capillary attraction to elevate it too near the surface, no drainage can be efficient. It is chiefly through* capillarity that those soils are maintained in a sufficiently moist state for vegetative perfection, on digging into which we do not d..«cover any tree water within several feet of the surface. The effect of rain is to thoroughly moisten such soil, gravity carrying down below, the excess, or that portion which the soil cannot ab.sorb and retain. Evaporation takes place from the surface of the land, and as each atom of moisture is taken up into the atmosphere, its place is supplied by another atom communicated by the contact of the particles of the soil, the more superficial acting on the deeper particles like so many pumps to elevate the water and supply the loss. In this way deep, rich loams, to which I have before adverted as so rare and so coveted, are maintained in a nearly constant condition of moisture suitable to the necessities of plants. It may and does, though rarely happen, that even such soils during long-continued droughts sutler, that is, become dryj but

the attentive observer will notice a vcrj' beautiful and powerful provision of nature to prevent excessive dryness. During the night evaporation Irom the surface of soil commonly ceaj es, to commence again when the rays of the sun impinge upon it; but capillary action is const4int and of equal intensity both by night and by. day, so that wo havo, on the avomge, twelve hours per diem of the sun's influence to produce evaporation, and twenty-four hours of capillary action to supply the loss from below, and maintain a tolerably uniform hygrome-tric or moist condition of the active soil. It is, t believe, coiisistent. with the universal opinion, that drained lands do not burn nor suffer from drought so soon or so much as those soils which are wet at all periods of the year, except during the hottest months. This phenomenon is explained by the fact of a retentive soil, swollen by water, contracting so much by the loss of its water, that it is almost inaccessible to air from which to obtain moisture. After drainage, the mechanical texture of such soils becomes gradually changed J pulverization takes place in the subsoil in the manner precisely similar to the change we see produced in fresh turned-up soil well exposed to the atmosphere; such change of texture in the niass below is doubtless slower than in the superficial soil, but it is equally certain to occur. Perhaps no more striking illustration of the great importance of securing free ingress to air, and free egress to Witerin the mass of the soil, can be given than that which is derived from the fact, that, by allowing land to rest without cropping it—in short, by fallowing it—fertility is renewed, and this effect is produced solely by supplies furnished from the inexhaustible magazine of the atmosphere. The atmosphere is our cheapest, it is a boundless storehouse of manure : then why not let it freely land deeply into our soil ? The earnestness . with which I appeal to the landed proprietary of l^ritain to drain more deeply, and abandon the ofttimes abortive an<l at all times incomplete system of shallow drains, is de-lived from the indications of experience; [and to those well informed of the superior I economy and efficiency of the deeper system^ it is painful to behold the sums of money daily buried in the soil with such good intentions, but with comparatively so little useful effect. In respect, however, of the depth at which drains may, with a

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[Mat

certainty of action, be placed in a soil, 1 pretend to assign no rule; for there cannot, in my opinion, be a more crude or mistaken idea than, that one rule of depth m applicable with equal efficiency to soils of all kinds: the same remark applies to assigning any common rule of distance between drains, which may be greater or less according to the depth of the drains, and the texture of the particular soil. It must be self-evident that water will flow through a gravel, or a sand, or a loam, with less obstruction to its passage than through a clay, and easier through one clay than another containing different proportions of silica and alumina. There are also many other properties of soils to which the drainer has to pay attention in determiKing depth and distance, such as tightness or compactness, uniformity or intermixture of soils of a different texture in the line of his drains in the same field, &c., &c. All these circumstances will affect both his practice and the cost of the work. It consists with my own practice at the present time, that drains are being executed at depths of from 4 to 6 feet, according to soil and outfall, and at distances varying from 24 to 66 feet; complete efficiency being the end studied, and the proof of such efficiency being, that, after a due period given for bringing about drainage action in soils unused to it, the water should not stand higher, or much higher, in a hole dug in the middle between a pair of drains than the level of those drains.

The cost of drainage is in like manner affected by the texture of soils, their sto-nincss, &c.; and rates of work are being paid varying from 3d. to even Is. 6d. per rod, (5i yards,) causing the cost of drainage per acre to vary from £2 to even £5 per acre, according to circumstances.

The fuUowing is an instance of the utility, the necessity I ought to say, of well examining soil—of ascertaining, in fact, what we have to deal with—before commencing drainage. I was invited in February last to visit the property of the Duke of Wellington at Stratiicld-Sayc. I found a particular grass field, which it was desirable to drain, very wet, and it was thought that no drainage deeper than two feet would have any effect upon it, as drains in other parts which had been made three feet six inches deep, had not effected much more good than the shallower ones. It was also thought,

that the mass of clay beneath would be found almost impervious to water, as cracks had only opened in hot seasons to about 15 inches deep. However, we had the turf and mould borne off a space of about 5 feet square, and 22 inches deep, when a bed of yellow plastic clay appeared. Into this bed, which was soft and easily worked by ihs hand, a hole was sunk. But a very slight quantity of water oozed into the hole until we reached about four feet three inches, when the hole rapidly filled ^with water. It was stiff clay, but evidently of a more porous nature, and there a mass of free water resided. It was immediately apparent, that the cause of the upper clay and surface being so wet, in defiance of the shallow drains, was now discovered; for as the upper clay reposed on what, relatively, may be called a pillow^ of water below, the capillary iorce, always in action, continually sucked up this water, and supplied the incumbent soil with a perpetual excess of fluid. The shallow drains might have done their duty in removing the water of rain—the surface water—but they could in no wise efiect the liberation of the bottom-water. An experimental drain was thin made, 5 feet in depth and 350 yards long, laid with 1} inch bore pipes. Clay was puddled in over this line of pipes up to 2 feet 6 inches from the surface, and anolher line of similar pipes was then laid; so that we had a shallow and deep drain in the same trench, the object being to measure the relative discharges of water from each, and the lower drain was puddled over to prevent, as much as possible, the top water from mixing with the bottom. The result was, that the bottom drain discharged, from the commencement, a stream averaging one gallon per minute during seventy-six days, being-equal to nearly five tons every twenty-four hours. The run then rapidly diminished, and speedily came to drop only. A second 5-foet-deep drain hai been made 30 feet distant, so as to insulate a space of land on one side of the experimental drain, and it will be found, that, taking the length of 350 yards with a breadth of 12 yards affording water to the bottom drain,

(6 an

5}

yards on each side of it,) no less than area of 4,200 square yards of water, inches deep, had been removed by this one drain. At first the upper line of pipes answered to rain, but this action soon ceased, and the whole of the water finally passed

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268

oflf through the lower and deep drain. Tlie land is now reported to nic as giving way in cracks to a greater depth than foruierly, BO that an efficient drainage n>ay bo certainly expected. The following is an analysis of the clays in (|uestion, taken 22 inches, and 4 feet G inches deep respectively beneath the surface, by Mf. Phillfps:

Clay nt Clay at

2-2 iiicliee. 1 feet <'>

inches.

per cent. per cent.

59.0 72.9

23.5 13.4

8.1 fi.n

1.0 0.8

Silica. . *.

Aluniinn..

P(prnxi(le of Iron....

Carbonate of lime,. .

Water, with a little "j carbonaceous matter. | 8lij;lit traces of niaj;- J* ne.sia an«l .«iilphate of | lime and los.«» J

Carbonate of magnesia.

8.4

0.0

O.S

greatlr

100.0 100.0

This is only one out of numerous examples which I could cite of tjie lower clay of a field being more porous than that nearer the surface. Beds of gravel, sand or mixed earth also often prevail under superficial clay at depths not too great to enable the drains to be placed at distances considerably wider apart than if the drains were laid in the clay, effecting thereby the removal of the subterranean water, permitting the de-Bccnt of rain-water, and causing a less outlay of money. •

The capillarity, or sucailmci/, of soils varies and is often very noticeable. It has occurred to me in digging test holes previous to drainage, to find the water standing in them not nearer the surface than three feet, yet, the surface soil has been so wet that water would drop from it on squeezing it with the hands. This ex-1 hibition would determine me to bleed such soils to the depth of five feet at least, a' d' Fuch drainage has been accomplished with' complete success. * !

Although I am not a practical farmer, I ^ think that I may very confidently recommend to farmers the laying land absolutely flat after efficient drainage. It is the practice of many good agriculturists in the stiff-est clays, who consider that even a crea.«5e left on the surface is injurious to drainage. In addition to several received opinions on that head, I will quote a letter recently received from Mr. Andrew Thompson, the

intelligent bailiff of the Right Honourable Charles Arbuthnot, who has drained part of his farm—a very strong clay—four feet deep, and whose account of the effects is to be found in the last Journals.

Woodford, July 4th, 1846. Dear Sir :

On the arable land which we have drained to the depth of four feet, I have not found it necessary to maintain any open waicr-furrows. 1 am not at all an advocate for water-cuta or surface drains of any description on arable land, it being my belief, that, when they are used for the purpose of carrying off the water after heavy rains, they are also the means of washing away a quantity of fine soils, which might otherwise be retained on the land. 1 believe, that, if even the most retentive of soils were drained to a considerable depth, and rendered Triable by the aid of Read's Pulverizer, there would not then be any use of open water-furrows on that description of land. In reply to your other question, I have to say, that adjoining one of the fields which was drained to the depth of four feet in a field of the same subsoil, (a strong blue clay,) which was only three years ago drained in the old-fashioned way of " shallow draining," I have frequently observed that after heavy rains tke water began to run first from the deep drains, and that, when the shallow drains did run, they did not appear to me to discharge the same quantity of watef to the Siime quantity of land as the deep drains.

I was quite against draining land so deep until I saw the great advantages derived from it.

Yours, &c.,

Andrew Thompson.

The last remark made by Mr. Thompson, as to the deep drains giving issue to rainwater, in land under precisely similar circumstances, before shallow drains, agrees with the observation of a great number of farmers whose land has been so drained ; and it would be difficult to cite a more apposite proof, I think, of the superior condition into which the mass of the soil is brought by deep drainage. That this should occur in a field where shallow drains exist in the neighbourhood of deeper drains, and within their influence, would be naturally expected, as the water keeps on

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

[May

descending below the level of the higher and until it reaches the level of the lower vents, where it meets with free water, and then begins to travel horizontally to the drain. The reason, however, why the deeper drain in one field should begin to discharge before another and a shallower drain in another field or in a very distant part of the same field baying pr(^ciseiy similar soil, is not quite so obvious.

I have this day received from a tenant farmer in Yorkshire an account of an observation of his,, that a four feet drain began to run five minutes earlier after rain than another drain 16 inches deep, at a distance, but in the same field. Some experiments are being made which may elucidate this action, which tells so favourably for the deeper drainage.*

There are some causes of stoppage to subterranean drains, though fortunately few and limited in their extent, with, which every drainer should be acquainted, and prepared to encounter and vanquish as he best may. The first and most extensive evil of this kind to which I will refer is the deposit of a substance of an unctuous sticky nature, in drains laid in soils containing much ferruginous matter. Oh this point I was particularly questioned by his Grace the Duke of Richmond, Chairman of a Select Committee of the House of Lords, appointed last year " to inquire into the expediency of a legislative enactment being introduced to enable possessors of entailed estates to charge such estates with a^um, to be limited, for the purpose of draining and otherwise permanently improving the same." I was asked, '^ Do not stone drains invariably clog if there is water in them impregnated with iron ?" My reply was, " I have no doubt

been practically and specially required to discover the cause, and, if possible, a cure for this disease. It may not be thought tedious that I narrate what I know on this subject, as there are thousands of acres of land subject to this evil, the drainage of which depends on discovering some means of rendering it permanent.

When applied to by Sir Robert Peel last autumn to drain some portion of his estates at Drayton Manor—and he knew that my system consisted in the use of small pipes in preference to any other conduits—he earnestly called my attention to this cause of stoppage, which had been a continued source of vexation, expense and defeat, in draining the park and other parts of the property. Sir Robert accompanied me throughout the grounds to be first drained, and showed me the evidences of this red deposit at the mouths of drains, and the spewing masses of it on ditch-banks, &c., leaving me to deal with the enemy according to my judgment. . It will be conceived that I felt tlijs full force of the difficulty, and there was but little experience, so far as I know, of the use of small pipes in soils similarly infested. Yet, I had confidence in pipes as preferable to all other conduits, from the compression of the run of water into the smallest required volume, and therefore as more likely to prevent deposits from occurring or accumulating in them than in larger conduits. I was acquainted with one case and only one in which my small pipes, an inch" bore, had been used, and have continued to act well for several

years.

without obstruction in a boj

:gy s<

oil

charged with iron, though the ditches into

which the pipes, always running full bore,

their water, require clearing

discharged

but that the ferruginous matter, such as I [once or twice a year to keep them open. I have often seen accompany the water ofi also felt additional confidence in the suffi-drainage, would stop up stone drains;" and, jciency of small pipes, as I proposed laying in .conversation, his Grace informed me, them with collars, which would further help that he had estates in Scotland infested to;to cover and diminish the size of the crevice such a degree with ferruginous matter, that;between each pair of pipes, and close it the deposite of iron in drains seemed an'against the entrance of solid matter. How-almost invincible obstacle to the drainage of! ever, I devoted an entire week to the ex-these lands. Since that time, and in va- amination of old drains, many of which rious parts of England, my attention has' were quite stopped up with earth and iron

I deposit mixed; of these some were compos-)e evidence given before 'cd of the common horse-shoe tiles laid without soles and others with soles. The drains through which water was continually.run-

* See the report of the Select Committee of the House of Lords in J 845, for information on this head. Mr. Robert Neilson's statement of the result of interming-

ling deep and .^hallow drains in the same iield ning y<y^'^ chiefly open, exhibiting great is highly instructive and to the purpose. | quantities of the deposit at their mouthS;

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arul one Uruiii formeJ of six inch pipes, cuii-veyiii«j imuh water, exlubited the iron copiously as a precipitate wlien the line wa« broken anil a pipe reniovetl, which exposed the water to the atmosphere; cesspools coni-niuniratin«r with the atmosphere at the top, and into which some drains entered, were also lined with deposite. I examined several drains scrvinjr as mains, and particularly at their point of junction with minor drains, and I found one of tljcse drains about six feet in depth, and very well constructed, to be nearly cUK«cd with what appeared to be a pure specimen of the deposit, liaving the red colour of peroxide of iron, and of a pasty consistence. 'J'his particular mass of deposit had occurred at the junction of a branch with the main, about 80 or 40 yards from the higher end or ori;::in of each drain, and where the run of water would necessarily be less, than as it approached the outfall ; and I have found at JJrayton Manor, and many other places where ferruginous matter abounds, that stoppage from its deposit is much more frequent towards the higher than nearer the outfall end of a line of drains ; and for the very obvious reason that the flow of water there is less both in amount and velocity, and consequently of less force than as it approaches the end of its course. This specimen was analyzed by Mr. Richard Phillips of the (leological Museum, Craig's Court, London. Mr. Phillips at once told me it was peroxide of iron, but I wished it to be analyzed that 1 might know whether, and to what extent the iron was pure or incorporated with other matter. The following is Mr. IMiillips' report of its nature and of the manner of its production :

'OTusEUM OF Geology, ) 13th Dec, 1845. j .

"I have submitted the deposit occurring' in tlio drain to analysis, I find it to consist of, after drying—

Silica nnti nliiinin.i with a traoe of

lime 40.2

Peroxide of iron VJ7.8

Organic mnttcr 'J'A.O

11 »(».() " The large amount of peroxide of iron j shown in the above analysis, appears to me to be in consequence of the iron existing originally in a lower state of oxidation, in | which state it has been dissolved by carbonic] acid, and formed by the decay of organic

matter in thcHoil, and then carried away by the drainage water; witen by flubse(|ucnt exposure to atmos|dieric air, it has been converted into insoluble peroxide. The other ingredients in the deposit would appear to have been carried down mechanically, in cor).*«equence of their existing in a very minute state of division."

It thus appeared from the annlysis that only 27.8 per cent, of the deposit consisted of iron, and that the reujainder, nearly three-fourths of the whole, consisted of foreign matter. This analysis powerfully fortified my hoj)es, that, the drains 1 was niaking miglit remain permanently open, if their mechanical structure were such as to admit water only, and no other earthy matters than such as might be chemically dis.solved in water, in which case it was apparent that I .should reduce tlie enemy to bo contended with by nearly three-fourths of his strength, and direct against him, ibr expulsion, a more concentrated stream of water, by reason of the swollen dimensions of tfie conduit. Jktween November last and the present time some miles of drains have been executed in the soils referred to, abounding with bog-iron ore, locally called ' })ox-stone," the same that I have met with in X(jrth Devon, under the name of "black-tam," and in Somerset under the title of '' iron-mould." In other parts it is called by its proper name. It occurs in mas.^os, both large and small, sometimes in beds. It is intensely hard, and in-teferes much, both with tho economy and dispatch of digging the drains. It is the protoxide of iron of the chemists, and furnishes, by it:? fine di.'Jsemination in the soil, the matter dissolved by means of carbonic acid in the water which enters the drains, becoming peroxide in the manner described by Mr. I'hillips. The term iron, or rust of iron would convey to the mind an idea that this ferruginous matter was heavy, and would (juickly settle ; but when it is considered that all substances chemically dissolved in water, and precipitated, are infinitely fine, each atom is, in a practical sense, light, and ea.sy of removal; and in reality tliis substance is seen to is^uc from the mouths of drains in the form of light, flocculcnt, floating little masses, which settle when the water is quiet, or are easily brought to rest by ^tones, grasses, &c.; and this has actually given rise to a notion with some people, that it was a vegetable substance, and grew in drains.

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[May

Up to the presc!it time scarcely a trace ofi this ferruginous matter is to be discovered at the outiall of any one of the pipe-drains laid at Drayton Manor; there is scarcelyi even a stain of its presence visible on \ the ends of any of those pipes which; discharge into open ditches, and then it

might be expected to exhibit itself; so that the result is very encouraging. The time, liowever, has been too short to permit us to indulge in absolute certainty as to their permanent action ; yet, I may mention one or two circumstnn'ces as confirmatory of the fact that earthy matter does not enter the pipes, and th^t, therefore, nothing has to be dealt with but the iron. There is no appearance of any sand or other earthy bodies, having accompanied the water of drainage, which is brilliantly clear; and in one field where I had the opportunity of continuing a line of pipes through the field into a head of water which I could stop out or allow to flow through the drain 290 yards long, at will, no earth was washecT out by it; thus giving proof that none had entered the drain with the water of drainage.

The subsoil generally in Drayton Manor Park consists of gravel, intermixed with fine and very heavy sand, alternating with, or broken in places by a marly clay, very retentive of water. It contained much water, test-holes made in the winter before drainage standing nearly full of water. It was chiefly by the pick-axe that the trenches had to be opened, spades being of little use in the gravels. The sides of the drains fell in and closed so much that it was difficult, and in son}c parts impossible to keep an entire line of drain open, before the pipes were obliged to be laid, so that the worst parts had to be done by instahnents, the pipes being laid and covered up as the work proceeded ; for, if not so done, the spewing sand was Ibrced up from the bottom and through the sides by the pressure of water. All was secure, however, when the collared pipes were laid and covered in One drain, about 105 yards long, was laid in (juicksand, by using inch pipes completely sheathed in another larger pipe, and no packing or cover wafi employed. The drain, which ig about nix feet deep, has never exhibited, at its outfall, a grain of sand; the water is beautifully pellucid, and has maintained a discharge, varying, however, with the rain or drought, of about two gallons per minute. I consider this method of sheathing pipes to form

a drain of the most permanent kind through any species of quicksand or soft soil; packing may be a useful and even necessary adjunct in certain very fluid and fine media, but, when a drain thus formed, is carefully laid and filled in, my belief is, that it wilL resist the entrance of all matter except water. To use the apt expression of one of my workmen, " nothing else can get in when the water si'gJis into the. drain so guilty.

Another cause of obstruction to drains is the entrance into them of the roots of trees and plants. Of the former several cases have been reported to me as having occurred, and probably no species of close underdrain, yet constructed, can be considered to be absolutely safe from the roots, if laid within the range of their travels; and the great distance from the parent tree to which roots will travel in search of food is well known to every agriculturist. It would be venturing too much to say that a root will not enter drains by any, even the smallest conceivable crevice or pore which will admit water; for cases have been mentioned to me almost justifying the belief that roots have insinuated themselves through Roman cement. They seem, however, to be very capricious and choice in their attacks, for I have seen drains which continued perfectly free in their action for years, adjoining fences and plantations, whilst a drain at a greater distance had been choked by roots. In the two or three cases observed by myself, I have found that a single thread-like root alone has entered, and then worked its way up against the run of the water, increasing into a hairy mass, something like the brush of a fox, and growing in length sometimes to several yards, until it closes the drain as completely as if it were stopped full of clay. In situations where drains must be laid near to trees, I would advise the keeping as far off" as circumstances permit, and the providing each row of pipes, if joining a main, with a cesspool at their junction in order that the discharge may be visible and examined occasionally, which would soon detect a stoppage if it occurred. But it will be wise in all cases, if people will have liedge-row trees, that the drainer so plan his operations as to keep as wide of them and fences as possible—;but better still to get trees felled wherever they occasion a feeling of doubt as to their affecting the permanency of the drainage, or cause it, in respect to the direction

or depth of the druins, to be other than! with a sinjjle caac of stoppage from the roots

complete. If trees, iw in parks, are in the way of drains, I advise the sheathing of the pipes on approaching within twenty yards, and I frnjiieiitly diverge from the line and

of plants in pipes; but it is evident that if the roots of weeds or cultivated plants were in the habit of preferring to burrow in a drain rather than in tlic hv.d of the soil, u

pass round the tree to regain the true line of pipe-drain would be as liable to be choked drainage. as any other form of drain.

With stoppages from the roots of plants' I will now refer to one or two natural aids I have only very recently become acfjuaint- of drainage.

od, but this evil does occur, though Ibrtu-' Besides the porosity of soils, by which nately it is of very rare oeeurrence. The they receive and part with water more or first ease known to me took place this year less readily, accoiding to their openness in a field on the estate of Mr. W. Wolrychc or rctentiveness, there arc other adjuncts or Whitmore, at Lebotwood in Shrop.^liire, moans auxiliary to its reception and dis-A tenant of his laid a j)ipe-draln last March charge. It l;as not occurred to me to excavate in a boggy j>iece of ground, ver^' wet and many clay soils for drains in whi(*h there are spongy, which was sown with turnips. The not perceptible what experienced and obser-drains were I'ound in many places to be com- vant drainers aptly call water-veins. The

fletely stopped with line n.ots in October, clay is divided as it were, into j)lates, masses t seems to be difficult, indeed, impossible, opening or parting from each (»ther like the to pronounce from what plants these roots leaves of a book, between which, thin as the proceeded. I sent specimens of them to vein is, an evident passage of water has Professors Tiindley and Daubcny, who kindly taken place. These partings may have been examined theni, but neither of these botan- originally occasioned by vertical cracks from ists is able to decide on the jiarent plant, to the surface, which have never entirely closed which the roots unfortunately were not again, and so, served to conduct away some traced wli(>n the pipes were taken up. The of the rain-water to more porous and absorb-drains were shallow, not exceeding two ft'et ent strata. It is a matter of fact that, in all six inches deep any where. The boggy soil clays in which these water-veins occur in the contained many sorts of weeds, as crowfoot, greatest number, 1 have found drainage to coltsfiMjt, rushes and docks, of which there be elFccted most speedily, and I practically was abundant evidence when I was on the use the perception of their presence as some spot some weeks afterward**. The pipes guide to the distance at which I determine sent me contained much earth which had to place the drains from each other, got into them with the ri)ots, and t under- l^ut the most active and potent of the stand that .several of the pipes were almost drainer's auxiliaries, is the common mining stopped with soil alone ; but it is al.«o true earth-worm or dew-worm. The earliest that othei-s, in winch the roots had worked written notice which I have seen of the were free from earth. From all the evi- utility of the earth-worm in drainage, is to dencc \ could collect on- the i^pot, I am dis- be found in Mr. hearts' article on draining, posed to consider this .stoppage by roots to (Journal, Vol. iv., p. 212,) in every one of have originated in bad laying of the pi}ies wht>se remarks I concur. p]arth-worms love by the farmer, and insufficient depth in a n)oist but not wet soils; they will bore down very foul piece of land. It is, however, a to, but not into water. They multijily rap-case of warning, and one to excite vigilance idly in land after drainage, and prefer a of observation. I have now a drain laid deeply-drained soil.

deeply in the same soil, wilh pipes collar- On examining, with Mr. Thomas Ilam-jointed, and other drains to test any differ- mond, of I'enhurst, Kent, part of a field ence in fiiture action and phenomena. which he had deeply drained after long pfe-

It is important that every ca.«e of the vions shallow drainage, we found that the stoppage of drains from the entrance of roots worms had greatly increased in number, and should be well investigated ; but we may that their bores descended quite to the level rest quite satisfied, from our long experience of the pipes. Many worm-bores are large of under-drainage, that instances of this enough to receive the little finger, and it is evil will only be of ca.sual, and probably, of possible that one worm has several bores for merely local oeeurrence. With the excep- liis faniity, and refuge-holes from rain. I tion of the one case cited, I have not met have very recently found worms twisted up

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[May

into knots, and berthed in a nidus, formed by the side of the vertical bore, and in communication with it by'a lateral hole about an inch long, forming in appearance a comfortable retreat.

3Iy valued and much lamented friend, Mr. Henry Handley, informed me of a piece of land near the sea in Lincolnshire, over which the sea had broken, and killed all the worms—the field remained sterile until the worms again inhabited it. He also showed me a piece of pasture land, near to his house, in which worms were in buch numbers that he thought their casts interfered too much with its produce, and induced him to have the field rolled at night in order to destroy the worms. The result was, that the fertility of the field greatly declined, nor was it restored until they had recruited their numbers, which was aided by collecting and transporting multitudes of worms from other fields.

The great depths into which the worms will bore, and from which they push up fine fertile soil and cast it on the surface, has been admirably traced by Mr. C. Darwin, of Down, Kent, who has shown that, in a few years, they have actually elevated the surface of fields by a layer of fine mould several inches thick, thus adding to the pabulum of the grasses. His experiments were made at Mr. Wedgwood's, of Etruria, and are recorded in the ' Gardener's Chronicle' of April 6, 1844. Mr. Darwin's researches are entitled to the strictest credibility. Here, are some specimens of warp soil now undergoing drainage by me on an estate of Mr. William Marshall, M. P., near Patrington, fourteen miles east of Hull, and opposite the well-known tract of land, reclaimed likewise from the Humber, called Sunk Island. When first examining this soil for drainage, I was struck with the astonishing number of fine vertical holes penetrating the warp to its full depth—in some places eight to ten feet. These holes evidently were not the work of earth-worms, being of a much smaller bore, and worms abound in that soil, ami were at work in their own fashion, though no other living creature was dis-cernable. Very many of these minute holes seem to be fully appropriated by the fine roots of plants, which descend into them, and thus find easy access to moisture and air.

On further investigating into the origin of this net-work of holes, it was traceable,

beyond a doubt, to the existence and activity of myriads of small marine animals, having numerous legs, and minute, eel-like looking fish, working in the mud of recent deposition. The tidal stream from the Humber, which is conducted upon the warping grounds, and let out again with a retiring tide, after the deposition of its solid matter, does not destroy the life of these creatures, nor close their cylindrical habitations. On the retirement of the water, they are to be seen ceaselessly occupied in working up and down their holes further, to maintain and elaborate them against the next invasion. The death of these amphibious animals no doubt occurs when the process of warping terminates, and the soil solidifies, but their holes remain entire, and open from the top to the bottom of the mass, serving to admit air and moisture, and to pass the water of rain in finely divided streamlets to the drains; and the earth-worm finally establishes himself in a soil easily penetrated, and most congenial to his mining habits. In the field of warp first begun to be drained on this estate, I have set out the drains at about 40 feet asunder, their depth varying from four to six feet, as outfall permits; but it is probable, as experience is gained of the draining faculty, that we may see fit to diminish the number of drains, and so increase their distance from each other in these soils. The alumina of the Humber warp is very fine and very retentive of moisture. Water appeared at 18 inches below the surface, after a month of powerful evaporation and drought in May and June of this year, and copious streams were discharged from the deep drains. In its original state of wetness, but under circumstances of drought, this soil cracks widely and deeply, like the stiffer clays, so that it seems to possess every facility for the most complete drainage, whilst its faculty for absorbing moisture from the air, and by capillary attraction from below, are of the highest order, which must vastly aid in conferring upon it the fertility well known to attach to warp lands.

But as the quality of warp varies greatly, according as the deposit takes place in different parts of the same stream, and at greater or less distance from the warping river's mouth, I cannot, perhaps, mention a more remarkable instance of the difference in the properties of warp than what occurs at Bridji-ewater in Somerset. The river

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Parrot is fiuued for the almost evergreen I fatness of the pa<turni^o bordering its bunks, lands which Moro formed originally, it may' be presumed, when that river was an estuary' of the sea, faj^Iand. Its deposit immediately in the iWghborhoud of Ikidgcwater, has occasioned a great manufacture of very superior bricks and earthenware; and there is one article of almost universal domestic use, called the Bath brick, for cleaning knives, cV'c, made at Bridgewater only, and | it is singular that the sludge or mud, from wliich these bricks are made, is collected i from the river Parrot's banks, within about, a nnle above and a mile below the town of! Uridgewater. The banks, of those particular two miles of the river alone afford the ■ precipitates fit for the manufacture of the ^ Bath brick. The deposit formed, whether' more inland or more seaward, is found to be more unfitted for the purpose. So, in the! warp lands formed from the water of the

Humber, whether passed immediately from that river, the Ouse, or the Trent, great dif-

ference in the quality of the deposit and fertility of the soil in respect of the proportions of clay, sand and salt, is discernible and well known.

Great difference also exists as to the necessity of draining warpod lands arising from the depth of the warp, the character of the sub.soil on which the warp is run,, and the particular composition of the warp itself in its proportions of clay and sand. I Near to the mouth of the If umber, it strikes I me that there is a much larger proportion i of alumina (clay) deposited, in respect of; silica (sand), than about (Joolc, Thorn, and other warping districts. There is no doubt also much more common salt in the composition the nearer to the Humber mouth.

The quantity of salt in which the wheat-plant will flourish is curiously illustrated in the warp soils about Patrington, and would be scarcely credited unless seen. The whole surface of a large reclaimed warped-piece, on Mr. Marshall's estate, was planted with wheat for the fii-st time in the autumn of 1844. "When 1 t^aw it in the autumn of 1845, the surface of the ground was crystid-ized all over with salt, evidencing the enormous quantity which the mass of the bed must have contained; yet, from this first crop, the tenant told me he had thrashed out 24 bu hels to the acre. The order of culture there, after warping, is to leave the land to the occupancy of what is called the

sheep-grass, which natarally skins it (i^.y affords it a natural covering) for three years, when that begins to die off. It is then plowed up, sown with rape, and allowed to go to seed. This plant is considered to remove 'thc**\ery injurious excess of salt, and great crops of it are obtained. Wheat follows, and after that, any other crop of' the farmers' liking, without regard to systematic rotation, may be ])roduced, and without the aid of manure, for many years.

But the whole of this land is much too wet, and its powers will not be appreciable until after deep and complete under-draining. It appears, however, that the lands warped at a greater distance from the mouth of the river, must be skillfully treated in respect of under-drainage. A complete power of deep undcr-drainage should be established, to withdraw the water and keep it down low beneath the surface, when injurious, whilst there should be provided means of sustaining water nearer to the surface and to the roots of plants, when under the influence of such a dry season as was experienced in 1844.

In many of these warped lands means exist to fulfil this end, as water is raised out of the ditches by niacliinory, when in excess, and the height of. water in theditches is maintainable by drawing it from the highland drains. A farmer residing near to Hatfield Chase, informed me that he considered he saved crops of the value of .£1,500, in 1844, (when it will be remem-bere t we had fourteen weeks of hot sun without a drop of rain,) by his command of water to charge his ditches. The warped lands are very commonly divided into fields of ten acres, being squares of two hundred and twenty yards, surrounded by open ditches, and it is considered that the water is thoroughly drawn cut of the soil to the level maintained in the ditches; but as I much doubt, and am .siti.-fied from my own observation of these flat, warped lands, both in wet and dry weather, that they would be jLstonishingly benefited by a system combining both sub-drainage and sub irrigation; but it is impossible that the farmer may have reason for not draining this soil more deeply, or more completely, unless means arc provided for sub-rrrigation in droughthy seasons.

There has been rather recently introduced, by some drainers, a practice of making what they term air-drains, with the view of pro-

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[May

vidinp; for the ventilation of the soil, and \ also for promoting, as they think, a freer ■ flow of water from drains. As regards the latter point, it is quite certiiin that such air-1 drains must be superfluous and unnecessary.' The fact of water entering subterranean drains at all is quite decisive as to the uni-j Versal presence of air in soil, and no one! has shown, or has attempted to show, so fiir j as I know, its insufficiency. Water could no more issue from a drain laid in the earth, than it could flow from a tight barrel, if air did not press in the surface of the liquid within it. Every one knows how small a vent-hole, at the top of a cask, suffices to enable it to withdraw a great stream from it at the bottom, and every one knows that the bulk of liquid discharged in a given time is in quantity precisely equal to the volume of air which enters in the same time. The fact of rain-water sinking through the soil is demonstrative of the permeability of the soil to air, as every drop of water which falls from the heavens must first displace an equal volume of air before it can enter the soil ; the water would remain on the surface and never sink, if, ?jy reason of its superior gravity, it did not push aside the air in its descent, which it does until it meets with some subterranean level where the earth is saturated with the fluid, and the rain-water then comes to rest, having disturbed and displaced air throughout its whole downward course. And by this action we are led to observe one beautiful provision of Nature for renewing the constituent air of the soil— and I regard it as an argument in favor of deep, as compared with shallow drainage— that a greater bulk of earth is thereby tilled with air, and with frequently renewed air.

There are other equally beautiful processes incessantly active to maintain a full supply, and fresh supplies of air in the soil. The continual change of tenjperature in the soil and in the atmosphere reposing upon it, has its effect; but probably the most potent cause is the unceasing appropriation, by plants, or manures, or soil, of some one or other of the three gases of which the atmosphere is composed, A renewal of the particular atmospheric gas consumed, whether it be oxygen, nitrogen, or carbonic acid, must be nearly consentaneous with its use, and is effected by the well-known principle of diffusion of gases, and without which neither plants nor animals could live.

I have spoken of cess-pools as useful and

convenient breaks in lines of drains, particularly in the long run of a main, or where several lines of drains converge from two or more directions in one common central point to an outfall. The use of ^n cess-pool in drainage is an old English ^letice; I have found it in several counties, both North, South, and Midland: it is usually constructed in brick. The specimens now exhibited are made of large earthen pipes 9 inches in diameter, with a flat tile or foot on which to place them in the soil. This plan will be found advantageous and cheap, as the foreman drainer may fix his cesspools without needing bricks and mortar and a bricklayer. The holes for the re-* ceiving-pipes are burnt in these cess-pools of the proper dimensions, and the hole for the discharging, or outfall-pipe, is made a little lower than the holes of the receiving-pipes, so that a drip or fall from the former takes place, and the run of water from each pipe is observable. I have converted these cesspools to another use, viz: that of enabling us to introduce water into the body of the earth, and apply it to what I have before termed sub-irrigation. All the drains of a flat field may be made to issue from a cesspool, into which water from a higher level may be conducted. A cess-pool of the same kind is also fixed at the outfall end of a field, into which all the drains are conducted. Now, by stopping up the outfall-pipe, and letting water into the infull cesspool, it is clear that all the pipes ramifying through a field will become filled with water, and that they will disseminate it gradually throughout the entire mass of earth above the level of the drain-pipes, and to any desirable height, as you will observe from the specimens before you that an outlet-pipe can be formed in the discharging cess-pool at any required distance below the surface of the soil, or at the surface. In this manner water may be given to the roots of plants— I refer more particularly to the grasses; and when enough is given the whole of the water may be removed at will, and a perfect drainage be established. The introduction of these cess-pools with pipes also enables us to fill the higher parts of a field with water, which, suddenly liberated, will scour out the lower drains, and prove their condition of openness The cess-pool is also useful when placed close to an outfall into a stream or ditch, into which the water backs up with floods. It may be furnished with a

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271

dr.iinage. In rn.-o ot and (.liscliarjrini: \>\i>i.'

pipe and valve, which closes against tlu rising of the outfall water, and opens as the flood water falls, letting out the drainage water. My thei^e simple means the sedimentary flood water is prevented from entering the drain-]>ipes, whieh remain filled with the elear water of 'l'-iM-">^'» 1 need, the receiving may be luted into the eess-pools with Jelf-rey's marine glue, but in njost eases, a ramming round with elay will sulliee for the purjiose, absolute tightness being rarely necessary.

These cess-pools, with the various pipes now exhibited, have been made by Mr, J. M. Hoskison, of Wilnecote, near Fazeley, Staft'ordshire. They arc adnjirable specimens of manufacture fur truth and smoothness.

It will be observed that I have not introduced to your notice any other kind of drain-tile than pipes, and because I consider them to have the preference over every other description of drain tiles, and for the following reasons:—

1st. Ik'cause the pipe is an entire conduit in itself, stronger than any other lorm, and capable of being centred and connected by collai"s, or of having one pipe i sheathed within another. :

2nd. Because the pipe requires less substance of material for a given strength, than any other form into which clay can be put.

3rd. Because the carriage is lighter, both to the field and in the field : a great convenience and economy to the farmer and the drainer.

4th. Because, from their form, when properly laid in the soil, pipes are subject to less derangement from external pressure, or the entrance of earth or vermin, than other forms of drain-tile heretofore in use.

f)th. Because a less amount of earth has to be excavated in forming a bed for the cylindrical pipe, at a given depth, than for the common tile and sole.

Gth. Because pipes can be laid truly and firmly on their bed, whether plain or with collars, without requiring the workman to stand in the drain.

Much has been said and written about the porousness of pipes as a useful property. I do not see any reason to suppose that the pipe possesses any greater or less degree of absorbent power than other porous or un-j glazed earthenware, most of which are more

or Ie>^s porou.s to water. When properly ttsted under a pressure of four feet of soil, 1 have found the ab.sorbent power of various pipes, formed ol' various clays, eijual to the pa.-.sing of about lol.Oth part of the quantity of water which enters the conduit through the crevice existing between each pair of pipes. By so much tliis proj)erty is useful, and 1 do consider that it assists in drying and giving firtiiness to soil in immediate contact with the conduit.

The tools which 1 now exhibit are, I believe, of very superior manufacture, and much cheaper than many inferior articles made about the country. They are tho result of much care and trial in comparison with others, and of cost to myself and the maker, Mr. Lyndon, .^linerva Works, Faze-ley-Street, JJirmingham. Here are specimens of the various grafting tools, scoops or hoes of different sizes, and the all-inij)ortant bottoming or deep-drain spade. A principal advantage in these, as compared with other maker's manufacture, is, that the steel of the tool is plated upon iron so that, as the iron wears 'd\vi\y, the steel maintains a constant sharpness of edge, and the drainers have not to run away from their work to the grindstone. The pickaxes, &c., arc of equally good quality. Here is a tool, called the pipe-layer, recently invented by one of my men for layin.^ '^ pipo •'I'^d collar-joint at the same time into a drain. This simple contrivance has saved the u.sc of a boy in laying pipes wl^en collars are necessary. It is suitablejlbr pipes of li inch bore, but may be made to suit any other size of pipe.

With reference to these practical matters, it may be advisable for me to s;iy that, in clays and other clean-cutting and firm-bottomed soils, 1 do not find collars to be indispensably necessary, although I always prefer their use; but they are essential to the security and permanence of drains in sandy, loose, and rofk atrat^i. •

JOSI.MI I*ARKF.S, 11, Grrnt Collrge Street, Westminster.

[The draining implement.*! referred to in the concluding passages of the foregoing lecture, and exhibited to the audience, not being described by the lecturer, those pa.s-sagcs would not hare been copied into this paper but for the fact that such reference is made to the implements in question, as will aid any of our readers who may desire it, in ordering them.— Ed.

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[May

Address of Hill Carter, Esq.

Delivered before the Virf/niia Central Agricultural Societij at the Fall Eihihition of 1859.

Gentlemex op-the Va. Central Agr'l

Society and Fellow-Citizens of Virginia :

Having been requested to address this Society on the subject of practical agriculture, and give a description of the Shirley Farm, and management upon it, I rise with unaffected diffidence to address so large and brilliant an assemblage, fearing that I shall afford very little pleasure or profit. But, believing it the duty of every one, when called upon by his fellow-citizens, to contribute his " mite/' even should it be as small as the " widow's mite," I will endeavour to respond to the call, so flatteringly made upon me, and I only regret my feeble ability to make a proper return lor so high an honour, and to give instruction and entertainment to this large assemblage. As I am merely a plain farmer, I will in a plain farmer-like way, give the experience oi' one who has lived and worked some forty odd years upon a farm, and raised and educated a large family from the proceeds of the farm, and that farm, too, when I commenced, worn out and exhausted, as nearly all the farms in the lower country of Virginia were at that time.

The great drawback to the improvement of Virginia agriculture is the high price of labour, in consequence of the high price of

grant, if exerfed in Virginia^ would enable him to enrich his farm, to enlarge his estate, and perhaps to rival the most prosperous emigrant to the West.

I do not deny that large fortunes are frequently made by emigrating to the West, but my friends, it is frequently at a great sacrifice of comfort, feelings, family ties, and sometimes of principle, too, for it cannot be denied that the principles of new countries are looser than of old settled countries. Nine times out of ten those emigrants who succeed in the West, would have succeeded at home; and those who fail in the West would have done certainly no worse at home, and perhaps bettor. So my advice to those who have tolerably f\nr prospects at home, is to remain and use proper exertion to improve their lands, their circumstances, and their mother State ; and ^ the first thing necessary to do that is, to j follow the example of emigrants to the West in these particulars, that is, to use economy in living, dress and furniture, until they shall have made a fortune, and never to indulge in any extravagance until they are perfectly able to afford it. Travelling out in the AVest, the plainest fare and furniture are met with, even in rich planters' houses in the country. The cotton bale and the sugar hogshead are the standards of wealth and respectability there, and although that thing may be carried too far, yet if we were in Virginia to think less of high living, and more of cropping, there would be less occasion to emio;rate. It is a singular fact,

negroes, and the great temptation to our but certainly true, that a man who in Vir-population to move off to the rich lands ofiginia is accustomed to live at his ease, and the West^ and South-west, where lands are! in luxury, will go out to the West and settle down in a log cabin, eat corn bread and middling, work hard, and save every dollar he makes, that he may buy negroes to make cotton or sugar, and the ultimate fruit of all his privation and toil is, to die a wealthy man. The same man, if he were to live j I and save in the same way in Virginia, and work as hard, might increase his wealth perhaps just as fast, and die rich, too ; but owing to the old habits and associations prevailing in his neighbourhood, he will idle his time, live above his means, waste his substance, and at last die a bankrupt.

One of the advantages of emigrating to a new country is, that it certainly gives energy and economy to some who are deficient

cheap and'•productive, and fortunes easily made. This has taken off both our wealth and population, and retarded the improvement of Virginia. It is a strong temptation to a young man living on a poor farm in Virginia, who hears of the fertile lands of the Valley of the Mississippi and in the new States of the far West, to emigrate, hoping to make a fortune in a few years; but he little knows the trouble, the difficulties, the dangers and risks he encounters, and after all he very often draws a blank in the lottery, (for such it is,) in which he engages, and instead of bettering his situation, he is worsted, and sometimes ruined. The same energy and industry, the same intelligence, perseverance and enconomy which are necessary to the success of the emi-

n these qualities, and I dare say it would be good advice to such to emigrate^ for it gives

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them a new character; but, if we could buti retain ainon^ us the energetic, the iiit lli-gent, and economical part of our population, Old Virj^iniu would be ns prosperous and flourisliin^r as any State in the Union AVe have a ^'rcat variety of climate and Boil, and only want industrious and economical habits in our farmers and planters, and the application of more care to the improvement and to the beautifying? of the land, and less to the pamporinir and beautifying of the body, to make Virginia the first State in the Union.

Now, the next (juestion is, how shall we improve the land in \'iri::inia ? For all will I admit its want of improvement. In the first place, cultivate only as much land as can be done judiciously. Turn out the balance to pasture, or to ^ow up in woods if you cannot cultivate it well. If the land is poor or exhausted, adopt an ameliorating system, introducing gra s frequently where you cannot command manures from cities, &c., or if your capital wil! not afford it. Grass is the great renovator of land in our arid climate, and without it, unless you can command manure from cities, or els(r\vhere —an advantage enjoyed but by few—there are no means of iniproving worn-out lands.

The next question is, what grass is best adapted 10 our climate and soil generally? I would s;iy, red clover,—though any other graijs that you can get to grow is ameliorating. Yet clover is most valuable, most usual, and is quickest introduced into our lands. But some will perhaps say, that, my land is too sandy, or too much of a pipeclay to grow clover kindly. Well, that is unfortunate, but there is a remedy for this evil. Peas will grow well on sandy land, and next to clover the pea is the best improver I know of Sandy land is al.^o more easily and economically cultivated, and therefore profitable, l^ut for pipeclay, there is hardly any remedy that will not cost more thin it will repay, but yet it can be improved at high cost, and many of us who have small strips of it running through our lands, have to cultivate it at more cost than profit, merely becau.se it would be an eyesore to leave it unimproved. Plenty of lime and manure frequently repeated, mi>kes pipe-clay yield good crops of wheat and clover, and tolerable crops of corn, but the same quantity of manure and lime applied to other lands, would go much farther, and be much more profitable and economical. 18

In fact, if the pipe-clay lands lay in a situation to turn them out to grow up in woods, it would be the be.>st u.sc you could make of them. In an economical point of view, they ought never to have been cleared, but they are freijucntly mixed uj) with t e besi lands of our country, and we are compelled to vlear them, and work them though they do not pay—or disfigure the plantation bj leaving them out.

As to an ameliorating system, the question arises, what sysfem is the best ? J his depends upon the nature of the soil and climate, whether it is hilly and rolling, or a flat country, whether a light or stiff soil ))revails, or whether there is a mixture of sand and clay, i^'C, and whether the climate is cool or hot, Jkc. Now, I should say, in a hiJly and rolling country, the best system is, frccjucntly to introduce in the rotation of crops the grasses—clover, timothy, blue-grasa, or any other adapted to the soil and climate. It would be advisable, also, to have many shifts. Six, seven, or eveo eight, would not be too many. But in a flat or alluvial country fewer shifts, or fields would answer The rolling, hilly country requires grass more frequently, to prevent the .soil and manure from washing away, and is generally, both in climate and soil, better adapted to the production of grass, with which grazing for market may be united ; whereas, the flat or alluvial lands are not so good for gra.ss and are better for grain—corn especially—and are less adapted to grazing for market. Rich lands will, of course bear a more vigorous system, re(|uire fewer shift.s, and bear more freijuent cultivation, and of course make more profit. The best lands in our country, both hilly and rolling, or flat and alluvial, are very much of the same nature, (with few exceptions,) for the reason that the alluvial lands of our rivers were formed from the be*t soil of the mountains and upper country washing down and forming the alluvial deposit of the rivers below. The best soils of our country are of the happy mixture of sand and clay, with just enough iron in them to give them a good brown chocolate colour, then if they have vegetable matter enough, together with the proper salts and lime in them, they are perfect.

The next best lands of our country are thase which approach nearest to the foregoing, either red or mulatto, having a proper proportion of sand and clay. The third best are what are called grey; having

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[May

little or no iron in them, but a good mixture of sand and clayt The poorest are the pure white lands always excepting the pure pipeclay, the unkindest land of all, which is only profitable in timber, and should never have been cleared if it could have been avoided.

There are a great many grades of land between the foregoing, such as red clay land, red sandy land, mulatto clay land, mulatto sandy land, coarse sandy land, and gravelly land, black sandy land, and boggy or peat lands, but they all have more or less sand and clay in them, and the nearer they approximate to the happy mixture of these elements the better the land. Wherever the happy mixture of sand and clay prevails, the land is very easily improved with clover and plaster of Paris,—particularly if there is some lime in the land. All clay lands, in a cool climate, are good grass lands and may be improved with grass and rest. Even in a hot climate, grass will grow tolerably well on clay lands with manure and rest. What I mean by clay lands, are those in which clay predominates, though not without some sand. Indeed, all lands have more or less sand. " Limestone" lands are good all over the world.

But to return to the proper system >for ameliorating lands: I should think t.hat in a hilly, rolling country, seven or eight shifts with grass, at least three years in the rotation, would be advisable, with grazing for market, or tobacco, if in a tobacco country; but in a flat or alluviaLcountry, fewer shifts—say, if exhausted, five shifts— with grass two years in the rotation. If in good heart—four shifts—with clover one year in the rotation, and tobacco or not, as the country may or may not be suited to it. These rotations, of course, should be regulated according to the strength of the land; rich or strong land requiring fewer, and weak or poor land requiring more shifts, and a more frequent introduction of the grasses. If the land is too sandy for clover, substitute peas in the rotation, and give it more rest to put up in natural grasses. Of course, in all systems, you should make rind use as much manure as you can, and where cities or towns are accessible, you should, procure manure from them—if you have the means,—and where lime or marl is to be conveniently procured—if the land has not already lime in it—it should mostcer-! tainly be used, as there can be no permanent improvement of land deficient in lime, without the use of it. It is said, and I believe

truly, that there is no lime in the soils below the falls of our rivers, except the Indian banks, or deposits of shells, &c., and certainly these soils are more benefitted by the use of lime than by any other manure that has been tried upon them. Both sandy and clay lands, hilly and flat lands, are improved by lime in the tide-water country, and we are all very much indebted to Mr. Edmund Rufiin for the introduction of the use of marie and lime. His book on Calcaneus Earths is, in my opinion, the most valuable book to the tide water farmers in the world. I sincerely believe that but for the use of 1 marie and lime in the lower country it would have been deserted, and become a wilderness. But with the proper use of them, I believe it will become one of the most populous and desirable sections of the State. Next to an ameliorating system, comprising the grasses, and manure, lime, guano, &c.,

utensils—-good ploughs,

come good farmin<

good strong and heavy harrows—-particularly for stiff lands; good reapers; thrashing machines, according to the labour required, &c. There is no economy in using indifferent implements because they are cheap. Next to these come good teams, mules, &c., (and at the present prices farmers ought to raise their own mules. Why should we not raise our mules as well as our negroes?) I said good teams: I mean quick, active mules, or horses. A slow mule makes a slow ploughman, and besides losing time— for time is everything—a slow ploughman makes bad ploughing, for a plough will not do good "■'irk going along in a snail's pace, and you are, moreover, feeding man and horse to little purpose. Next come good and well trained labourers and good overseers—the two most important parts of the whole system—-and how to make them so is the question. Well, the question has this solution: Close and strict attention on the part oC the master, good discipline among the negroes, good feeding, clothing, housing, and nursing of them when sick, make good labourers and good overseers, I never had a bad overseer in my life, and I have had a great many. Some of them have been said to be bad before they came to me, and after they left me, but they have always behaved well while with me. They say, on board ship, a good captain makes a good first lieutenant. I think the negroes and overseer depend very much upon the master. An attentive master makes good

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overseers. I found tlic land in three hliif'tn, corVy n/icaf, and ptisfurc, with some indifferent cattle, and .sheep, and a few hogs, all ^razini: the third field, ^o as to make the third t-hilt, and what was called the resting }ear—the most exhaustinu,- part of the system. I was young—not heing of age—and just from sea. Of course I knew nothing about faiming, but I soon saw that there was a want of system in everything—no regularity of hours, no measuring in and out, no day-book, no journal, no reckoning kept. It was so different from sca-.serviec that I began to fear the ship was in a bad way, and would soon founder, if not at sea, at least on the river. So I began to inquire and read some little about farming, and Ibr-tunately met with the rhiladeli)hia Agricultural Memoirs, and my old i'riend John G. Mosby, who, by-the-by, is entitled to the credit of introducing the four-shift system and clover on lower James river. 1 soon found that land could be cultivated in other ways than three shifts, and that the whole system was wrong; and in a year or two I count of incomings and outgoings, have all I changed overseer and system both. The his crops regularly measured in and out; i first change I made was to turn out the keep an accurate account of all farm ex- poorest field, and convert it into a standing penses and profits, A:c., and balance ac- pasture for the cattle, sheep, &c., and laid

off the other two fields in lour shifts or fields, and sowed one each year in clover, and plastered the clover heavily; the clover and plaster acted finely, and the crops improved rapidly under the milder system of four fields and a standing pa.sturc for the stock, which allowed all the clover to be

overseer and good negroes. The next question is, will the system recommended pay? Good, or improved land, good manuring, liming, itc, good teams, good labourers, giH)d farming utensils, good overseer, everything good must cost a great deal of money, but bad ones, my friends, cost morel 80 it is cheaper to get good ones. Improved land certainly will make more than unimproved. Good labourers,utensils, &c., require fewer of them and will be cheaper in the end, so there is true economy in having everything good. If you have stock on your land, you should select the best breeds, for it is as cheap to feed good Btock a« indifferent, and much more profitable. Every farmer should have cattle enough to afford him oxen for farming purposes, and to convert his straw and stalks, &e., into manure, even if he do not graze for uiarket, hogs enough to feed his negroes, and sheep to

clothe them if he is in a jrood grass conned o

try. Every farmer should be systematic in everything, should keep a journal, or require the overseer to do so, keep the ac-

counts at the end of every year, and then

he would know whether the firm was making a fair profit, and whether he ought to

remain in Virginia, or emigrate.

I have said nothing yet about rocft crops;

but although the lower country is not a very

good root country, there are souie roots that

can be raised, in a small way, to advantage; | turned in, the cattle not grazing the clover

for several years, until the land acquired a sufficient quantity of vegetable matter—the very thing it most needed after so long and scourging a system as it had undergone for Viany years. Al'ter imjiroving the four fields by clover and plaster for several years.

and every farmer should have potatoes, a good turnip or rula-baga patch lor his negroes, and milch cows in winter. Negroes

if they have

should have vegetables, and

not gardens of their own, and time to work them, they should be niade on the farm for

them, as it is important for their health that 'and reaping tolerably good crops, I found

they should have a vegetable diet.

that the land became too full of vegetable

1 have been desired by the Executive n)atter, and required grazing again. .1 then Connnittee of this Society to give a descrip-. took up the standing pasture, changed the tion of the Shirley Farm, management, sys- system into five fields—the standing pasture tern, crops, &c., but as I fear it would look having very much improved from re.'^t and rather egotistical in me to talk so much cow-pening in the meantime. I continued about myself, as I should have to do, if I the live-field system, with partial grazing, went fully into detail, I will only make a| for several years, with tolerable success, until few remarks on that subject. In 181G Ij Mr. Edmund lluflin induced me to try the took possession of a poor, exhausted James marl from his farm in Prince George county, river plantation, which had been originally which acted like a charm. I continued the good land, but very much exhausted by bad | use of marl for several years, but finding it culture, under the management of ignorant'very laborious to transport, it being across

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[May

the river, and eight or ten miles oif, I commenced usinp: lime; first, by buying oyster shells and burning them in a kiln ol* wood ; and after oyster shells became difficult to procure, I commenced the use of Northern lime, and have continued it ever since, m moderate quantities, liming regularly one shift or field in the rotation each year. The improvement from clover and plaster of Paris alone was considerable, particularly upon the wheat crop; but the land began to get clover sick, and frequently failed to produce good clover, and of course the wheat crop sufi'ered, ibr they go together, but after marling and liming, the clover rarely failed, and the crops regularly improved, particularly the corn crop, which has doubled since marling and liming were introduced, and both wheat and corn crops have quadrupled since 1816, when the three shift and hard grazing system was abandoned. I attribute "whatever success I have achieved to constant and strict attention to my business; to my lands, negroes and overseers; to a systematic habit I acquired at sea, of keeping regular account of every thing on the plantation, (never selling, feeding or using a grain of anything not measured and entered in my books," and I can tell by referring to them for 40 years back, every bushel of corn, oats, &c., consumed yearly on the plantation by negroes, horses, cows, hogs, &c., and every dollar expended for plantation and negroes, as well as myself and each member of my family, &c.;) to adopting an ameliorating system, with frequent grass crops; to the use of plaster, marl and lime; and to constant attention to plantation manure, of which a great deal is made and used. To these, I repeat it, 1 am indebted for whatever success I have attained, and I would advise others to pursue substantially the same course, especially in husbanding with great care the resources of the farm, for making manure, and to stick to old Virginia, and make her flourish.

I am now about to change my system back to four fields again, believing as I nowj do, from many years' experience, that after, you have improved your land to a certain extent, (if alluvial or flat land,) that the: four field system is the best. It certainly will make more wheat, and nearly as much corn to the acre; and as it affords more landi in each crop, it will make more produce,! and, provided the land improves under it, must be the best system. But the land,

must be either good or improved, level or alluvial land, to stand the four field system, or it will not answer; and you must use good management in manuring and liming, &c., or it will fail: but, with that, I believe it is the best system. The advantage the four field system has over the five is, that it is a more cleansing system,—the hoe-crop (corn) coming round more frequently, keeps the land cleaner, which is all-important in any system. The next advantage in the four field system is, that you turn in a clover ley more frequently, which is highly improving, and at its best stage too for fallowing, which is all-important; and the third is, that you have more land to cultivate, and, provided you have sufficient labor, your returns will be larger. But you cannot support so much stock, and you will have to substitute straw, in some measure for manure, by covering the land with it, which, as it is becomiiig a prevalent opinion that It is the best mode of using straw, is no objection to the system. Coke's, Lord Leicester's, four field system so generally adopted in England, is a very similar one, substituting turnips and barley for corn and wheat, and using more manure than we can affijrd to do. The English system, on heavily manured land, is turnips, barley, clover, wheat—^our system is corn, partially manured or limed, or both, wheat, clover and wheat. The corn crop is a more exhausting crop than turnips, but it afibrds a good deal more of offal for manure, and makes up in that way; and as a bread crop for our?negro population and teams, is invaluable. But do not understand me as recommending the four field system for any but rich or highly improved, and flat or alluvial land. It will not answer for hilly, or rolling, or weak land, fhe^ should have a more extended and ameliorating system, viz: 6, 6 or 7 fields, according to circumstances as mentioned before, so that the more frequent grass crops will intervene, and prevent washing, and restore the fertility exhausted by grain crops, tobacco, grazing, &c. I have been cultivating under the five field system twenty years, after having previously cultivated twenty years under the four field system, and I now return to the latter system because my land is sufficiently improved, I think, to stand it, and make more profit under it, and perhaps continue, with good management, to improve under it. I think, under good management, on good land, where heavy crops of corn and wheat are made,

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you may manure an entire field, or fourth part of the land, each year, under the four field system. That is to say, you can cover vith the spare straw and the manure of the plantation one-fourth of it annually; and if 80, it mu."<t be an improving; system. The fact is, all land should be manured regularly at intervals; and no system is a good one "which does not admit of manuring at least one field in the rotation annually; for, after all, manure is the great mine of agricultural wealth.

The improvement in agriculture in Virginia for the last twenty years, particularly in lower Virginia, has been considerable; and the agricultural fairs of the State arc entitled to a good deal of the credit; but there is great room for improvement yet, and I have no doubt, if the fairs continue to be encouraged as heretofore, and our young and enterprising men will only stick to old Virgima, she will fiourish.and become the first State in the Union, as she once was; and God grant she may be again, is the prayer of your humble servant

P. S.—I have been informed that there was dissatisfaction expressed at the Central Agricultural Society when I delivered this address, that. I did not enter more into detail about my crops &c.; and I have been requested U) do so, but as I said before, I think it would be egotistical to talk so much about myself, as it would be necessary to do, if I did that; I will merely say, therefore, that when I took charge of the management of my plantation the best crops of wheat were about 2,0U0 bushels, and of corn about 5U0 barrels; and my best crops of wheat, since I improved the plantation, have been over 8,000 bushels, and of corn over 2,000 barrels—so that 1 have quadrupled the crops as I said before.

Hill Carter.

pounds of Peruvian Ouano to a third acre.

Each acre was planted in Tobacco the same day, and cultivated all alike without any other manure. The refeult was as follows, viz: the American Guano produced 452 pounds of Tobacco per acre at a cost of $8

I per acre ; the Manipulated produced 520 pounds of Tobacco per acre at a cost of §10.40 per acre; and the Peruvian Guano produced 090 pounds of Tobacco per acre,

• at a cost of $11.80 per acre. Now for the quality, and you have the whole experiment. The Peruvian was the largest and

I most sightly while in *he hill, but when cured the Kettlewell's Manipulated was of

I the richest and best body, and the American decidedly the most inferior, indeed, it

i was all lugs, and mean lugs at that. We

i had a heavy rain in September, which caused it all to fire and spot badly, but the Peruvian more than any, and the Manipulated less than any. This exper iment was made under my own eye, the land measured and the Guano weighed by myself I know it to be accurate. And now, from these data, your readers can make their own calculations and draw their own conclusions—my own humble opinion is in favor of the Manipulated. Very respectfully,

II. H. Allen. Oral Oaks, Ta., April 12th, 1860.

For the Southern Planter.

Experiments with American and other Guanos on Tobacco.

Mr. Editor —In the April number of the Southern Planter I promised you my experiment on Tobacco with American and other Guano—and here it is. Last year I Selected a poor piece of light, sandy land, on which, after thorough preparation, I applied 400 pounds of American Guano to one acre, 400 pounds of Kettlewell's Manip. ulated Guano to another acre, and 400

Fram the Farmer and Gardener.

How to Raise Early Tomatoes.

The profits of the Tomato crop depend, to a very great extent, upon the season in which they are brought to market. Some years ago, truck-farmers on the Neck, and in parts of New Jersey, contiguous to Philadelphia, made their calculations to the effect, that if they could bring tomatoes into market by the fourth day of July, they were worth from three to four dollars per basket, and they managed generally to begin their harvest about that time. Since the introduction of steamboat communication with the Southern ports, early trucking, generally, has been shorn of much of its ])octry, and such prices as were formerly realized, are no longtr to be thought of Still, it is of great moment that peas, tomatoes, and potatoes should be brought into market as early as possible, because they at once supersede the Southern importations. A week earlier, or later, may seem a small

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

[May

matter to some people, but when that week makes a diflference of one dollar in the respective prices, the farmer regards it as no small matter. This it almost invariably docs in relation to peas and tomatoes.— Hence, it is a great matter to be in time. Of course, tomato-plants, which are to ripen their fruit early, must be raised in a hotbed ; and they ought by this time, to be well under way, already transplanted in the frame from which they are to be set out in the field, cr garden.

Now, the secret of the disappointment of farmers, is often traceable to a very obvious cause. They set out their plants too earhj. This may seem a strange assertion. Never mind that, if it is true; and we know it is true. The first blossoms of the tomato, after transplanting, usually drop ofi', and the promise of early fruit drops with them. Let your plants for very early product remain in the hot-bed till the fruit has set on them ; choose a wet time to plant them out, in May; no matter if it is late in the month—and see what the result will be. In order to make assurance doubly sure, after the plants are eight or nine inches high, put them each in a flower pot, and in transplanting, you break none of the fibrous roots, and as you gradually harden your plants by leaving tJie frames ofi" in mild weather, when the proper season for transplanting arrives, they will grow and thrive without any delay or drawback, owing to the change. This wilting of the plants is a loss of time, and as a few days will make a material difference, the object is to avoid it, if possible. Give it a trial.

Jersey Blue.

•Head Work.

If a man is really a boor he will pass for nothing more, and if he is at heart a gentleman, will pass for nothing less ', if he is an ignorant plodder, men will treat him as such, and if his brains are well cultivated, others will not be slow to find it out; so that those who do not command respect, have themselves to blame most. A young man in these days has no more right to have an idle head, than an idle body; neither ought he to so overwork his muscular system that there is no more nervous energy left for the brain, and as a consequence feel so dill and stupid, that he has no desire to open a book. It is pre-eminently the day|

of physical science. The Classics are giving way to rocks, and plants, and the elements with which nature performs her wondrous work. The " Study ". is changed from the closet to the field, and the farmer can, and ought to be, even with all. A few text books, and much close, thoughtful observation, will do more towards balancing mind and muscle, more towards making farmers men and gentlemen, than all the harrangues on the dignity of their calling ever uttered.

Turn back the leaves of the great book on which you tread, and read in the rocks the history of long gone by creation; trace the tree from embryo to perfection; observe clouds and storm, wind and sunshine, and find even these erratic visitors of the air subject to law; turn up the soil, and with a chemist's eye mark the changes of the mould under the influence of rain and manure. Carry out those ideas, an(^ see as your brains get used to working, if you don't soon feel the result all over—a lightness of heart and a sense of equality in whatever society you may be thrown.— "Awake thou sluggard, and arise thou that sleepest."— American Agriculturist.

An ''Able" Editor.

Every judicious and observant man will concur in the following views, presented by the editor of one of the best conducted journals in the Old Dominion, the Alexandria Gazette:

Many people estimate the ability of a newspaper, and the industry and talents of its editor, by the quantity of editorial matter which it contains. It is comparatively an easy task for a frothy writer to pour out daily, columns of inords — ivords upon any and all subjects. His ideas may flow in "one weak, washy, everlasting flood," and his command of language may enable him to string them together like bunches of onions, and yet his paper may be a meagre and poor concern. But what is the labor and the toil of such a man who displays his " Icadf-d matter'' ever so largely, to that imposed on the judicious, well-informed editor, who exercises his vocation with an hourly consciousness of its responsibilities and duties, and devotes himself to the conduct of his paper with the sam.e care and assiduity that a sensible lawyer bestows upon a suit, or a humane physician upon a

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patient without regard to show or display ! Indeed, the inerf^ initituj part of cditinir w

?aper, is but a small portion of tlie work, 'he iiuhistry is not even shown there. The oaire, the time employed in seloctinL!:, is far more important, and the tact of a ii;ood editor is better shown by his selections than anythin*]^ else ; and that we all know is half the battle. J3ut as we have said, an editor ouL'ht to be estiniatcd, and his labors understood and appreciated, by the general conduct of his paper—its tone—its temper— its uniform, consi.stont course—its principles—its aims—its manliness—its dijrnity— its propriety. To preserve these as they should be preserved, is enoujrh to occupy fully the time and attention of any man. If to this be added the general supervision of the newspaper estabiishnient, which most editors have to encounter the wonder is how can they find time or room to vrite at alt.

17. It prereiits, in % great measure, the

evaporation of wate., and the consequent abstraction of heat frotn the soil.

18. It admits fresh (juantities of water from rains, &c., which are always more or less imbued with the fertilizing ga.se8 of the atmosphere, to be deposited among the absorbent parts of soil, and given up to the necessities of plants.

lli. It prevents the formation of so hard a crust on the surface of the soil as is customary on heavy lands.

20. It prevents, in a great measure, grass and winter grains from being winter-killed. Fanners' Magazine.

Advantages of Under-Draining.

1. It prcvruts drouth.

2. It furnishes an increased supply of atmospheric fertilizers.

8. It warms the lower portions of the soil.

4. It hastens the decomposition of roots and other organic mat er.

5. It accelerates the disintegration of the mineral matters in the soil.

G. It causes a more even distribution of nutritious matters among those parts of the soil traversed by roots.

7. It improves the mechanical texture of the soil.

8. It causes the poisonous excrementi-tious matter of plants to be carried out of reach of their roots.

n. It prevents grasses from running out.

10. It enables us to deepen the surface-soil—by removing excess of water.

11. It renders soils earlier in the spring.

12. It prevents the throwing out of grain in winter.

13. It allows us to work sooner after rains.

14. It keeps off the effects of cold weather longer in the fall. 1

15. It prevents the formation of acrtiA and other acids, which induce the growtli I of sorrel and similar weeds. |

16. It liastens the decay of vegetable' matter, and the finer comminution of the' earthy parts of the soil. I

From the New York Observer.

The Japan Apple Pie Melon.

ITS OULTIVATIUN, AND PKKFAUATION.

It is stated in a California paper that the seed of this melon was reqcntly introduced into that State, from one of the Islands of the Pacific Ocean, and that they are cultivated with good success in California, attaining the weight of from 45 to 50 pounds, and are highly esteemed as a luxury for pies, and sell readily in the market of San Francisco at sixpence per pound.

We obtained a package of the seed in the spring of 1858, from a gentleman who resides in California, and have had good success in their cullivation for the two past reasons, and as we learn how to prepare and use the fruit, we are more fully convinced of its great value. AVe have now specimens of the fruit 18 inches in length, weighing from 35 to 40 lbs. They are cylindrical in shape ;—color, when ripe, a golden tint: flesh fine and close grained, and more so than the common watermelon. The color of the seeds is a dark green.

Plant on good soil, some 10 feet apart. Let two, or at the most three, plants remain in each hill. After the fruit has set, cut of! the top end of the vines, and prune off some of the lateral vines. If not pruned, the vines will extend some 15 or 20 feet, producing many laterals, which too den-^ely cover the ground. Gather the fruit when ripe, and if kept in a cool, dry place, free from frost, they will keep good and sound a year, and you may have them at hand for use, at any time, fresh and good. We esteem this new vegetable as a valuable acquisition—especially so, when our apples and

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[Mat

other fruits fail, or in new sections where fruit has not been cultivated. The way we prepare them for pies, preserves and sauce is as follows : For pies, peel and cut up the melon into small pieces, taking out the seeds, soft pulp, &c. Put them in a preserving kettle, with just enough water to keep them from burning, and stew over a tolerably brisk fire for three or four hours, or until the whole is reduced to a pulpy mass, free from lumps, and thoroughly " done." You have thus a substance resembling green apples stewed; and by adding sugar and a little lemon, or tartaric acid, and made up with crust in the usual way, you have a pie equal, if not superior, to an apple pie. For a pumpkin, or custard pie, stew as above stated, but omit the acids, and bring the mass to the proper consistency by adding sugar, milk and eggs. But little of either of these ingredients will be found necessary—only sufficient to give color and flavor. A very superior preserve is made of this melon, prepared in the ordinary way as for other fruit, with the addition of a little lemon. For^sauce, pare and slice like apples, put into the stew-pan—add a little extract of lemon, and sweeten to your taste. L. NoRRis.

Windsor, Ashtabula Co., O.

P. S.—Having a surplus of the above melon seeds on hand, which may prove of much value to those who wish to cultivate them, I am willing to send by mail, to any address, a package of the seeds, to those who may desire it, asking only a sufficiency in stamps to pay the expense of putting up the seeds and postage. Address as above.

Keeping: Sweet Potatoes.

A writer in the Oskaloosa Herald gives this method of preserving the Sweet Potato through the winter. His way is as follows:

"I use dry sand to put them up in—it don't matter how the sand is dried, in a kiln, a log heap, or in the sun, so it is dry, that is all that is required. I prefer drying in a log heap, as it cost at least four times less, and is just as good. And a family that has a little room with a stove in it may keep a box or two of eight or ten bushels without much inconvenience. The boxes must be raised six or eight inches from the floor, and they must not be nearer than four inches to the wall. Fill the box with potatoes, and then put in sand, cover the potatoes with

sand. There is a good deal said about kiln-dried sand, but it is all fudge. I have also known them kept well in buckwheat chaff". In order to keep potatoes with success, there must be a thermometer kept in tha, room. The mercury must not sink below 40°; if it does, the potatoes will chill and rot; it also must not rise above 60°, or they will grow.

Agricultural Chemistry.

The following views in relation to the demands of Agriculture upon Science, were expressed by Professor Voelcker, of the Cirencester College, England, in a recent address before the Royal Agr'l Society:

He believes that among the landed proprietors, their agents, and the larger farmers, especially the rising generation, a more extensive knowledge of the science applicable to agriculture is needed. All these want better instruction. But to teach the small farmer or the labourer chemistry, is simply absurd. To either, the pursuit would be a waste of time. So chemistry should never be made the direct guide to the agriculturist. Science is, after all, only the systematic arrangement of well-authenticated facts, and the rising generation should be taught its general principles. But many professors of chemistry have over-estimated their .wn powers, and instead of explaining the experience of practical men, they set themselves up as guides to tho farmers; they have over-estimated the powers of the new science, and in consequence stumbled. Again he says : " Agricultural chemistry, in its application to farming, is altogether a new science; and hitherto it has been like every new knowledge, too vague and too general it its doctrines, as well as in its researches. What is required at the time are, experiments made for the special purpose, researches carried on in the field as well as in the laboratory. We have no need of the joint labors of practical men and men of science. These are questions which can only be properly investigated if the man of science heartily joins with the practical man, working cheerfully together, each in* his own department—a nearer approach between agriculture and science, in short, is what is required at the present time. A general knowledge of the principles of farming, however useful to the practical farmer, never will help him to grow a large crop of turnips; he must have special train-

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ing in practical matters in order to be a successful fanner. So it is with chcniicnl know led «j:o. Men may have excellent cheni-jcal knowledge, but if they have not special chemical knowledge in relation to farming, their labors will be of little direct utility to the agriculturist."

In reference to the culture of root crops, he says that generally ammoniacal manures, such as guano, are thrown away on roots; and phosphates are more profitable. Guano and super-phosphates of lime, both rather retard the germination of the seeds, but they pu.sh forward the young plant in its early growth. This we believe is to form the true value of such manures, though perhaps this is over-estimated.

Annual of Svientijic Discovery, 1860.

A tendency of Inventions-A proof that they are from God.

Few will be disposed to deny that this world, in its minute, as well as its compie hensive providential arangements,* bears unequivocal testimony to the benevolent designs of the Creator. It is impossible to contemplate the constituent elements of which it is composed, without the conviction that they were primarily selected and depos ited in accordance with the anticipated wants of the human family. In every aspect there appears adaptation to the physical and mental constitution of man, whether considered in his original state, or fallen and depraved condition. As a holy and happy being he had few physical wants; but such as he experienced, were amply supplied in that world over which he obtained dominion. As a spiritual being, niade in the Divine image, he enjoyed complete felicity in communion with (Jod. To him, as lord of Creation, all nature tendered a physical service; but yet a service only rendered in obedience to the dictates of his mental being, and actually elicited through the operation of his own physical organization. Nor was this a constitutional necessity only, it was the liw of his materio-mental being, corresponding to the law judicially announc-1 ed, and to the charter of privilege munifi-' cently grafted when Adam was commanded ' to " be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and sulxhw if, and mve dominion over the fish of the sea, and fver the fowls of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Subchic thr earth was the prjmary command and the claim of.

" dominion over it" seems to rest upon obedience to this injunction. Until the human family has multiplied so as to replenish the earth, that subjection cannot be obtained, nor that universal dominion established. Those physical and moral revolutions which have resulted from the introduction of sin, do not make void the primary commis.sion, nor cancel its obligations. Stt/uhie the earth was the mandate issued to Noah amidst the desolations disclosed by the receding deluge, as well as to Adam surrounded with the luxuriant productions of Paradise. Suhdur the caiih and have dominion over it is the Divine mandate addressed to their posterity as much as to those progenitors of the human race; and until the work is accomplished, the obligation mubt remain immutable. 11 is true that human capabilities, mental and physical, were impaired by the shock of moral evil, and even the world itself was convulsed by the thunder-bolt of Divine wrar.h, drawn down by the electric wire of human guilt; but no such changes, whether physical or moral, could alter the Divine Decree, rescind the original law, nor re^ase humanitjr from the primary obligation^ With a darker intellect and a weaker constitution—with consequent liability to exhausting fatigue and frequent disappointment—with a blighted world and rebellious subjects—man must, from age to age, pursue his laborious course until the original purposes of his Creator regarding earth, are all accomplished. In the beneficence of God every effort is accompanied by a present benefit, while each succeeding discovery is not only a stimulus to future exertion, but also a re-echo of the voice of the original proprietor, saying to the sons of men, " Subdue the earth and have dominion over it."

Exercising a delegated dominion ^ver the earth, the active duties involved in subduing it were accompanied with sensations of unalloyed pleasure; but having, by transgression, forfeited that dominion, fallen man is constrained by necessity to labor as a slave, while the pleasure of labor is embittered by its penal characteristics. Irrespective of this, the work originally indicated must be accomplished. Man must retiin his place as the agent by which it shall be eflfected. But in the mysterious providence of God, the work of subduing the earth is so planned that each succeeding generation may be amply occupied, and also realize increa.sing

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benefits in proportion to the progress made, wliile the united efforts of all arc requisite to carry it forward to final consummation. As the various workmen in the erection of a building individually and unitedly contribute towards the completion of the plan designed by the architect, so the human family is gradually filling up the comprehensive plans of Providence regarding the world.

Viewed in this aspect, there appears a close connection between man's nature and his duty as a creature destined for occupation, hisw^ants furnish a permanent motive where his moral obedience fails to constrain him to duty. In the appointment of heaven, the increase of his wants by the fall, counter-balances the reluctance of his rebellious spirit, so that he renders as an instrument, that obedience which, as a moral agent, he \ declines to yield. The natural activity ofi his constitution, though benumbed by the chilling effects of sin, is stimulated by stern necessity to work out the doings of Grod, regarding the earth as his temporary habitation. Work or want is the by-law of actual administmtion, which even savage life can- ^ not disregard, and whreh the highest state of refinement cannot utterly repeal. All must earn their bread by the sweat of their \ brow, or the exercise of the brain within it.! From the very constitution of things, both I are brought into requisition in every department of human occupation. From the sov-| ereign to the humblest subject, there is labor in procuring supply for official, relative, and | personal wants. If the hands are freed from grinding toil, the mind will be taxed with exhausting activity; and even when both seem to be emancipated by the possession of riches, the cares of preservation, of distri-' bution, of modes of increase, are found us harrassing to the possessor, as if both head and hafids were employed in daily labor.' Thus it is fo nd in universal experience, that, " All things are full of labor; man ; cannot alter it; the eye is not satisfied with! seeing, nor the ear with hearing,"

In beholding the toiling multitude we may be ready to enquire, whence the necessity for this incessant labor? Is it simply by way of punishment that God has doomed the fallen race to work, that life may be preserved, and yet in the excess of work demanded, and sometimes in its very nature, that life is being wasted by continuous toil ? This might seem at first sight the reason, and as announced in the sentence passed

upon Adam, it is no doubt presented as an element in the penalty. Indeed, the toils of human life have been adduced as an argument that man is fallen. J^ut when considered in relation to the comprehensive plans of the moral government, labor appears iit the aspect of a blessing. It is at once a check upon human depravity—a preservation of crime, and the source of social comfort; while at the same time affording a wider range for the operation of relative affections. The fall of man did not introduce, but only increased and aggravated human labor. The primary law was announced ere yet the bloom of Paradise had been blighted by sin. " 1 he Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress and to keep it." That garden was planted by thq Divine hand, with every tree and herb good for food, and pleasant to the eye ; but though divinely planted in fructiferous maturity, they were committed to the care of our first father " to dress and keep/' It is also* evident, from the primary law of the Sabbath, that our first parents were destined to active labor during six days of the week, else what would be the meaning of the rest of the seventh ? It is evident the ground was not yet under the effects of the curse, and that the earth yielded sponta-neouirly all that man could require; but even then some labor was necessary in order to the enjoyment of what nature so abundantly provided. The very formation of man teaches that he was designed for some species of labor. It has been cle rly demonstrated by comparative anatomy that the formation of all the creatures is in adaptation to their habits of life, and the exercise of their peculiar instincts, as well as to the place which they are destined to fill in the scale of creation. The human species is no exception to this universal law of creation. The w^onder-ful organization of man, in adaptation to the work given him to do, has been already noticed. The human hand furnishes a distinct and irresistible argument for the existence of God, while it affords a not less convincing proof that man was originally designed to labor. It is to the hand as directed by an intelligent mind, that we are indebted for all i^echanical inventions.

Taking mfll's constitution as the index, in accordance \^^th universal analogy, it is evident that labor was the original law of his being. If angels —pure and holy spirits— are actively employed in the ser.Yice of God

THK SOUTHERN IM.WTER.

—and if irrational creatures, with material oruanizatiun are destined to a certain amount of labor, in prolon^inu their existence, may it not be IcLMtiniatily inferredUhan man also conibininLT the material and the mental, must be designed for activity and labor. Nor is this all that nuiy be adduced from the nature of his constitution. It is clear, t«) a demonstration, that without labor, either in a holy or a iallen state, nian's capabilities and ]iow-ers could never be disclosed. Without the arts of industry, many of his latent iaculties of invention must lie iorcver dormant, and the marvels of science and art which these have exhibited, must have been forever lost U.) the page of hunr\n history. Indeed, until the last invention of «:enius shall be constructed, upon the eve of the world's dissolution, the full extent of man's mental and physical capability shall not be made mani-fcsf. It thus appears, that while labor is necessary in his individual and relative position, it is also necessary to exhibit what man was as God made him, and what mysterious treas res Divine goodness had stored up at creation for his future benefit even in a fallen state.

It is not the /act of labor, as the law of existence, that has produced human misery. Nor is labor in itseli" any evidence of a fallen state. It is the nature, the amount, and the aggravating circumstances in which labor must be prosecuted, that tend to characterize it as an evil in man's estimation. The introduction of moral evil has deranged the nature and increased the quantity and aggravated the circumstances of human toil. Its evils are not inherent, but may all be traced to the fountain of mural evil. In man's original constitution* there was absolute perfection. The finished works of creation were all pronounced " very good," by the Divine Author. Man's mental and physical constitution responded harmoniously to the works of na ture, while the appropriation of what infinite goodness had provided was but the increase of human happiness. There was nothing in the primary law of labor repugnant tt> man's tenderest feelings. Activity was the most joyous part of his existence. He could run without being weary, and walk without fainting. In his system there was no weakness, giving rise to suffering under exertion ; and in his labor there was no disappointment, to perplex or disturb his mental complacency. The duties assigned to Adam in Paradise were as pleasant to his entire constitution, as

the prospect of his luxuriant garden was to his organ of sight, and perception of beauty.

It was the cur.'ie—the blight of sin—that changed the entire aspect of human cmploy-jmeiit. Beneath the Irown of an angry (rod the elements of nature were convulsed—the earth became not only barnn, but thorns and thistles sprung upas the indigenous productions of the soil. The original, spontaneous, vegetative powers ol" earth were arrested, so that to man, the offender, it could only yield its reluctant produce, when moistericd with the sweat of his brow, It is, therefore, clear to a demonstration, that the evils of labor are nut in its nature, but in the quantity I necessary to subdue the soil thus blighted— tin the liability to fatigue and exhaustion, in.separable from the shattered constitution of man as fallen—and from the circumstances, relative and social, in which human toil must be endured. Labor is healthlul and pleasant under proper regulations; all I its embittering elements are the consequences j of sin. * * * * *

It is true that many seem to speak and !act as if labor in itself were the curse; but such speak unadvisedly, and act without due I reflection upon the providence of God. The j entire absence of labor could not ameliorate j the condition of the human family, while the I depraved pa.ssions and appetites remain unrestrained. Universal idleness in such cir-'cumstances would make earth one widespread hot-bed of iniijuity, and ev«)ke the ghastly features of even hell itself I AVho are the pests and plagues of society, but such as are idle, whether found in the ranks of wcjdth or tltc rags of poverty ? To remove huujan labor and leave hun)an depravity, would deterorate rather than improve man's condition. There was mercy, as well as judgment in the decree which enjoined him *'subdue the earth," even though it must be " in the sweat of his brow." With his pre\sent constitution he could not be idle and yet be liappy. Indeed, it is (juestion-ablc whether in any circumstances, a being naturally active could be happy in a sUite of physical inertia. Kven mental activity could not siitisfy the native propulsion of a material organization invested with life. If, then, this native tendency to action were not restrained and exhausted by law ful labor, it would be all e . bodied in the production of crime. It has been well remarked by an ennnent writer, (Dr. McCosh,) that, '* if man were not obliged to toil for his bodily suste-

284

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nance and comfort, his native restlesness would impel him to deeds which would throw society into hopeless disorder, and deluge the earth with blood." * * *

The crownino- evil in connection with human toil is, that in certain states of society, the amount and the nature of the labor demanded are such, that mental and physical slavery is the result. * * * *

The tendency of mechanical inventions is to give mind supremacy over matter, and to establish that dominion accorded to man in his original charter. In proportion as man understands his privileges and exercises his capabilities, amidst the profusion of nature, in that proportion will he find its adaptation to his peculiar circumstances, and in so far as he obeys the original mandate, " Subdue the earth," will he find its treasures laid at his feet. " The earth hath God given to the children of men," consequently, it is their province to discern, and dispose of the riches therein deposited, so as to promote human comfort. It is with this view that art is made auxiliary to human power, and has enabled man to carry his Researches and appropriation of terrestrial things, beyond the primary limits of manual capability. Nor is this all. The ultimate tendency of inventions is to emancipate the human family from the heavier portions of manual labor, and to give the mind more extensive power, so that machinery may take the place of human hands, and one individual be able to accomplish what hundreds could not have effected.— (^Blakeley^s Theology of Inventions.^

\_To he continued.']

« • » • » ■

A Valuable Table.

The following table will be found valuable to many of our readers:

A box 24 inches by 16 inches square and 28 inches deep, will contain a barrel—five bushels.

A box 24 inches by 16 inches square and 12 inches deep will contain half a barrel.

A box 26 inches by 15, 8 inches square and 8 inches deep will contain 1 bushel.

A box 12 inches by 11. 2 inches square and 8 inches deep will contain one peck.

A box 8 inches by 8 inches square and 4. 2 inches deep will contain 1 gallon.

A box 4 inches by 8 inches square and 4. 8 inches deep will contain a half gallon.

A box 4 inches by 4 inches square and 4. 1 inches deep will contain one quart.

General Considerations on Manures.

By Samuel W. Johnson, Chemist of the Connecticut State Agricultural Society.

1. What are manures ?

Manures are substances which are incor'^ porated with the soil, for the purpose of supplying some deficiency in the latter. However numerous and different may be the materials which assist the growth of plants, judging them by their origin, external characters and names, chemistry has in late years demonstrated that they all consist of only about a dozen forms of matter, which will be specified below.

2. Hoiu manures act.

Manures may act in three distinct ways.

I. T'hey may enter the plant as direct nutriment. Carbonic acid, water, ammonia, or nitric acid, sulphuric acid, phosphoric acid, silica, oxyd of iron, chlorine, ffme, magnesia, potash and soda, are the eleniinta of vegetable nutrition—the essential plant-food.

In a fertile soil all these materials are accessible to the plant. If one of them be absent, the soil is barren; if a substance that contains the missing body be applied to the soil, it makes the latter fertile.

II. Manures may act partly as solvents^ or absorbents, and thus indirectly supply food to the plant, e. g., lime, gypsum, salts of ammonia, &c.

Soils are infertile, not only from the absence or deficiency of some one or more of the above-named forms of plant-food, but also for other reasons. The food of the plant must be soluble in water, so as thus to be transmitted into the plant as rapidly as needed. Soils are often unproductive, because the stores of plant-food they contain are locked up in insoluble forms. Lime, guano, the products of the decay of vegetable matters, often fertilize a field merely by their solvent action on the soil. Gypsum acts as an absorber or fixer of ammonia..

III. Manures improve the physical character of the soil, —i. e., make it warmer, lighter, or heavier, more or less retentive of moisture, &c. Such are some manures that are often applied in large quantity, as lime, marl and muck.

A soil is often barren, not because it has no supplies of nutriment for the plant, neither for the reason that those supplies are insoluble; but because the soil itself is so wet or dry, so tenacious and impenetrable.

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or 80 li^ht ami shiftiriir, that voj^eUition fails to find tlie physical conditions ol* its growth and |ierfecti«)n.

Almost all our ordinary fertilizers exercise, to a trreater or lesss degiee, all those efl'ects. Thus lime, on a clay soil, may, 1st, Diechinically destroy the coherence and tenacity of the clay, and jrive it the friability of a loam; 2d, chemically decompose tUe clay, makin<jc potash, soda, ammonia, Ace, soluble; and, JJd, be directly absorbed and appropriated by the plant.

o. E.vhinLstlon of thr soil hy croj^ping^ and renovation f/j/ irnttJn rimj.

Under cultivation, there is removed from the soil by each crop a greater or less (juan-tity of plant-food. The stores of nutriment in the soil thus continually become smaller and smaller.

By the action of the atmosydiere (weathering), assisted by pulverization of the soil (tillage), the insoluble matters of the soil are gradually made soluble and available to vegetation.

There is thus constantly going on in the soil an exhausting, and as constantly, a renovating process. In most soils under ordinary cultivation, the exhaustion, or removal of plant-food, proceeds more rapidly than the supply by weathering. 8uch soils, therefore, tend to become unproductive. In a few cases, the solution of the materials of the soil itself goes on so rapidly that there is always present in them an excess of all the matters re(|ui.site to nourish vegetation. These soils are inexhaustible.

To assist in maintaining the first class of soils in a state of productiveness, manures are employed.

4. Comparative agricultural value of dif-fei'cnt ft'rtHizers.

It is obvious, from the foregoing considerations, that manures are required to exercise very different functions in different cases, according to the character of the soil, as determined by its origin and by its previous treatment. The soil itself is constantly changing under culture, so that what is useful on my neighbor's soil, that has been tilled and cropped for twenty years, may be quite valueless on mine which is just reclaimed from the forest. What benefits my soil this year may be of no perceptible advantage next year.

In how far manure is needed for the special purpose of supplying the soil with food for vegetation, it is often difficult to decide.

If a new and good soil is repeatedly cropped until it cea. cs to }ield remunerative returns, it nuiy be that addition of sonie one substance, lime, or potash, or sulphuric acid, will restore its fertility. It more often happens that smral bodies are deficient; but ir/iat is deficient can only be certainly learned by actual trial. In any special case that substance is most valuable as a manure, (in so far as the </irfct nutrition of the plant is concerned,) which is most deficient in the soil in accessible form.

As regards the indirect action of manures, in virtue of their absorbent or solvent powers, and as regards their effects in meliorating the texture and other physical characters of the soil, practical men have established certain rules, founded on extended experience, which it is not needful to recapitulate here. '

Thus much is certain : that one fertilizfng agent has no absolute and invariable superiority over another, for all are equally indispensable. The superiority that any one manure may be reputed to possess, dej>ends upon circumstances. Circumstances are exceedingly various and continually changing. The reputation and local value of manures is equally various and changing.

In some regions, as in certain districts of Pennsylvania, lime is considered the best manure. In numerous localities, planter (sulphuric acid and lime) is depended upon. In some districts, super-phosphate of lime; in others, Peruvian guano is almost ex.^lu-sively used.

Among the substances essential to vegetation, there are some which almost never fail from the soil. Thus, oxyd of iron and silica are present in every soil. Lime and sulphuric acid may often be wanting. Potash and soda are not unfrequently deficient. Available ammonia and phasphoric acid are likewise often liable to exhaustion.

Ammonia and phosphoric acid, which po.Hsess the highest commercial value among fertilizers, have been considered by some who.'^e opinions are of weight in the agricultural world, to possess also a decidedly greater agricultural value than other manures. It is as.serted that in the growth of certain crops, and in fact those crops which best remunerate the farmer, these substances are most rapidly exhausted from the soil. Now it is undoubtedly true, that on the soils in certain districts, and in certain courses of cropping, the application of ammoniacal and

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phosphtitic manures produces the most striking results; yet it is by no means proved, or even probable, that on the whole, all soils, and all systems of cropping included, these bodies are of'tener lacking, or oftener and more permanently useful, than some of the other fertilizing substances.

5. What manures are most often and most generaUij useful?

While we cannot accord to any simple manure, or to a^y single ingredient of a manure, a universal fertilizing superiority, it is true that some manures are more useful than others, on account of their compound nature. The more ingredients a manure can supply to vegetation, the more useful it is. Stable manure is the universal and best fertilizer, because it contains every thing which can feed the plant. Swamp muck, straw, and vegetable refuse generally, are of similar character. Fertilizers, like lime^ plaster, salt, &c., which contain but a few ingredients, cannot in general be depended upon for continuously maintaining the fertility of the soil.

6. Uses of special or partial manures. Special manures, i. e., manures which

contain some one or few ingredients, are of use, very rarely, as the farmer's chief reliance, but often as adjuncts to stable manure. Several special manures may often be so combined as to make an effectual substitute for stable manure. In hiojh-farming, and in market gardening, and generally where circumstances admit of raising the most exhausting crops without fallow, laying down to grass, or. rotation of any sort, special manures are most advantageously employed. In ordinary mixed farming, they are useful in assisting to reclaim or improve poor lands; but in the best practice, they play as yet a very subordinate part, unless peculiar circumstances make them extraordinarily cheap.

7. Comparative commercial value of manures.

The commercial value of a manure is measured by its price, and may be quite independent oi its real agricultural value, though it usually depends considerably on its reputed agricultural value. The scarcity of a substance, the cost of preparation and transportation, the demand for it on account of other than agricultural uses—all these considerations of course influence its price. It is commercially worth what the dealer can get for it, so much per bushel or ton.

8. Valuation of manures. — What substances are to he regarded as commercially important iV? costly manures.

In any fertilizer which is sold as high or higher than half a cent a pound, there are but three ingredients that deserve to be taken account of in estimating its value." These are ammonia, phosphoric acid, and potash. Every thing else that has a fertilizing value may be more cheaply obtained under its proper name. If the farmer needs sulphuric acid he purchases gypsum; if he needs soda, common salt supplies him. Every thing but these three substances may be procured so cheaply, that the farmer is cheated if he pays ten dollari:^ per ton for a manure, unless it contains or yields one or all of these three substances in considerable proportion.

9. Mechanical condition of m,anures. Nothing is so important to the rapid and

economical action of a manure as its existing in a finely pulverized or divided state. All costly fertilizers ought to exist chiefly as fine, nearly impalpable powders, and the coarser portions, if any, should be capable of passing through a sieve of say eight or ten holes to the linear inch. The same immediate benefits are derived from two bushels of bones rendered impalpably fine by treatment with oil-of-vitriol, ten bushels of bone-dust, and one hundred bushels of whole bones. Fineness facilitates distribution, and economizes capital.

10. Chemical condition of manures — State of soluhility^ &c. — Ammonia^ potential and actual — Phosphoric acid, soluble and insoluble.

The solubility of a manure is a serious question to be considered in its valuation. We are accustomed to speak of ammonia as existing in two-states, viz : actual and potential, liiy actual ammonia, we mean ready-formed ammonia; by potential ammonia, that which will result by decomposition or decay—'' that which exists in possibility, not in act." Now the former is almost invariably soluble with ease in water, and is thus readily and immediately available to plants; while the latter must first become " actual'' by decay, before it can assist in supporting vegetation.

In Peruvian guano, we have about half of the ammonia ready formed, and easily soluble in water, the remainder exists in the form of uric acid, which yields ammonia by decay in the soil, but may require weeks or

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months to complete the change. In leather shavings, or woolen.rags, the ammonia is all potential, and as these bodies decay slowly, they are of less valiio than guano as sources of ammonia. Oilcake, (linseed and cottonseed,) contains much potential ammonia, and in a form that very speedily yields actual ammonia.

A\'e do not know with what precise results the process of the decay of ammonia-yielding bodies is accomplished in the soil. Out of the soil such bodies do not give quite all their nitrogen in the form of ammonia : a portion escapes in the uncombined state, and thus becomes unavailable.

IMiosphoric acid may occur.in two different states of solubility J one readily soluble, the other slowly and slightly sohible in water. The former we specify as soluble, the latter as insoluble phosphoric acid. In Peruvian guano we find o.5 per cent, of soluble phosphoric acid, existing there as phosphates of ammonia and potash. The remaining 10 to 12 per cent, is insoluble, being combined with lime and magnesia. In most other manures, genuine superphosphates excepted, the phosphoric acid is insoluble.

Among those phosphates which are here ranked as insoluble, there exist great differences in their availability, resulting from their mechanical condition. The ashes of bones, and the porous rock-guano when finely ground, exert immediate effect on crops, while the dense, glassy, or crystallized phosphorite of Hurdstown, N. J., and the fossil bones (so-called coprolites of England,) are almost or quite inert unless subjected to treatment with oil-of-vitriol.

11. The rcasonahlc. j^ricc of phosphoric acid, ammovia, and potash.

I. Insoluble phospJmrir arid. There arc several substances now in market which, as fertilizers, are valuable exclusively on account of their content of phosphoric acid ; which, moreover, are at present the cheapest sources of this substance that possc^^s the degree of fineness proper to an active fertilizer. These substances are the phosphatic guanos, (Coluuibian and American guano,) and the refuse bone-black of .«;ugar refineries. From them we can easily calculate the present lowest commercial value of phosphoric acid. If we divide the price per ton of Columbian guano, 835, by the number of pounds of phosphoric acid in a ton, which, at 40 per cent, amounts to 800

pounds, then we have tlic price of one pound as nearly 4^ cents.

Refuse bone black may be liad for 8o0 })er ton; it usually contains 32 per cent, of phosphoric acid. The same division as above gives us 4^ cents as the cost of phosphoric acid per pound.

In this report I shall adopt the average of these figures, viz: 42 cents, as the reasonable price of insoluble phosphoric acid.

Phosphoric acid is much cheaper in crushed bones; but this material is not in a suitable state of division to serve as the ba.sis of a fair estin)ate.

II. Sohd/le pJiosphoric arid. This is nearly always the result of a manufacturing process. Professor Way, chemist to the lloyal Agricultural Society of England, estin)ates its worth at 10:> cents per pound. Dr. A'oelcker, of the Koyal Agricultural College of England, and Dr. Stoeckhardt, the distinguisli'.d Saxon Agricultural Chemist, reckon it at 12-] cents per pound. They have deduced these prices from that of the best commercial su])erphosphates. In this report the price will also be a.'^sumed at 121 cents. This, I believe, is considerably more than it is really worth, but it is probably the lowest rate at which it can now be purchased.

III. Actual ammonia. The cheapest commercial source of this body is Peruvian guano. Although it contains several per cents of potential ammonia, yet the latter is so readily converted into actual ammonia, that the whole effect of the manure is pro-

|duced in one season, and therefore we may Ijustly consider the whole as of equal value with actual ammonia.

Good Peruvian jruano contains :

2 i)cr cent., or lO lb: 12 " 2-10 ''

16

320

per ton of potasli. '• soluble |)liosj)lio. acitl. " iiis^oliible " "

niul yields " ammonia.

^ If we add the values of the potash, (see I next page,) and of the phosphoric acid, soluble and insoluble, and subtract the same from the price of guano we shall arrive at the worth of the ammonia—as follows:

40X'l=$l.nO; fiOX 12i=$7.50; and 210 X .1\=.'f{|0.80; total, .$10.90.

$C,5.00—.$ 19-90=$ 15.10 the value of 320 lbs of ammonia.

$45.10-1-320 = 14 cents nearly, the value of one pound.

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This price, 14 cents per pound, will be employed in this report.

IV. Potential ammonia. The value of this varies so greatly, being, for example, as uric acid in guano, not inferior to actual ammonia, while in woollen rags it is not worth more than one-half as much, that we can fix no uniform price, but must decide what it shall be, in each special case, separately.

V. Potash. The value of potash is difficult to estimate, because it may vary exceedingly according to circumstances. Wood ashes are its chief sources 3 these are poor or rich in potash according to the kind of tree that yields them, and the soil on which it has grown. It may vary from five to twenty per cent. Stoeckhardt, who estimates the value of ammonia at twenty cents, makes potash worth four cents per pound. The price of potashes can not serve as a guide, for they are never used for agricultural purposes. Four cents is certainly high enough for this country, if it is correct for Germany

12. Potash may he usually neglected.

Most concentrated manures contain very little or no potash. In guano it rarely exceeds three per cent. Superphosphate of lime can contain none of consequence. Potash cannot be economically added to manufactured manures, because nearly pure potash, or even the raw material from which it is extracted, viz.: wood-ashes, has a higher commercial value for technical than for agricultural purposes. Besides, potat<h is not generally deficient in soils, and therefore farmers do not wish to pay for it as an ingredient of costly manures. It is only wh^n a manure is professedly sold as containing much potash, that this ingredient deserves to be taken account of in its valuation.

13. Computing the money-value of concentrated manures.

In what immediately precedes, is contained the data for calculating approximatively the price that can be afforded by a high-priced manure, if we have before us the results of a reliable analysis. The actual calculation is very easy, and has been illustrated already in deducing the value of ammonia from Peruvian guano. We give here a resume of the prices adopted in this report, viz.: /

Potas h, per pound, 4 cents

Insoluble phosphoric acid, per pound, 4^ " Soluble " " " 12^ "

Actual, and some forms of potential

ammonia, 14 "

As a further example of the calculation, here may follow the details ol the valuation" of a superphosphate of lime. Analysis gave the following per centage :

Actual ammonia, 2.3,9, say 2.4

Potential, 1.06, " 1.0

Soluble phosphoric acid, 2.56, " 2.6

Insoluble,. 22.98, " 23.0

Multiplying the per centage of each in-gredent by its estimated price, and adding together the products thus obtained, gives the value of one hundred pounds; this taken twenty times, gives us the worth of a ton of two thousand pounds.

In the case before us, the quantity of potential ammonia is so small that we may recken it with actual ammonia without materially influencing the result. Thus,

2.4+1.0=3.4; 3.4X14 = .48, value of amiTio-

nia in 100 lbs. 2.6X12i== .33, value of soluble phos. acid in 100 lbs. 2.3X04i=$1.03, value of insol. phospho. acid in 100 lbs.

$1.84, total value of 20 100 fts.

$36.80, value of one ton.

It is not claimed that this method of valuation is more than rough and approximate. Usually the price demanded is more than that obtained by calculation. In case of the superphosphate just mentioned, the selling price is $45. There is no doubt that it ought to be better for that money. The farmer must decide for himself whether he can get the same fertilizing materials more cheaply. If he cannot, he may purchase such a superphosphate. For comparing the icorth of different fertilizers this method of computation is of great value, as will be seen further on, where will be found tables giving the calculated values of all the high-priced manures that have come into my hands officially, during the last two years.

It is but jui't to mention here, that this method of estimating the value of fertilizers was first proposed nine years ago by Dr. J. A. Stoeckhardt, Professor of Agricultural

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER,

289

Chemistry in the Koyal Academy of Agriculture and Foresty, at Tluirand, near Dresden, in Saxony, and has been adopted in principle by the chemists of the agricultural societies in Great Britain.

The estimates I made in 1856 were much lower than those now given. The price of manures has advanced since that time, (Peruvian guanos ten dollars per ton,) and the prices I then propfeed for phosphoric acid were too small. All the estimated values in this report are founded on the prices just given.

14. EMimation of the value of cheap manures.

The method of valuation above described is not applicable to cheap manures, which contain but little ammonia or phosphoric acid. Their value often depends more upon the mechanical and chemical condition of their ingredients, than upon the quantity of any one. The few manufactured manures of this sort, may best be compared with some fertilizer of standard commercial value, viz. : stable manure, leached ashee, &c. Under the head Poudrette, examples will be given.

Report of P. T. Tyson, Esq., Maryland State Agricultural Chemist, on Guano.

Maryland was the pioneer State in the use of guano in this country.

According to my recollection, the fir.st trial of it in the State was by Captain Abel S. Dnn-gari, of a few baj2;s brought by him from Peru, and applied to part of his corn crop. This, I think, was about the year 1832, and soon after the importation of it by the cargo soon commenced.

The good effects of this manure upon exhausted soils, brought it rapidly into use, and the high price it reached, induced enterprizing persons to search for it, especially upon those small coral islands whose only inhabitants arc birds. The results of this activity brouo;ht into notice the various kinds of guano now sold by the dealers.

All of those that can be had in considerable quantity, are sold in Baltimore, which continues to be the leading guano market in this country.

In estimating the value of any guano to the farmer, we may disregard all its constituents except ammonia and phosphoric acid. The value of some of them depends principally upon their large proportion of ammonia. Others containing no ammonia, are valuable for their phosphoric acids alone. There are some again which contain available proportions of both of these matters so important to the farmer^ 19

AVo may therefore divide the guanos now accessible to our agriculturists into three genera or groups.

1.— Ammoni.\ted Guano.

The only species of this kind is Peruvian guano,.containing from 7 to 18 per cent, of annnouia.

2.—PnosiMiATic Guano,

Containing phosphoric acid equal to from 16 to 90 per cent, of phosphate of lime.

Of this the species recognized in the official advertisements of the State Inspector are— Mexican, White Mexican, <

Colombian, Brown Colombian, or % Sombrero, Nevassa.

3.— Ammonia —PnospnATic Guano.

California,

Containing from 3o to 10 per cent, ammonia

i with equally varying proportions of phosphate

of lime, or its equivalent in phosphoric acid.

African, Containing variable quantities of ammonia, and phosphate of lime.

Before further considering these guanos, I beg leave to present a number of results of analysis by diiferent eminent chemists.

The first series are selected from a large number of analyses by my friend. Dr. Piggot, and are contained in the following communication with which he has favored me. There is also one included from my friend Dr. C. Morfit, formerly of Baltimore, but now residing in New York:

Baltimore, Dec IGth, 1859, r. T. Ti/.'iou, Esq., State Agricultural Chemist:

Dear Sir: —In reply to your inquiries concerning the results of my examination of the different guanos brought to this market, 1 submit the following statement:

1.— Brown Mexican Guano.

These guanos have evidently been formed from the excrements of birds, which have lost their ammoniacal salts by evaporation in tiie hot sun, and by solution in the heavy rains-that fall in the region from which they arc obtained. The small islands called *'Kc3's," upon which they are fnund, have often an indistinct basin shape, inclining in every direction towards the centre. In consequence of this form, much tif the guano is washed, during the rain, into hollows, where it is gathered.

The color of this guano varies from a pale fawn-yellow to a deep chocolate brown, the difference appearing to be due to the varying quantities of humus present in the different varieties. All tlie genuine lime <i;uanoes, no matter how dark they may be, leave a pure white ash if thoroughly burned, which sufficiently establishes the organic nature of the coloring matter. I have been, told by sea

-t^\

THE SOUTHEKN PLANTER.

[May

captains who have brought in this dark guano, that it was collected among the thickets of bay cedars which are found upon many of the islands of the Caribbean sea. Most of these brown guanos also contain notable quantities of fibrous roots, another evidence of the ori^iin of their color. There are, however, dark coloured soft guanos, which owe their tint to the large mixture of iron among them. These contain little or no lime, being made up almost entirely of phosphate of iron. Their contents are very variable, especially in the proportion of phosphoric acid, as will be seen by the analysis which I shall presently quote. The following tables will give an idea of the constitution of this artfcle:

Water, . •. . .

Organic matter, .

Sand,

Liine, ....

Magnesia, . . .

Phosphoric acid, .

Chlorine,

Carbonic acid and other ingredients not estimated. .

Equivalent of phosphoric acid in bone pliosphate of lime.

I.

32.51 9.35 0.66

28.56

16.32

12.60

35.36

11.

29.28

12.53

0.21

28.21

16.68

III.

24,

20.93

0.12

26.89

24.34

13.09 2.84

36.14

52.74

IV^

13.11 35.49

1.09 20.86

3.85 16.16

2.25

6:i9

35.01

22.98 11.06 trace

30.78

31.22

3.98

67.64

Water and orgiinic matter, . . . . 31.34

Silicates insoluble in hydrochloric acid, 34.45

(containing of ammonia—1.31.)

Lime, 5.56

Magnesia, trace

'^^Ju"iina 13.66

Oxide of iron, 3.71"

Phosphoric acid, 5.51

Sulphuric acid, 4.21

Alkaline salts, o!41

• 99.85

The combination of the bases and acids is as follows:

Sulphate of lime, 7.98

Phosphate of lime, ....... 4,85

" " alumina, 6.38

Of the insoluble silicates above mentioned, only 10.G8 escaped solution in caustic potash, so that a large amount of the-silica present is soluble in that reagent.

Another guano somewhat resembling this, but of greater value, was brought here from Soldanha bay, Africn, in 1854. I analyzed a sample of it with the following results:

Of the above, No. I. represents a cargo im -ported in August, 1854; No. II. the cargo of the "Susan," which came in the following September; No. III. the cargo of the "Mary," imported in 1855; No, IV, is a sample of a 'deposit examined to determine its value, and No. V. is a sample of a cargo imported in 1855, and marked by the inspector " Brown Mexican A A," but owing to its richness to the presence of lumps of Colombian guano inter-:mixed with it. Of the dark iron guanos, the following, a sample from a small cluster of islands near the South American coast, called the " Brothers," may be taken as an example.

Water, 16.06

Organic matter, 22.92

Sand, 19.68

Phosphate of lime, . . . 9.01

" " magnesia, 2.86

• " " iron, . . 27.19

Carbonate of lime, .... 5.95

Not estimated, 2.33

100.00

Some of these ferruginous guanos contain not a trace of lime or magnesia, others are remarkable for the presence of considerable quantities of sulphate of lime or gypsum. An example of this will be found in the following analysis of the sample of a cargo from Patagonia, brought into Norfolk in the summer of 1^58 :

100.00 The phosphoric acid is equivalent to bone phosphate of lime, . . 38.10 In another guano of this soft variety, sulphate of lime is present in large quantity, but the phosphate of that earth is more abundant than in the Patagonian above described. Of this variety, the following analysis of a sample from Portland hay. Cape Colony, Africa, will furnish a good example: Water, . . ... . 21.37

Organic matter, . . . . 10.44

Phosphate of lime, .... 40.24

Sulfihate of linie, .... 9.88

Sand, . . . , . . 0.61

Iron, alumina, alkalies, &c., (not estimated,) . . . . . 17.46

Jarvis island guano is another of these gypseous phosphates as the following analysis of the sample of a cargo imported into New York will show: Sulphate of lime, ....

Phosphate of lime, ....

Phosphate of magnesia, .

Sesquioxide of iron,

Alumina, ......

Chloride of potassium,

Chloride of sodium,

Sand

99.40

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

291

Tho term "Mexican guuno" is not strictly npplieable t > all the different viirietios ubove described, but I have had no choice in the use of it, all the soft phosphatic guanoes below G5 per cent, of bone phosphate, from whatever eourcc they may have been derived, being known by that name in this market.

WHITE MEXICAN GUANO.

This title was originally given to a very light c<dored guano, consisting chiefly of porous-lumps of low specific gravity, but it has since been applied to all guanoes that exceed 65 per cent, of bone phosphate of lime, which is the highest standard of Brown Mexican. The most characteristic specimens of this variety are those which were formerly brought from Pedro Keys, and the following analysis, made of a lump selected by myself from one of the cargoes, will give a good position :

Water, ....

Organic matter, * . .

Lime, ..... Magnesia, .... Alkaline salts,. Phosphoric acid. Sulphuric acid.

Chlorine, ....

Sand, . . . m .

Iron, alumina, and other substances not estimated, ....

pie, tho watery solution of the guano was neutral to test paper ; it never contained, even after boiling a few minutes, one per cent, of pluisphoric acid, and what it did contain was invariably combined Tvith lime. I determined to ascertain, if possible, the cause of this mistake, and in order to this end undertook a minute analysis of the article. My results enabled me to announce its true constitution, and to show that the lime existed as tho neutral phosphate, consisting- of two atoms of lime, one of water, and one of phosphoric acid, instead of bone phosphate, which has three atoms of lime and one of phosphoric acid. The error was occasioned by overlooking this. The following table expresses my results:

Moisture,

Organic matter atid water combined,

Phosphate of iron,

idea of its com- j Phosphate of magnesia,

Lime, .

r, g^ Phosphoric acid,

■ ^^ Sulphuric acid,

Ao Q^ Chlorine,

7^-^^ Sand, trace.

0.71 37.12 trace, trace.

0.11

zo

100.00

The calculated amount of bone phosphate of lime 80.53, is so near the sum of the lime and phosphoric acid (81.03) that the guano may be considered a phosphate of lime containing a few impurities.

This analysis, however, must not be supposed to represent the value of actual cargoes of this Tiu-tiele. Very few of them reach so high a grade; the average per centage of those I have analyzed, usually varying between 65 and 75 of bone phosphate. Many of the guanoes recently brought in and sold under this name, a^-e, in reality, common soft guano mixed with fragments of hard guano, which raises their per centage as in the case I have cited in analysis No. 1.

COLOMBIAiV GUANO.

This substance is memorable for the singular errors into which several chemists fell in reference to its constitution. When offered fi»r t-ale here in 1855, the dealers advertised it as a natural svpcrphosphate of lime, publishing certificates of analysis by several well known chemists. These, after statyig the amount of bone phosphate of lime present, gave estimates of free phosphoric acid varying from 5 to 11 per cent, of the whole weight of the guano. The simplest test were sufficient to show the incorrectness of these statements. For exara-

2.34 8.95 0.3.5 0-61 38.75 46.22 1.96 free. 0.63

100.81 Upon calculating the results, some lime will be found over and above the exact amount for the neutral phosphate. This I take to be combined with one of the acids of the humic group, because the substance effervesces with acids after ignition, but not in its original condition. I believe the following table correctly expresses its composition: Natural phosphate of lime, . . 87.95

Sulphate of lime, . . . 4.21

Lime combined with organic matter, 1.47

Organic matter, . . . 2.29

Phosphate of iron, . . . 0.35

Phosphate of magnesia, . . 0.61

Chlorine, . . . . trace.

Sand 0.63

Moisture, .... 2.34

100.85

The phosphoric acid is equivalent to

bone phosphate of lime, . . 100.14

^fter the publication of these results Drs. Iliggins and Bickell published a paper on the same subject. They pointed out some interesting facts which had escaped my observation. It will be remembered by every one who has seen this guano in its natural state, that it has a glazed surface of a mammillated form which is a mere shell-covering, of a dark brown compact mass. Tlie latter was the portion I examined. They studied the surfjice also, and found that in it, the phosphate of lime exists in the form of bone phosphate, while they arrived at the same conclusion with myself in refeience to the body'of the rock.

The first guano of this kind was found upon the surface of primitive rocks on Monk's

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

[May

Island, in the gulf of Maracaibo. Afterwards, it was discovered on El Rogue. A substance closely resembling, but not identical with it, has been recently brought in from El Monita. The cargoes of this guano do not come up to the samples, because they contain a large proportion of the rocks of the islands. Still, they furnish the largest amount of phosphoric acid in a given weight of material, and that, too, ih a remarkably soluble form. The only difficulty is, that this variety is scarce.

SOMBRERO GUANO.

This guano is the most abundant and uniform source of phosphoric acid now known to commerce. It is incorrectly called a guano, as it has evidently not originated from the excrements of birds, but is clearly a submarine deposite. I am inclined to think, that it is made up of the bones of marine animals, and the excrements of fish and mollusca that feed among the coral reefs. It is composed of phosphate of lime, mixed with some carbonate of that earth, as well as the phosphates of magnesia, iron and ammonia. It contains a very small quantity of sand and not much organic matter. It is quarried like a rock, and re-t[uires to be ground before it is applied to the soil.

The following analysis will show its constitution and exhibit its remarkable uniformity. They are all cargo samples, Nos. I. and II. having been imported into this market in.the fall 1858, No. III. being the sample of a cargo taken by the purchasers as it ran through the mill at Petersburg, Va., in the spring oif this year. No. I., I sampled myself, in the storehouse, after it had been ground. I have, moreover, another analyses of special samples, which have been either sent on from the island, or selected from the vessels here, but as these are the only full analyses- of cargoes I have made, they will probably convey a better idea of the average production of the island. A great number of determinations, of phosphoric acid and lime in' cargo samples give parallel results:

As additional evidence of the character of this guano, I subjoin a copy of an analysis by Prof. Caujpbell Morfit of New York :

Water, 3.52

Sand, 68^

Organic matters with lime, . 12.33

Cb loride potassium, 09

Sulphate lime, 86

Bone phosphate lime, ) 64.67

Bone ash,

67.06

magnesia,

2.39 . ■ 3.62 . 1-95 . 5.34 .76 . 1.10 Alumina ,, 3.13

Phosphate alumina,

" iron,

Carbonate lime,

Silicate potassa and lime, . , Oxide iron

Water and organic matter,

Lime, . - . .

Magnesia,

Alumina,

Sesquioxid of iron.

Alkalies,

Phosphoric acid,^ -

Chlorine, . _ -

Carbonic acid.

Sand, - - - -

Not estimated,

Phosphoric acid equivalent to bone plios. of lime.

7.07 44.66 1.56 4.97 2.03 0.81 34.65 0.35 2 80 0.69

99.59

75.04

II.

7.07 41.52 0.35 4.13 4.97 0.81 36.80 0.35 2.92 0.69

99 61

79.73

III.

12.27

40.27

1.07

I 4.67

35.62

0.51 5.59

100.00

77.75

100.44 The total amount of phosphoric acid is 34.06. Equivalent to bone phosphate lime—73.93.

NEVASSA GUANO.

This material is in small fed pebbles, usually rounded, resembling gravel. I have made but a single full examination of a sample, which gave. Organic matter and water, with some

carbonic acid, . . . 12.72

Sand, . . • . . 4.11

Lime,_ .."... 29.66 Alumina and sesquioxid of iron with

a little magnesia, . . . 21.50

Phosphoric acid, . , . 31,66

99.60 Phosphoric acid equivalent to bone phosphate of lime, 68.49.

The sample from which the above anal3'sis was made, was made perfectly dry.

IRON GUANO.

Early in 1857, a large number of rocks, supposed to be identical with the Colombian guano already described, were brought into the United States, mainly through the ports of Baltimore, Philadelphia an<l New York. I never saw any reason to consider them guanoes, they being chiefly composed of Wavellite, mixed with variable quantities of phosphate and sesquioxid of iron. The following table expresses their composition. No. 1 is a pale phosphate from Testigos; No. 2, a red rock, from the same island.

Water,

Sesquioxid of iron. Alumina, Soluble matter, -Phosphoric acid, • Sulphuric acid, -Cnlonne.

I.

21.05 4.85 22.11 17.55 33.65

II.

16.74

12.96

20.91

7.74

40,45

.02

.12

Phosphoric acid equivalent to bone phosphate of lime, 72.91 87.64

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293

Both the samples contained fluorine, which was not estimated. These phosphates were deemed here as worthless, because they had not a lime base. I never could -see any good reason for this opinion, especially, as I proved by actual experiment, that their phosphonc acid was rapidly dissolved by the alkaline silicates, which are of course present in every soil capable of producing wheat or corn.

El Monita Guano.

Several samples of hard guano have been recentl}' brought in from the island of El Monita. Tliey somewhat resemble genuine Colom))ian guano in their external surface, which is white, smooth and mammillated, but differ from it in their general structure, which is scaly, so that they readily split up in parallel layers. They appear to contain a mixture of the two phosphates of lime in varying pro portions. The amount of sulphate of lime differs greatly in different samples ; and this difference causes a fluctuation in the per cent-age of phosphoric acid. The following table expresses the composition of the first sample which I examined:

100.00

I suppose these substances to be combined as follows:

100.00

Equivalent of phosphoric acid in bone phosphate of lime—60.17.

That these proportions vary materially will be perceived, when I state that another sample of a similar rock from the same island, brought in by the same schooner, and examined for phosphoric acid and lime, contained of

Lime, .... 33.75

Phosphoric Acid, . . 42.83 in the hundred parts.

Equivalent of phosphoric acid in bone phosphate of lime—92.80.

Some stalagmites, of a conical form and mammillated surface, were brought in at the

same time from the same island. I examfhed a sample of one of these, with the following result:

Water and organic matter,

Sand, ..'...,

Lime,

Phosphate of iron, ....

" " magnesia, .

Phosphoric acid, combined with lime.

Chlorine,

Sulphuric acid, ....

Not estimated, ....

15.73 1.34

36.45 2.68 6.22

24.96 0.29 9.15 3.18

100.00

Of the ammoniated guanoes I have not made 80 many analyses as of the phosphatic. I am convinced, however, that the assumed uniformity of Peruvian guano, as imported here, does not rest upon a basis of fact. I have analyzed one sample which contained 18.53 percent, of ammonia. The last sample I examined gave me only 11.40 per cent, of ammonia, and it certainly presented no appearance of having been damaged on the voyage.

California Guano.

There have been various articles brought in under this name. Usually they are very wet and dark colored, when of course their per centage of ammonia is low. The following table expresses the results of my analysis of the first cargo brought to this port, and probably represents the average composition of this material:

100.00

An examination for ammonia of a sample recently sent me gave me only 3.46 per cent, of that alkali. Anotheu sample, which I received about two months since, and of which I made a commercial analysis, gave me the following results:

Water and organic matter, . . 38.45

(Containing of ammonia, 6.35.)

Sand and gravel, .... 16.10

Lime, . • 15.55

Phosphate of magnesia, . . . 4.61

Phosphoric acid, .... 16.29

Not estimated, .... 9.00

100.00

I have examined other ammoniated guanoes from Yucatan, Africa, Patagonia, the Galapagos Islands, and other points, chiefly in the

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

[May

Pacific Ocean, but as they are not articles of commerce here, I shall not trouble you with a description of them.

Very respectfully, yours, etc.,

A. Snowden Piggot.

I also avail myself of some of the analysis of Prof. S. W. Johnson, the results of which are just published under the title of "Peat, Muck, and Commercial Manures.''

1.— Peruvian Guano. ANALYSES OF FOUR SAMPLES.

California Guano, (Elide Island.)

In Prof. Johnson's book are recorded four analyses. Nos. 1 and 2 by.himself, 3 by Dr. David Stewart, of Annapolis, and No. 4 by Dr. Deck, of New York.

Prof. Johnson gives the results of analyses of eight samples of Sombrero guano, which he has recently performed. Four of these were taken from the large pieces as imported, and contained phosphoric acid equal to the following proportions of phosphate of lime, viz., 81.75 pr. ct., 79.88, 76.98, and 75.36 pr. ct., an average of 78.5 pr. ct. The remaining had been ground, and were on sale in Hartford and Norwich, Connecticut, and contained, respectively, 78.50, 73.21, 68.59, and 68.20 pr. ct. of phosphate of lime, the average being 70.9 pr. ct. The difference, therefore, between the lumps and the ground article is 8.4 pr. ct., which is attributed principally to the moisture absorbed by the ground article.

Among many chemists in Great Britain,

who have paid much attention to guano, as well as to its adulterations, I may mention Prof. Nesbit, of London, Doctor Cameron, of Dublin, and Prof. Anderson, of Glasgow. It does not appear necessary, however, to quote the results of any of their numerous analyses, as a sufficient number have been stated to show the compositition of the unadulterated guanoes accessible to the farmers of Maryland.

It appears that the adulteration of guanoes, especially the Peruvian, is very extensively practiced in Great Britain, and I regret to be obliged to believe that frauds of this kind are also perpetrated in our own country.

In order to protect our farmers against such impositions, the system of inspection of guano was instituted in our state, and it has doubt-

[* By the term "potential" ammonia, Prof. Johnson means that which will be produced by further chemical changes, in addition to that already existing.]

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295

less been a means of protection to a considerable extent. IJut yet it appenrs from the tcsti-nn)ny of many farmer.", that they have had pnlnunl unon them, sonietimes, inferior or adulterated piiano, with the inspectors' mark upon the ba^s. Gentlemen have informed me that boatmen who have brought them Peruvii\n guano, have offered to furni.sh them with ^ood new baj^s for the guano bags containing the inspector's mark! Suspecting, hinvever, tliat they were wanted for dishonest uses, they refused to part with them.

There is a peculiar earth on the southern slope of Ilampsteud Hill, near the eastern limits of Baltimore, of which I have been infi>rmed large quantities have been, and still continue to bo, secretly carted into the city. There ])eing no conceivable honest use Jov which this material can be brought into the city, and it being very similar in color to Peruvian guano, it was reported to be used to adulterate that article, the mixture being put up and sold in old guano bags containing the inspector's mark! Some months since, the inspector called the attention of the police to the affair, who arrested the parties, carting away this earth in guano bags during the niglit. The arrest was evidently made at an injudicious time, because upon examination the bags were found to contain only the earth. If, however, the parties had been watched until they had taken it to their mixing depo^, and completed the crime, tfiey might possiblij bave been properly punisheft.

During the late season of active field-work, I endeavored to collect for examination samples of guano, ground bones, and artificial fertilizers, which had been purchased and received by my farming friends. Finding but few kinds in their possession, I requested that samples might be .forwarded me whenever they shall again purchase.

Among others, I got in person a sample of guano from Col. Jno. S. Sellman, of Anne Arundel county, which being sold for Mexican AA, should have contained phosphoric acid equal to 55 per cent, or more, of phosphate of lime, and yet the analysis showed but M} per cent. In this case the Colonel paid for 50 per ct. more phosphate of lime than was implied in the purchase, and if the deficiency had not been discovered, he would have suffered a still greater loss by not applying a proper dose of the phosphate to bis soil. IIow much of this guano was sold, and used by farmers, I have no means of knowing.

Samples of other guanoes and fertilizers have recently been received, and are under examination.

In using on ammoniated guano we should always mix with it a portion of ground plaster, in order to prevent the escape of the ammonia or its carbonate.

I may add also that the experience of those who have several times applied Peruvian

gnano to the snme field, has jjenerally shown

that, after the second or third application, it produces little or uo good result unless other nmnures are also applied. In England the sanjc effects have been observed.

This has been attributed to the large proportion of ready-made ammonia, whicli tend? to promote a vigcjrous growth of crop, and thus rapidly abstracts the essential constituents of the soil, including its phosphoric acid. It is for this reason that better permanent effect results from mixtures of Peruvian and phosphatic guanoes than the former, when applied alone.

The Husband who was to Mind the House

Once upon a time there was a man so surly and cross, he never thought his wife-did anything right in the house. So, one evening, in hay-making time, he came home scolding and swearing, showing his teeth and making a dust.

" Deer love, don't be angry; there's a good man," said his goody; ''to-morrow letV change our work. I'll go out with the mowers and mow, and you shall mind the house."

Yes I the husband thought that ^vould do very well. He was quite willing, he said.

So, early next morning his goody took a scythe over her neck, and went out into the hay-field with the mowers, and began to mow; but the man was to mind the house and do the work at home.

First of all, he wanted to churn the but-!er; but when he had churned a while, he got thirsty, and went down to the cellar to tap a barrel of ale. So, just when he had knocked in the bung, and was putting the tap into the cask, he heard overhead the pig come into the kitchen. Then ofli' he ran up the cellar steps with the tap in his hand, a^ fast as he could, to look after the pig, lest it should upset the churn; but when he got up and saw that the pig had already knocked the churn over, and stood there rooting and grunting amongst the cream, which was running all over the floor, he got so wild with rage tliat he quite forgot the ale barrel, and ran at the pig as hard as he could. He caught it just as it ran out of the door, and gave it such a kick that piggy lay for dead on the spot. Then all at once he remembered that he had the tap in his hand; but when he got down to the cellar, every drop of the ale had run out of the cask.

Then he went into the dairy and found enough cream left to fill the churn again,

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

[May

and so he began to churn for butter they must have for dinner. When he had churned a bit, he remembered their milking cow was still shut up in the byer (barn), and hadn't had a bit to eat or a drop to drink all the morning, though the sun was high. Then all at once he thought it was too far to take her down to the meadow, so he'd just get her on the house-top—for the house, you must know, was thatched with sods, and a fine crop of grass was growing there. Now, their house lay close up against a steep down, and he thought if he laid a plank across to the thatch at the back he'd easily get the cow up.

But still he couldn't leave the churn, for there was his little babe crawling about on the floor, and " if I leave it," he thought, " the child is sure to upset it.'^ So he took the churn on his back, and went out with it; but then he thought he'd better water the cow before he turned her out on the thatch; so he took up a bucket to draw water out of the well, but as he stooped down at the well's brink, all the cream ran out of the churn over his shoulders, and down into the well.

Now it was dinner time, and he hadn't even got the butter ; so he thought he'd best boil the porridge, and filled the pot with water and hang it over the fire. When he had done that, he thought the cow might perhaps fall ofi" the house and break her neck. So he got up on the house-top to tie her up. One end of the rope he made fast to the C(^w's neck, and the other he slipped down the chimney and tied round his own leg; and he had to make haste, for tlie water now began to boil in the pot, and he had still to grind the oatmeal.

So he began to grind away ; but whilg he was hard at it, down fell the cow off the house-top, and as she fell, she dragged the man up the chimney by the rope. There he stuck fast; and as for the cow, she hung 'half way down the wall, swaying between heaven and earth, for she could neither get up nor down.

And now the goody had waited seven lengths and seven breadths for her husband to come and call her home to her dinner; but never a call she had. At last, she thought she'd waited long enough, and Went ho i:e. But when she got there and saw the cow hanging in such an ugly place, she ran up and cut the rope with her scythe. But as she did thjs, down came her husband out of the chimney; and so when the old dame

came inside the kitchen, there she found him standing on his head in the porridge pot.— Miner s Rural American.

For the Southern Planter.

Rust and its Effects.

Mr. Editor. —I have been much surprised, and not a little disappointed, to see such little interest taken by agricultural jourr-als and writers, of a disease which certainly is formidable enough in its effects, to be deserving of more attention. In vain, have I received my monthlies, and searched them through, with the hope of finding something upon this important subject. Such little interest seems to be manifested towards an investigation of the source and effects of " new-fashioned rust," that we might well conclude it to be some harmless disease, impotent in its eftects upon the wheat crop. Such reflections as these, have induced me to pen this article, which, if it accomplishes nothing else, will, I trust, contribute something towards an elucidation of the subject, by directing the attention of those more capable than I am, of throwing light upon it.

As it is of this " new-fashioned rust," or the rust that first made its appearance two. years ago, that I*design to treat, it might be necessary to describe the " old-fashioned,'^ but as I take it for granted that everybody is acquainted with the difference between them, I hasten on, and will endeavor to be as brief as possible.

The disease termed rust, which proves so disastrous in its effects upon the wheat crop, has never, I believe, been traced to any definite cause. Botanists describe several varieties, but they fail to enlighten us as to their origin. Indeed, the appearance and departure of these fungi is so mysterious, that the cause of their existence may well evade the scrutiny of the niost searching mind. The disease cannot be traced to an atmospheric or meterologic cause, for its appearance is independent of any such cause. It comes and goes regardless of the peculiar circumstances accompanying its appearance or departure. Many attribute the cause of the disease to the state of weather existing during the time of its ravages. To ascertain then, the causes which originated this species of the parasite, we must resort to more conclusive testimony than that established upon observing what changes the weather undergoes, during the prevalence of the disease.

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This requirea u (le|?reo of scientific rei?earch beyond what has yet been attained, and it would be the veriest presumption to make an attempt, unaided by ^cientitic attainnients, to solve what has baffled the most experienced and observant botanists themselves. Without attemptini:, therefore, to account for the disease, which rctjuires and awaits future developments, I pass on to tlic more famjihlc shape assumed by its effects, and will enileavor to prove, by facts based upon comparative deductions, liow these effects may in a measure be avoided.

J^efore attempting!: to su;j:u:cst a remedy by which the evil effects of rust may be avoided, the in(juiry naturally arises: llow and in what manner does rust effect wheat ? Why, simply by checking the flow of sap, not destroying; the fli>w altogether, but rendering it inconiplcte—thereby preventing the formation and mature development of the grain, which is arrested in its course towards "filling out," partially during the protjrcss of the | disease, and completely after it lias attained! its maximum height. Those who are ac-: quaintod with the manner in whicli the grain forms, and have observed its progress from, time to time throughout the prevalence of the disease, will not perhaps controvert this; solution of its effects in retarding; the forma-' tion of the grain. l

In order to establish upon a plausible | basis what I attempt to prove, I submit the! following assertion, viz: The evil effects of! rust are in direct proportion to the growth of straw, that is, the more luxuriant the growth, the more disastrous will be the effects produced by rust. I am led to make this assertion from facts carrying with them the strongest convictions of their correctness.. Facts gathered within thesjdiere of my own observation sustain it conclusively. A farm situated upon Nansemond River, capable of; yielding upon an average, twenty busliels ofj wheat to the acre, did not, owing to the of--fects of ru.st, produce over ten. Hercwlierci the land was rich enough in itself to pro-! duce a rank growth of straw, guano was ap-j plied, thus rendering the crop more suscep-' tible to injury from rust. Likewise upon a; neighboring farm which had two sepcrat^ fields seeded in wheat fall before last, one rich and the other comparatively poor, the same result was observed. The rich land, upon which grew a rank growth of straw, failed to come up to its capacity for yielding grain by about two-thirds, while the poor)

land in a different field, and con8e(|uently with a slim growth of straw, sustained uo perceptible injury, but yielded a full crop. I'pon another neighboring farm similar effects were observable. Thirty acres of tluH last mentioned farm were seeded in wheat fall before [ast, and guano applied. The land occupied by these thirty acres is exactly siniilar, both as regards texture of soil and strength, to an hundred acre field seeded in wheat by myself at the same time, but owing to the application of guano upon the thirty acre of the adjoining farm, which augmented the growth of straw, the yield was reduced to one-half the (juantity usually produced, while the hundr<'d acres of my own farm, without the application of any manure or fertilizer whatever, came up, in the yield of grain, almost to the full capacity of the land. AVhy the lnuidred acres failed to come up entirely to its accustomed yield, I attribute to the inequalities of the surface diversifying the character of the soil, the low places being much richer than those more elevated, and in these low rich spots the growth was rank and the grain .shrivelled. I could mention a multiplicity of cases similar to those already mentioned, which came under my own personal observation, but I refriin, deeming that I have cited enough, and only desire to direct attention towards what I conceive to be a subject of great interest and importance to i'armers. 1 will say thougli in passing, in addition to the foregoing, that the comparative failure last harvest of the wheat crop all along James River, the great wheat yjrowing section of the State, sust^iins my position as conclusively as the cases cited.

Now, in conclusion, the question arises, granting the effects : what remedy can we apply, to protect ourselves against the ravages of the rust? I will not pretent to answer this question, but in its place, will submit a (juerc or two. Rank growth contains more succulant matter than tlie growth of poor land; may not this preponderence of succulant matter, by tending to generate and nurture the disease, explain in a measure, why such growth sustains greater injury from tlie rust*/ When rust is anticipated should fertile lands, which produce a luxuriant growth of straw, be made to augment such growth by the application of any enriching substance or agent ? l^eaving these queries to the consideration of your many enlightened readers, who are more capable than I am of

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investigating the subject, I draw this article; ah'eady too long, to a close.

" Chuckatuck.'^

Stable Management of Horses.

The practical suggestions contained in the following article are worthy of .the attention of all who have the care of horses. Give an animal the right feed, :ind take care cf him as ho should be, and he will seldom be unfit for work. How to do these, is told briefly in this article from the Prairie Farmer:

It is one thing to know how to use a horse, but is another thing to know how to take care of a horse. A stable horse needs special care and attention. His feeding must be as regular as the measurement of the hours. When a change of feed is made it must be done with great care—giving a small allowance at first, until the stomach becomes used to the change. He must be cleaned every day; and when we say cleaned, we mean all that can be conveyed by that word. A good curry-comb, brush and oiled woolen cloth, are the utensils necessary. First take the curry-comb and begin at the top of the neck, back of the ears, working the hands both ways. Proceed in this way till you have gone over the entire body and legs. Then take both comb and brush, and follow the comb with the brush, and after every other stroke, draw the brush across the teeth of the comb to clean it. An experienced groom will do this instantaneously. This done, take your cloth and lay the coat, and remove the dust which adheres, to the outside. The face and ears must alsofeel the brush.

" Few men know how to clean a horse properly. If the above directions are followed daily, your horses will enjoy good health generally. Stabled horses must be exercised daily. This is absolutely essential to good health. If the feet of your horse are brittle, and are liable to break and crack, they must be well oiled once a week. A horse thus treated will always be ready to go when wanted, and you will not be ashamed either to ride or drive him.

" Another thing quite as important is a a clean and well ventilated stable. We cannot excuse any farmer or horse owner who does not clean his stable twice a day. A stable should be so constructed as to have a wide passage-way or floor in front to feed from. Above the manger a space should be

left a foot or two in width clear, and the prs-sage should be the avenue for the supply of fresh air to the nostrils of the horse.

"A horse enjoys a good bed, and it should never be refused him. At night, take your fork and make it up light, and you will feel amply rewarded for the humane treatment you have given your beast."

\_NeLV York Observer.

New Method of Propagating Plants.

At a late meeting of the Royal Society a paper was read " On a New Method of Propagating Plants," by Mr. E. J. Lowe, F. R. A. S. The author states that the experinient of a new method of propagating plants has been so successful that he has thought it desirable to communicate his results to the Royal Society, for the guidance of those who are interested in the advance of horticulture. It had occurred to him that if a cutting of a plant were sealed at the base, so as to exclude the moisture of the soil from ascending the stem in injurious quantities, the method of striking cuttings of most species of plants would not be so precarious a process as at present, and accordingly some collodion was obtained in order to make the experiment. With respect to this new process, he states that immediately upon the cutting being severed from the parent s(em the collodion was applied to the wound, and then left a few seconds to dry, after which the cuttings were pitted in the ordinary manner. To test the value of this new process more efl^ctually, duplicates of all the species experimented upon were at the same time similarly planted, without the collodion being applied to them. Thus out of 131 cuttings to which collodion was applied 86 took root, and out of the same number to which collodion was not applied only 42 took root. This experiment the author considers speaks for itself. Notwithstanding the season being too far advanced for the full benefit of the process to be thoroughly observed, still twice as many cuttings took root treated by the new method as had rooted by the old. The mortality in the open ground was increased by slugs having eaten some of the cuttings above the ground; those thus damaged were examined after they had been in the ground for a month, and it was found that the collodion was quite as sound as when first applied. It would, therefore, appear that the collodion seals the wound of the cutting, and

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protects it from the fatal effects of dninp, until roots are prepared to force their way through the covering of ii:un cotton.

[^London Fanner s Juurnal.

Artificial Flower-Making.

Artificial flower-making Is not an insignificant trade. An imjuiry was made into the industrial statistics of Paris in 1S47, which lets us into a little secret in this matter. The total manufacture of cambric flowers in that year was prodigious, amounting in value to more than 400,000/. sterling. We, in England, onljitook 12,000/. worth of this value; for we pride ourselves on being able to make our own artificial flowers. The cambric, muslin, gauze, velvet, silk, and other materials were procured from St. Etienne, St. Quentin, and Lyons; the dyes and colours were prepared exptessly for the purpose by manufacturing chemists; the buds, leaves, petals, stamens, pistils, and other component parts, were made in small workshops by persons who each attended to only one part of a flower; while the whole were fitted together in other workshops. Even these workshops are frequently limited to one single kind of flower each ; so completely is the division of labor carried out. There were about 50 small manufacturerss of petals and stamens, and other component parts, employing about 500 persons ; while there were nearly 600 dealers or vendors, who employed nearly 6000 persons in building up the various integers into whole groups of flowers. Of this immense number of persons, about 5000 were women, whose average earnings were estimated at Is. 8d. per day. Siveral of the n anufacturcrs effect sales to the amount of 10,000/. a year each. "We must, therefore, regard French flower manufacturers as commercial men of notable import.— London Farnurs Journal.

Extract from an Address

DcUvd'cd hpforc the North Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical Association, at Decatur, Ala., Oct. Idth, 1859.

BY LT. M. F. MAURY, U. S. N.

Ladies and Gentlemen :—We are here to strengthen the hand that guides the plow, and to do homage to t!.e arm that plies the hammer.

In the progress of the age, the farmer and the mechanic have become the truest ex-

pounders of what science has done and in doing for the world. In every country they are the exponents of its civilization, its culture, and its greatness.

What would IMato say could he with his old notions have lived to see this our day, or to hear such a sentiment ?

A philosopher frierid of his once Constructed a piece of machinery according to scientific principles. Plato remonstrated w^ith him upon the grounds, that such a practical application of mathematics tended to degrade science into a low craft, fit only for carpenters, and the like. His remonstrance, we are told, had its effect, and according to ]*lutarch, the science of mechanics was thenceforward considered to be unworthy of a philoso])her. This notion ruled the world for centuries, and kept man groping along in the dark for ages. Indeed, we are hardly yet freed entirely from it; for there be some men of science, even at the present day, who despise labor, shake the head, and affect to ignore that large and growing class of phi-llosophers that call themselves utilitarian.

The true man of science and the brawny armed mechanic arc the complements of each other. They arc brothers; they are as ne-j cessary to material progress, as engine and I boiler are to motion in a steamship ; and if I you ask me which, in my judgment, is most !in)portant, which entitled to most considera-I tion and the highest honors, the mechanic or I tlie man of science, I must beg to answer by ; asking you to tell me which of the two parts , of the steam engine does the builder niake j to the most honor, the piston-rod, or the cylinder? If either be wanting there is no progress.

j The philosophers of that old school were boilers without engines, for they disdained the mechanic, affecting to regard his occupation as degrading, and even immoral. A disciple of one of tho.se schools once intimated that men of science might claim the mechanical arch, as one of their achievements. His fellows considered this an indignity and an insult. Sen* ca felt himself called upon to resent the imputation, and in his ire exclaimed : " We shall next be told that the first shoemaker was a philosopher!" —a man of science.

Why not a shoemaker? The first man of science I ever saw was a shoemaker of Williamson county, Tennessee,—old Mr. NeiJ. He was a mathematician ; he worked out his problems with his awl upon leather, and

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would send home liis shoes their soles covered with little x's and ;/'.s. The oxaiiiplo of that luan first awakened iu my breast the young' spirit of emulation ; for my earliest recollections of the feelings of it are connected with the aspiration to equal that old shoouiakcr in mathematics.

This thing of public opinion is a monstrous despot, for it wilMiave its own way, and sometimes its own way is wrong. It oppressed the meclumic and kept him bound for many generations. At last by some accident or chance—for almost all the great inventions and discoveries have been due to chance—he hit upon the art of printing. By that act he sent an agent abroad that was to loose the shackles from his mind and his arms—an agent that was to go forth into the world elevating and lifting man up in the scale of excellence, and moving more masses and greater weights than the lever of Archinicdcs,—plant it where he would, —could pry.

When the public saw the first works of this agent in the hands of the old colporteur, the public said it was the "devil with Dr. Faust." But it was no " devil." It was the spirit of a mighty agent,—and see what it has done for the mccnanic, and the mechanic for it! Bacon was the fii'st to detect the true character of this "devil," for he was the first man of science that fraternized w^ith mechanics, and ever since then their progress has been upward and onward. The time is almost within tlie recollection of us all, when the printing press was worked entirely by hand; the ink was put on by hand; the paper was laid on by hand; the forms were rolled under by hand; and by hand the impression was drawn. I can almost fancy that I see now the merry printer's boy, with his paper cap and apron, smutty face and brawny arms, flourishing away with his two huge balls, drumming merrily some fancied tune, as he inked the types for the next impression. In thoFc times 1,000, or 1,500 impressions, was a good day's work for the best pressman; and thus the circulation of a daily paper was limited, even by working day and night and with relays, to some three or four thousand copies. And that same public voice which had so long held the calling of the mechanic as ignoble, and kept him down, now began to clamor for more dailies, and a wider circulation, and it was proposed to multiply copies by reduplicating forms. But the demands of the public were

for cheaper, as well as for a larger circulation. The mechanic understood the call; and bringing to his aid the principles of science, he produced the steam press—an inanimate thing that works like an intelligent creature— a very ^^ deviV — sometimes, ibr it makes tyrants tremble. It inks, it rolls, it draws, and throws off more impres-^ sions in a minyte, than in the old way, two or three men could in an hour.

Thus the man of science, fraternizing with the mechanic, or both being united in the same person—for the two are by no means antagonistic, or inconsistent with each other —has produced apiece of mechanUm which rules the world. Its messengers go forth morning and evening; at night and at noon they come upon you as noiselessly as the snow-fiake, but they tell upon the popular mind with the voice of thunder, and the power of lightning.

The improvements of the age all tend to lift .up and elevate the mechanic. He is bound to be not only almost, but altogether equal to the man of science.

When your apprentice boy takes to the books of learned men, do not discourage him in his efforts after knowledge, by talking to him of the mysteries of science. Science has no mysteries; she is a blab. Nature has her secrets, but the moment science gets at one of .them, it is given to the press, carried by the winds, and steam, and lightning, and scattered over the world, the common property of mankind.

I do not like the idea of considering the mechanic and the man of science necessarily as two distinct beings. You cannot separate them. They are Siamese, and one cannot move in fulfillment of his destiny withaut the other. They are continually calling upon each other for help. They each heed all the calls of man in his perpetual strugle for eon-quests of mind over matter; and in the strife, sometimes one, and sometimes the other, has the lead.

No calling, whether industrial or scientific, can prosper without the aid of the mechanic. He gives agriculture its implements, commerce its machinery, and science its instruments. The astronomer can not move without him. If you would see the most elegant combination of physical laws and mechanical skill, conie to Washington and let me show you the great telescope of the Observatory there. It is a specimen of man's, handiwork that -gives the most sublime ut-

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tcnince to tlio ijlorirs of the honvcns: After Newton had exj)numle«l the laws of «;ravita-tioM, astronomers waU-ljcd tlie stars with their telescopes to see if this new-born tliinii were universal or not. It extended to the planets, they at onee s;iw; but did it reach to the fixed stars? This piece of handiwork from the shop of the mechanic soon told us : It revealed worlds and systems of worlds among the fixed stars not only movini; in obedience to the laws of gravitation, but shiiiini^ with different lights. Through it, we discovered suns and systems of suns of divers colors—some of fiery red, some bright orange, others emerald green, smalt blue, ash grey, or pearly white, flaniing through the firuKunent in the brilliancy of their glory.

Put the telescope has not, nor has any other instrument yet enabled us to say whether the light of all these suns be compounded of the rays of the spectrum, like that shed by our king of day, or whether the diversity created liere by the prismatic cohtrs, be made up Uierc by their orange, blue, green and red suns.

Imagine ^'ourselves, my young friends, to be in one of those distant worlds, with an ash-gray sun, that its rays are colorless, simple and uncompounded, affording neither tints to the prism, nor glitter to the dew drop. Picture to yourself the scenery there.

bonuly, nor give brilliancy to the diadem of

n»yalty.

In such a world, witli sucli a sun, the liu-nuni face divine might exjtress all the (juali-tics of the n)ind, and Ixam with all the affections of the luart, but tlic purple light of love can never rise on the cheek of beauty, nor the hectic flush herald its decay. JJfo there would breathe and perisli in its marble, and nature spring and decay in it.s russet brown.

Therefore, rejoice, my friends, and bo thankful that you live under a prismatic sun, with its rays of variegated light, and that those ex(juisitc models of organic and inorganic life, with which the Great >Ie-chanic has decked his terrestrial temple, have been embellished for your pleasure and delight—their hjveliness is enlianced by that ethereal beauty which the play of light and color alone can impart.

For the i^outlirrn Planter.

Agricultural Geology.

BY PROF. J. L. CAMPBELL.

INTRODUCTION.

The study of Geology is important to the intelligent pursuit of agriculture; in the It would be difficult to sketch a landscape' fi»'st pl^ce, because the natural qualities of except with India ink; but that we may a large niajority of soils, are deternuned have a sketch of it, let us borrow a pencil t)y the characters belonging to the rocks from Sir David Prewster,* and take a glance ^^ich underlie them, and from which thej at this beautiful world of ours under the,^»<^ve had their origin. Secondly, becaase colorless rays of this imaginary sun,—emit-1 >n t^ie selection of lands formed, like the ting a light of pearly whiteness: Here is a al'"vial, from different kinds of material, picture—look at it. collected from different sources, a tolerably

The maLrnificent' foilai^c of the vegetable ^^.^"'•''^^^ j"^-,"^^"* ^^" ^^ ^'^""^^ f. *'\?'^ world stiltfills the eyes: You perceive it,i*''"'?'"^' r|ual.ty, as well as ot their fu-with its picturesque and lovely forms, but!^";^«,/"^^^^'''^3^' ^J ^^"^>;'."?? the nature we can neither rejoice over the verdue of its ^^ *^^^ f^"^T ^"-^ . ^'^^'^ thc'r con-youth, nor mourn over the yellow of its age.'^^'^"^"*^ '"'V'' '''' ^" ^'^ ^''''"

s in a jiew country, no one is has repliiced the golden vestur.' of the ris./^^/^" n^^'^'^^^^ to decide between tho..e of ing and the setting sun. The .tars twinkle I ^'^7^^'^ ^^^-.'^^^ ^^ durability, a« the prac-colorless in a gray sky, and the rainbow has^^'V f ^^^-/r*- I^^^ry farmer may soon dwindled dovvn into a narrow arch of-dusky I ^"^^\*V'"^^^^\S^^^^^''.s*' «^ ^^^ f ^^ T light. In such a world, t!ie diamond, the^^'^ ^""/'^ J^^S^ quit<^ accurately of the ruby, and the sapphire K.ay still display to '''':'''!^^ character of all the rocks coming science the nice geon:. iry of their forms,: ^^'^^^ *'^? ^='^-/^'^^ ^'^^ ^^'''^"^^^^^ and yield to art their adamantine virtues, ?! ^'.^ "'••^^.^'^ ^^«. f^q"aintance of those m but they can never sparkle in the chaplet of '!' i"Hncdiate neighbourhood, he can widen

'^ I his sphere of investigation, and as he

* See Chap. VIII. Vol. I. Memoirs of Sir ^^^^'^Is from place to place, every variety of

Isaac NcM'ton, by Sir David Brewster. | rock over which he pa«*3es will present a

lu this picture, the sober mantle of twilight ,, ,./. i . , •, , i «

^' ' . •' .... '^^ so well qualined to decide between tho.«?e of

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new page of the great book which Nature has spread out before him.

The substance of the following pages, and the illustrative cuts, are taken from the author's work on " Scientific and Practical Agriculture." While the greater part is copied literally from the book, some portions are so far expanded as to adapt them more entirely to general reading.

The two great sources from which plants derive their nourishment, are the atmosphere and the soil. "VVe can exercise no important control over the condition of the air. Our .Creator has established laws, by which its chemiccil composition is made almost invariable. The quantity of moisture, too, which it brings and pours out as rain upon our farms, is a matter entirely beyond our influence. i

The management of the soil alone has been committed to our hands. Then, Icav-1 ing the atmosphere in the hands of that j all-wise and beneficent Being, who has, made it an inexhaustible source of food to plants, and of fertility to the soil, let us turn our attention to- those principles and laws which will guide us to a knowledge of the origin and nature of different soils, and to the means by which they can be best cultivated and improved.

AGRICULTURAL GEOLOGY.

" Geohgy is the history of the mineral

masses that compose the earth, and the organic remains which they contain."— Hitchcock.

In its relations to agriculture, geology points us to the origin of soils, and the influence which the rocks have had in determining their different physical and chemical characters. As already stated, they have their origin, generally, in those masses of mineral matter upon which they rest. On the mineral characters of different rocks, then, the mineral character of soils must, to a great extent, depend. Alluvial and drift soils, which are formed of mixed material derived from various localities, of course form exceptions to this rule.

The term " rock," as used by geologists, embraces all the solid mineral matter of the globe ; that is, not simply the firm unyielding masses, ordinarily called rocks, but also deposits of clay and other loose material, not necessarily very coherent in character.

When we examine the rocks, as they appear at the surface of the earth, we find them under two general forms. ' (1.) Sotne of them exist in layers, which are often parallel, or nearly so, and are found lying one above another. Each one of such layers is called a stratum (plural, strata) ; and masses of rock having this structure are said to be straiified. The ' annexed figure represents a section cut through

stratified rocks. The strata are sometimes horizontal, as seen at c, c, in the figure. At other times, and more frequently, they are found in an inclined' position, as at 1, 2, 3, 4. They are then said to have a dip. The angle which the face of the stratum makes with the horizon is the measure of the dip. Very few Stratified rocks are entirely horizontal in position ; most of them having a greater or less dip, but varying by every possible angle, between a horizontal and vertical range. |

(2.) The other general form under which

rocks are found, is that of large irregular masses, having no regular layers; these are termed unstratijied. These unstratified rocks seem,,in most cases, to have been thrust upward through the stratified, by some subterranean force—sometimes forming a large part of the central mass or axis of long chains of mountains, as we find strikingly exemplified in many portions of the Blue Ilidge. The granite and trap rocks are the most abundant of this class.

The following figure is designed to represent the section of a mountain, by which both stratified and unstratified rocks are

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bronjrht to view, in their relative positionsjtain. Tlic mass at a, a, is unstratifieJ, and with respect to eacli other and to the niuun-(fbriiis the central axis of the ridge; wlAj

aihyh, are the stratified rocks, which seeniithinp; of the mineral constituents which

enter most largely into their composition.

MINERALS.

to have been elevated from their original positio!! by the upward force which elevated the central mass a, a.

Stratified rocks generally bear unmistakable marks of having bien deposited by water, just as we find the same process now going on in the bottoms of seas and lakes. Such being the case, they must have been originally formed ii> a horizontal position, or nearly so. The unstratificd rocks, on the other hand, bear evidence in their iwm and structure, of having been subjected to intense heat, and appear to have been often thrown up from beneath the earth's surface in a molten state, Hence they are frequently called' "igneous rocks."

All the rocks which constitute the outer crust of our earth, bo far as man has been jjble to penetrate, or so far as they have been thrown up within his reach, whether they be stratified or unsfratified, arc composed chiefly of a comparatively few minerals. Before we enter upon a more detailed description of the different classes of rocks, it will be necessary to know some-

A minei-al is any substance which is not the result of animal or yegetable growth. I All objects which wc can perceive by our 'senses, have been assigned to some one of the three great kingdoms of nature—the animal, vegetable and mineral. Every object, then, upon the earth, which has not resulted from the action of vita lit ij must be regarded as mineral in its character. Such :a classification would place air and water among minerals; but with these we shall 'have nothing to do at present. It is only the solid mineral substances entering into I the composition of rocks and soils ^ Inch now claim our attention. These are Quartz, Talc, Clay, Feld.spar, Mica, Hornblende and Limestone. Let us examine each of these 'separately.

I Quartz. —The purest specimens of ; quartz are found in cryst^iLs, having such .forms a» those exhibited in the annexed figure. The crystals arc all. six-sided

prisms, terminated by six-sided pyramids. The different faces of the crystal often vary much in size, giving considyable variety of form, as in those seen at a and h, in the figure. The extreme hardness of thisinin-eral is illustrated by the fact that the sharp angles of its crystals scratch glass very

(fii

readily. It is the same substance which wc find in the form of flint, sand, carnclian, agate, &c. When particles of sand are cemented into masses, they constitute sandstone, which is one of the most common and abundant forms of quartz.

Chemical relations. We learn from the

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chemist, that quartz (or silica) is an acid ingots chemical relations, being a compound of the metal silicium with oxygen ; its proper chemical name%eing silicic acid. At a very high temperature, this mineral com-•bines readily with strong bases, such as soda, potassa and lime, forming a class of chemical salts, called " silicates/' Natural silicates are very numerous, as we shall presently see; and they enter very largely into the composition of the rocky masses of the earth.

Talc is a silicate of magnesia. It is sometimes found in layers as thin as paper, having a green, or greenish-white colour. The surface, when rubbed with the fingers, feels greasy. When a layer of it is bent, it does not regain its former condition, like mica, a mineral- of the same form. Soap-stone and French chalk are- compact forms of talc, and are frequently found in extensive masses. Soft clay slate is frequeritly called soapstone, but is really a mineral of very different composition, and will be described under clay, in the next paragraph.

Clay. —This is a silicate of alumina, and is found abundantly all over the world. In a pure and pulverized form, it consists of extremely fine grains, which, when wet, form a cohesive mass. Among its purest natural forms are pipe-clay and porcelain-clay. It enters very largely into the composition of rocks, from which it is liberated in large quantities by the action of rains and frosts, as will hereafter be described. Slate is a compact form of clay, of greater or less purity. AVhen sufficiently firm and of proper structure, it is used fi)r tiles, writing-slates, &c. When soft and brittle it is called "shale." Mingled with sand, pebbles and organic matter, clay constitutes the body of the great majority of soils. When perfectly pure, it is white, but we generally find it coloured" in a variety of shades from light-yellow to dark-brown—the colouring matter being oxides of iron and manganese. To the farmer^ it possesses the highest interest. Although not a fertilizer, in the sense of affording nourishment directly to the plant, it serves an important purpose in giving compactness to the soil, and in retaining moisture, ammonia, and other fertilizing substances.

Feldspar is a double silicate of potassa and alumina. Soda is frequently found in it, taking the place of potassa in whole or

in part, and modifying to some extent the structure as well as the composition of the mineral. Feldspar is sometimes massive, and sometimes of a regular crystalline structure. When it occurs in regular crystals, they have the form represented in outline by the figure here given, which is an ob-

lique rhombic prism. The crystals are often quite flat, and have their ends so modified, as to appear of different and less regular shape than the above figure w^ould indicate. The surfaces of the crystals, especially the broader faces, have a brilliant, lustre like that of glass, with something of a pearly appearance. The most common colours, of this mineral are white, gray, green a fid flesh colours. All these varieties may be found amongst the rocks taken from the Blue Ridge tunnel on the Central Railroad. Feldspar is not quite so hard as quartz, but is sufficiently so to scratch glass.

When exposed to the direct influence of the weather, this mineral is gradually decomposed. The silicate of potassa is removed by the combined action of the air and rains, while the silicate of alumina remains as fine particles of clay. If the feldspar is pure, the resulting clay is white —passing under the mame of " kaolin," is extensively used in the manufacture of porcelain ware.

In the decomposition of feldspar, we have a striking illustration of the part which the carbonic acid of the air performs, in connection with other agencies, in producing changes of character in rocks. The silicate of potassa is decomposed by the strong affinity between carbonic acid and potassa, a carbonate instead of a silicate being produced. This carbonate of potassa is readily dissolved and carried off by rains, while the silical^ of alumina is left, as a minutely divided clay. But there is always enough of potassa (and soda, if it be present) retained to meet the wants of the crops that may grow upon the resulting

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soil, if other minerals, such* as quartz and mica, are coiitaiiie<l in the same mck with the feldspar, tliese remain in i'rw^-ments minjxled with the ehiy—the rjuartz ;is partieles of s;md, and the mica in sliininii scales.

Mic.\ is frequently known as vihirrn/ isin;/f(iss. It occurs in thin leaves, and in shininu: scales min<i:Ied with other minerals. When found in n)as.ses, it is easily split into extremely thin layers. These are much more tou«;h and elastic than those of talc, and are sometimes as transparent as jrla.ss. Mica varies in colour from very li^iht to quite black shad.s. The heat of a lamp or ordinary fire has hut little effect upon it ; hence the transparent varieties arc used for making windows in stoves, and instea<l of glass in the construction of lanterns. Mica is a double silicate of potassa and alumina, but differs from feldspar chiefly in havinu-only about half so much potassa; nor is it so readily decomposed by the action of the weather as feldspar.

Onim'fe is a uiixed mineral, composed of quartZy fcUhpar and mica. These constituents are not chemically combined in the rock, but mechanically mingled, ai»d cemented together. Granite is one of the most importiuit and valuable of the unstrat-ified rocks, and is extensively employed as a building material.* Extensive depositos of this rock of superior quality lue found at various points over the region of country lying between the Blue llidge and Tidewater.

When exposed to air and rain, granite is gradually broken doAn into a mixed mass of clay, sand and mica. The clay results from the decomposition of feldspar, as de scribed above; while the silica and micaj are liberated in fragments more or les.-«| crystalline—the former constituting fine orj coarse sand, or quartz pebbles, according tO| the original texture of the rock ; the latter generally appearing in sujall scales, varying, greatly in both size and colour.

Gnris.'i is another rock havi* g the same mineral ingredients as granite, but differing entirely from it in structure. While granite belongs to the igneous, gneiss belongs to the primary stratified rocks. It has great variety in its structure ; sometimes existing in thin layers, or lamina^, passing gradually into what is called mica slate; at other times it is more compact, and finely granular, and has a less distinct stratificatioD 20

The minerals, (quarts, fcldfipar and mica,)

comp(»sing it,.are always crystalline. This rock abounds in the IMcdmont country lying east of the ]>lue Uidge, as well as in nearly all regions where the jirimary stratified rocks make their appearance. When compact in structure, it forms a strong and valuable building stone, and is often inij)roper-ly called granite. The soils resulting from its disintegration are similar to those from real granite, but difl'erent s))ccimens cif both granite and gneiss vary widely in the proportions in which their constituent minerals occur, and of course must give a corresponding variation in the soils they produce.

Hornblende is more complex than either of the simple minerals above described. It is composed of silica, eondjined with magnesia, lime, alumina and oxide of iron. The different-varieties, however, vary son)ewhat in composition and ajipearance. Those containing a large per cent of iron are of a very dark colour, while those containing but little iron are of very light shades. Its crystals are prisms, soujctimes short and stout, and at other tinjcs lc»ng and slender. In fine fibres, easily saparated, and very flexible, it forms a.*-bestus, a material used for making incombu.-itible cloth. Hornblende exerts an important influence upon soils which have resulted from the rocks containing it—especially the daiker varieties—affording an abundance of both linir and o.nWr of inm, two of the most important e^einents of fertilit}-.

Trap is a heavy, hard, unstratified rock, not unfrequently called " green.stone." It consists of an intimate mixture of feldspar and hornblende, and occurs sometimes in beds of* vast extent, as njay be seen in many of the higher an<l wider parts of the l)lue Kidge; at other times we find it in veins of varying width, which have been thrust upward i^a molton condition, through crevices in the stratified rocks. During the process of cooling, the shrinking of the ma.ss causes the minenil to break into numerous fragments, or blocks of different sizes, from an inch or two to several feet in thickness. The angular parts of these are worn oft' by exposure to the weather, and they thus acquire the general shape and appearance of waterworn boulders.* When

• Vuljiarly called " nigger-heads"' in some localities.

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trap-rock is entirely disintegrated, it yields a dark clay soil of great fertility. Its feldspar furnishes an abundance of clay and potassa, while its hornblende gives a supply of lime, magnesia and oxide of iron. This, and many other rocks from which our best soils are'formed, have no inconsiderable traces of phosphates, sulphates and chlorides about them.

Hornblende may take the place of mica in both granite and gneiss. The granite containing it is called " syenite." In the Piedmont section of Virginia and adjoining States, many valuable belts of dark red lands are found, resulting from the decomposition of gneiss in which hornblende abounds.

Carbonate of Lime is an important mineral. The varieties of form under which it occurs, are too numerous to be separately described. Common limestone is the most abundant, and is found very widely diffused over the surface of the earth, among rocks of every age and form, Marble is one of the purest forms of this mineral 3 while tufa and some kinds of marl are impure carbonates, containing jnuch clay and other mineral matter. The .beautiful st'alactites, which hang like icicles from the roofs of caverns in limestone regions, are composed of carbonate of lime, which has been gradually deposited from the water that trickles down through the crevices of the rocks. When water of this character, charged with carbonate of lime in so ution, comes to the surface of the ground it constitutes what we call " limestone springs."

By burning common limestone, marble, or any other form of carbonate of lime, the carbonic acid is expelled by the heat, and the rock is reduced to quick-lime. The quality of lime varies very #iuch, being dependent upon the purity of the rock from which it is prepared. When considerable quaiiLilies ui ojay auu iiiaguesici avc piObent in combination with the limestone, it produces lime, which has the property of hardening under water. This is called "hydraulic cement." This cement is largely manufactured on James Kiver, at the pjint where the canal enters the pass in the Blue Ridge. The hydraulic iinie-stotie is Ibund at several places in the Valley.

CRUST OF THE EARTH.

Geologists generally believe that the inner part of the earth is a mass of mineral matter in a molten state, as we often find it issuing from volcanoes; and that only a crxiU of solid rocks surrounds it on all sides. The. thickness of this crust is supposed to be les& than one-fortieth of the distance from the surface to the centre of the globe; i. e., less than one hundred miles. The arguments upon which this belief is based, would occupy too much space, and carry us too far into the science of geology, to suit our present purpose.

Some of the rocks which constitute the crust of the earth are, as heretofore stated, stratified in form, while others are unstrati-fied. Those of a stratified structure cover much the larger part of the continents and islands of the world. A l)rief out-line of the manner in which they have been formed, and of the leading divisions under which they have been classed, may, therefore, be of general interest.

The stratified rocks bear all the marks of having been formed under water, in the bottoms of oceans, seas, and lakes, or at the mouths of rivers. The- material of which they are composed, when deposited iby water, would naturally assume a horizontal position. By the varying action of freshets, waves and currents, layer upon layer would be built up. Embedded in the strata thus formed, we might well expect to find the remains of plants and animals; and so we do in most of them. Nearly all the higher stratified rocks contain shells, the bones of fish and land animals, with many varieties of plants—sometimes the plant is formed entire, at other times, leaves, branches, roots, and even large trunks of trees, remain preserved, else have left their images indelibly stamped upon the rocky surface. The remains of animals and plants thus found, are known as "■ fossils," and the rocks containing them are said to be " fossil-

llCiOUO.

The fossils deposited in the rocks are sometimes so abundant, as to constitute the whole mass, except njineral matter deposited from water either in the fossil body itself, so as to solidify, or "petrify" it, or between the different fossils, so as to cement them together into one common mass. In all cases where fo-s:ls abound, they have exerted a considerable influence on the chemi-

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cal, as well as tlic physical character of the rocks in which they occur; and have, consc queiitly, taken part in dcternuning the quality of soils formed from such rocks. Of, this more will be said hereafte..

By volcanic forces, acting; from beneath, the stratitied rocks havjc been elevated to; various hei«rhts, and thrown into a variety I of positions, and now constitute a large portion of the surface of continents and islands inhabited by man. Some of the positions of the strata are exhibited in the: first and second figures, given as illustrations in the first part of this article. The older strata generally make a large angle with the horizon, or, in other words, have a large dip; while the dip of those of more recent date, is less,—some of them being entirely horizontal.

Formations. The physical history of our globe runs back to a very remote period. The only record we have of the various changes and modifications of structure, through which it has, meanwhile, passed are found in the rocks, as they are developed at the surface. The " testimony of the rocks" is so plain and unequivocal, that, in many cases, there is no difficulty in arriving at the most satisfactory conclusions, in regard to the agencies by which changes have been brought about, flie nature of those changes, and the character of the organic beings that pc'oj)lcd the earth at successive periods. In other cases, where the causes to which phenomena are tj be referred, are not so obvious, we may apply the process of rea.*<oning from analogy, which is perfectly legitimate, and leads us to conclusions with which the mind is entirely satisfied. Among these conclusions, a few of the most prominent must suffice for our present purpose.

1. We infer from the structure of the stratified rocks, atid from the kind of fossils they contain, that the greater part of the h:ibitable earth has, in past times, formed the bottom of the ocean, or of great gulf^ uiiu iDiuiid seas.

2. Volcanic forces have so acted upon the strata, as to elevate them above the ocean level, and give them a great variety of position, in regard bt»th to dip, and t > the range or bearing of their upturned edges. We infer, that volcanic action, on an extensive scale, has been the agency in producing these changes; first, because no other known cau.se is sufficient; secondly,

because the masses which have been thrust upward amongst the stratified rocks, and against which they rest, as in the second of the preceding figures, bear all the marks of having been in a stiite of fusion, and are similar, !n man}' respects, to those about volcanoes, which are known to be of igneous origin.

6. The elevating forces seem to have acted at successive periods of time, with long intervals of repose. The evidence of this is seen in the fact, that those strata lying nearest to the line in which the elevation has taken place, seem to have been, at first, elevated through a short distance, and to have remained in this position, with but little dip, until a second set of strata were deposited horizontally, with their edges resting against those first formed. Then, by a second action of the elevating force, both of these sets of strata have been again upheaved on one side, so as to increase the dip of the first, and give to the second a dip which is somewhat less. In many localities several of such periods appear to have followed one another.

4. More intimately connected with the subject of the geological origin of soils, is the fact, that the mineral matter accumulated, and built up into stratified rocks over the expanse of ocean-bottom, varied widely in quality at difl"ercnt periods of time. During one period limestones formed the predomincnt material deposited. Again, slates, formed from indurated clay, were accumulated; then, perhaps, a stratum of sindstonc, or conglomerate. These do not follow each other in any definite order, but such is their position, that wherever any one of them comes to the surface, it gives character to the soil overlaying it.

5. The stratified rocks, however, have another point of diff'erence, which is much more definite than that of- mineral composition; it is found in the character of their Ibssil remains. Our globe appears to have pa.sscd through various stages of condition and climate, suited to difi'erent ordei-s of animal and vegetable organisms. This we learn by examining the only record we have of their history, the rocks above which they have lived, and in which they have found a vast burying-ground. As we advance from the rocks which lie lowest in the sciies, to those which form the upper strata, we find in our researches, first a class which seem to have been deposited in regular layers

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but which contain few, if any, (races ^f organic existence. These seem to have been constructed before phmts began to adorn, or animals to enliven the dreary waste, which must have formed the characteristic feature of the earth, at some remote

For the Southern Planter.

Vegetable Physiology.

Repli/ to Professor Camphell. Mr Editor :

. , „ . . , . -, , I In the April number of the Southern

per»d of Its unwritten historj. ■ Next above pj^^^t^ i, ^„ ^^ti^l^ ^ p^^^f j j^ (^

these occur rocks, built when some of the k^jj ^. ^^^l^j .^^„ (.^11 L^^j^..^^ y^*; simplest forms of animated beings, such as j„ j. j ^o my comments, in your March

the coral, the encrinite, a few marine bivalves, the strange trilobite, with here and there a number of the finny tribe constituted the first inhabitants of a yet gloomy world; while a few flowerless plants provided their simple means of subsistence.

Ascending still higher, we discover the varieties of fishes multiplying, and the frog and tortoise tribe making their appearance. Again we come to vast accumulations of vegetable deposits, Avhich nature has laid up as fuel lor the use of busy man, that he may drive himself and his business forward with increasing speed for ages yet to come. Then we find still higher up, the records of those times, when great reptiles and sea.monsters held their sway, and when birds began to take possession of their peculiar element. Above these we find the entombed mammalia, the hippopotamus, the ox, the deer; with fowls, and fishes, and reptiles, appoach-ing more and more nearly to the character of those we daily see around us. Bur,, in all our search, we have looked in vain for man, or for any traces of his art. It is not till we have passed through all the stratified rocks, that we find our own species leaving his mark amongst the physical records of a world, which has at a comparatively recent period been made his habitation, and placed beneath his control.

On the basis of these wide differences amongst the rocks and their fossils, geologists have marked out definite "groups," to which they apply the term *'• formations." These formations having been produced at successive times, indicate what are called " geological periods." Of these we shall have something to say, in the order of their relative ages.

Frogs.

An enterprising citizen of New Jersey has prepared ponds for the purpose of raising frogs for the table. They readily command the price of one dollar per hundred at wholesale. Frogs are becoming the common article of food.

number, upon his article on vegetable physiology, which preceded mine in the order of publication in your paper. As the professor seems willing to " sit at my feet, or any one prepared to give him instruction," I shall not despair of yet making him a convert; but I would advise him not to be determined beforehand, to be " a little slow of apprehension," and "if not always ready to adopt his (my) theories," at least weigh well the facts that may be brought forward in their support. As to authorities, while I give them their place, I prefer facts, for it is only by observing facts as they present themselves to the inquiring mind, that the laws of nature can become known.

And first: I must correct one misapprehension into which the professor has fallen, —as I cannot help thinking—with his eyes open. At least, without much stretch of the imagination, I think a more rational conclusion might have been come to. I admitted that the sap brought up from the roots material for growth, and that another portion was collected from the air in the form of carbonic acid gas, by the leaves, and after admitting this as true, the writer then goes on to say : " Having nov7 a portion of the material necessary for the nourishment of the growing plant, brought up from the roots to the leaves, and another portion collected by the leaves from the air, we are left to infer, (as far as Mr., Taylor tells us anything to the contrary,) that it all remains in the leaves, exce[)t the water evaporated through their pores." It is true I did not say in so many words, that the carbonic acid imbibed by the leaves was distributed through the sap of the plant, as I admit to be the case, inasmuch as the sap near the leaves would contain a very small portion of matter from the roots, the principal part being deposited below. I did, however, assert the fact, of the acid mixing with the sap, objecting to the term " dissolved." I stated the fact of the great affinity of water for that gas, from the known fact, that it could not be mixed with a portion of water without every

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portion of water in contact bcconiini^ ini-pre^rjatcd with it. And I fiirtlier stated, tliat '* plants are precisely in that position to make theni the niediuni between the earth and the air," in the transmission of el( etricity betworn them, " and more particularly tliritUL;h the water of the sap where it meets the <;as." I now leave the })r()fes-1 Bor to judge how far his " reliable autliori-ties differ from Mr. Taylor," merely saying that a majority of authorities is no evidence 1 of being in the right. Authorities differ,, liowever, even by tiie profess^or's own show- ] ing. Who shall decide when doctors disagree ?

Science must come to facts, for facts alone can substantiate it. The fact of the absorption of gas by the leaves is freely ad mitted; but' I still think, that if all the matters for growth have to be brought up to the leaves, and then descend after being vitalized, in the descending sap, there is every reason to suppose that these materials would be deposited more rapidly near the leaves than they are The supposition that, on the same principle, " the niineral matters would be deposited nearer the root," is not appropriate. It is si law of vegetable life, that plants have the power of separating the materials for growth, and depositing in each place its appropriate kind of matter. Tluis the wheat plant deposits <ilex and potash largely in the straw and chaft", while in the grain is found starch and gluten, and magnesia in the bran. So of every other plant. It would be unreasonable to suppo.<;e that the "mineral matters" would be deposited in the lower part of the plant, when the law of growth directs them to the leaves and twigs principally. But the carbon belongs more to the stem and larger parts of the plant, and the gas from which it is derived, is in part carried up by the sap from tie soil, and partly imbibed by the leaves, thus making up for the deficiency from the soil.

The professor, in noticing two objections that I presented against the downward flow of sap, reiterates the downward flow with more minute explanation, but at the same time docs not add a single fact proving such downward flow, and then says: " Here then we have Mr. Taylor's second point of difli-culty set aside." We want something more than mere assertion. If this theory is true, there certainly can be some facts foufid to support it. lie then adds one or two facts,

tliat he thinks tend " to confirm tlie theory of a descending circulation of the elaborated sap;" but^'hieh I should explain on a very diff*erent principle. " Let a strong cord be tied tightly around the bo<ly of a rapidly growing tree; or.let a ring of bark a (luar-ter of an inch of less in width l)e careiully cut out all around the trunk, while the part above the ring grows larger tlian the part below, the ring will be gradually closed over from the upper side, showing an accumulation of matter from above." I have a strong case of this kind on my grounds now. A young heart oherry-tree of about three inches in diameter, from which a young man in our employ, last year, cut out a ring of bark of about three-quMrters of an inch in width, all around the tree; the circumference above the cut is at least one inch greater now than below, where the growth • has been very little; there is now, however, quite a number of shoots making their appearance a little below the cut. The cut is not closed up, but much more growth has taken place from the upper than the lower edge. Now, since the connection of the bark is entirely severed, and no passage of sap can take place upward 1; encath the bark, no materials from below has been brought up there, consequently no growth could be made there, except from above; the carbonic acid gas being imbibed by the leaves, and descending through the sap beneath the bark, until checked by the incision causing the carbon to be «ieposited there in larger (|uantity than if it could have pas.sed further down. This is precisely what might be expected from the facts of the case.

I now propose to present some facts bearing on the question, and I earnestly ask the professor's attention to them, and," wish him to verify them for himself. I have taken the baik oflT of oak timber for tanning purposes, and for some varieties, the best time is just before the buds expand in the spring. At that time the pores of the sap-wood and the bark, and the space between the wood and bark arc all full of sap, and the bark separates easily. There could be no downward flow then for there were no leaves to cause it, and the sap between the wood and bark then had a milky appearance, |»lainly showing that there was wcK)dy matter in preparation then for deposit, and it was beginning to assume a jelly-like appearance. It will not do to suppose this matter was brought down the fall before; there is no

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evidence of that; but it must have been brought up from beluw by the ascending sap and prepared for deposit. ])u|^ng warm weather, in winter and spring, the roots of trees and plants imbibe the water, and thus fill the tree with sap, and matters for growth are carried up, and doubtless began to be depos^ited belbre the leaved open, as the milky appearance of the sap indicates. The tree, in the fall, has very little sap, and the matter for growth must all be deposited.

Another, and more conclusive fact, and one that I do not see how it can be got over, is this: I have been for a number of years engaged in the nursery business, hence I have been, as it were, compelled to look into vegetable physiology; and not having any preconceived opinions, I have wished for facts to sustain me. In grafting fruit trees, apples for instance, we raise seedlings of two years' growth, say half an inch to an inch in diameter. We take these up and do our grafting in the house, and then plant them out in nursery rows. We cut the stocks off about the surface of the ground, as they grew in the seed beds, and insert a graft, with the end of it cut in the form of a wedge, by splitting the stock and pressing the wedge in the cleft. The main secret of success in performing this operation, is to insert the graft so that the inner bark of the graft and that of the stock shall be even— DO difference about the outer bark, as that of the stock is often thicker than. that of the graft. Some recommend to let the line of the inner bark of the graft and stock cross each other, so that they will be sure to be in contact at some point, for on this mainly depends success. ^ In this case the sap arises between the bark and wood, and DO where else; growth commences by granules of new wood portruding from between the bark and wood, and as the sap enters the graft new wood forms there also between the wood and bark, and between the two the cut-part of the graft and stocks is covered with new wood, partly before any leaves open on the 2;raft. No new wood whatever proceeds from the pores of the sap-wood, only from the pores between the wood and bark, and thus issuing from both stock and graft, the entire cut-surface is covered up soon unless the stock is large. This cut-surface may be seen by examination at any time afterward, until that part becomes decayed, and never is there a union of those

cut-surfaces, only a casing of new wood around them.

Here, beyond question, beyond cavil, beyond dispute, the sap rises between the sap-wood and bark and makes growth there, before any leaves are seen on the graft—no possibility of a descending current producing this. The same principle is seen in budding. We usually insert the buds in the fall, and let them lay dormant until spring, when by cutting off the whole of the top just above'the bud, we throw the whole strength of the tree into the growth of the bud. "But if we wish to start the bud to growing in the fall, we then cut off the top, which presents a downward flow, if there was one, and the bud will start into growth then. Here the sap ascends beneath the bark that causes this growth, for the bud is not inserted into the sap-wood, but rests upon it just beneath the bark—no possibility of the sap that passes up through the pores of the sap-wood reaching the bud at all.

Here then are facts, of which there can be no cavil; facts that cannot be gainsaid; they stand there "solitary and alone;" no possibility of receiving nourishment from a downward flow of sap, but all from an upward flow alone. And if this growth is produced from an upward flow alone, where is it different from all growth—where is the evidence that all growth is not similar? These questions are asked in good faith and sincerity, let them be answered fairly and unequivocally—not by theories or authorities, but by plain facts alone. Science must come to facts; she has no other reliable support in this day.

Other facts may be added. We often see persons who have had the top and side-branches of shade-trees all cut off to make a more bushy and round top from the new growth. Here, there is no possibility of support from a downward flow of sap, for that is all cut off; yet these trees will put out branches hear the top of the stem, and often grow freely. Here the upward circulation of matter for growth being interrupted, its accumulation produces buds that start into growth; and these buds are formed alone between the bark and sap-wood, and never communicating with the pores of the sap-wood, but only resting upon.it. Even if they did unite with the pores of the sap-wood, the sap, according to the advocates of a downward flow, not being vitalized by being sent to the leaves, could not produce

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growth, and would only make the difficulty the greater.

These may suffice as to facts at present; let us see how they will be answered. As| to my objecting to make light the chief agent in decomposing carbonic acid gas, the professor's rays " will hardly bear the test of eitlier authority or experiment." He gives authority, but nut a word uf experiment. In this day, experiment is worth much more than authority. I shall not attempt his proposed potato experiment. I have never said that light was not important in growth, I only consider, that writers generally do not give electricity the full credit that that agent is entitled to in the decomposition of carbonic acid gas in growing vegetiibles. He himself admits that '' no one has ever denied that electricity exerts an influence in the vegetable as well as the animal kingdom." Now, what " influence " does it exert? Is it not reasonable to suppose that this influence is more likely to be what I have supposed than any other, if not, let us know it. Perhaps there may not be so much difference between us, after all, when we come to understand each other fairly.

He then goes on : " But when Mr. Taylor, or any one else, brings in the operation of electricity to solve the mysteries of natural phenomena, let him* not forget that he is dealing with the most hidden and inexplicable of all mysteries. An agency of which Prof Faraday, the prince of electricians,

says.

There was a time when I thought I

knew something about the matter ; but the longer I live and the more carefully I study the subject, the more convinced I am of my total ignorance of the nature of electricity.' " Are we then, becaase we are ignorant of " the nature of electricity," to forbear studying its laws and bringing them to our aid and advantage ? Such intimations come wiih a bad grace from the head of an institution of learning. They would have discouraged Volta from discovering the Voltiiic pile, and Franklin from proving the similarity between lightning and electricity. They would have prevented, if carried out, that grand advancement of the present day, the magnetic telegraph. All those engaged in these things, were " dealing with the most hidden and inexplicable of all mysteries." But, does Professor Faraday himself discourage us from examining into the laws that govern electricity, because we do not

understand its nature? Hear what he says on this very subject. In the next page of the Southern ]*lanter, after the conclusion of the professor's es.say, commences an extract from a lecture, *' delivered before the Royal Institution, London, by Profes.sor Faraday, on Science, as a branch of Education," in which.electricity is spoken of as a subject of science, " which has been lefi more to its own development, and has produced as its results the most enduring marks on the face of the globe." The first experiments of ^'olta, when- he discovered the Voltaic piles, " a feeble instrument, giving feeble results," yet important as the beginning of. a series, that.has led through successive stages of discovery, until we now have that pre-eminent fact of the electric telegraph, a reaiity in successful operation. He then goes on and expresses the belief " that much as there is known to us, the unknown far exceeds it; and that, extensive"* as is the teaching of method, facts and law,, which can be established at present, as education looking for far greater results should be favored and preserved." * * * " How well may the young man, entering upon his duties in electricity, be taught by what is past, to watch for the smallest sign of action, new or old; to nurse them up by any means until t1iey have gained strength ; then to study their laws, to eliminate the essential conditions from the non-essential, and at least to refine again, until the encumbering matter is as much as possible dismissed, and the power left in its highly developed and most exalted state. * * * The beauty of electricity, or of any other force, is not that the power is mysterious and unexpected, touching every sense ai unawares in turn, but that it is under latCj and that the txiught intellect can even now govern it largely. The human mind is placed above, not beneath it; and it is in .such a j)oint of view that the menial education afforded by science is rendered super-eminent in dignity, in practical application and utility; for by cnobling the mind to apply the natural power through law, ib conveys the gifts of God to man."

This is but a part of that beautiful and eloquent extract, yet sufl^cient to put to shame the opinion, that we must not attempt to apply the laws of electricity, because we may be " ignorant of its nature I"

But I must draw to a clo.^e; this essay is already longer than I had intended, yet

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

[May

Influence of Different Kinds of Manure on Herbage.

The grasses form a most important tribe of farm plants. Nutritious in their bulky green state, and highly conducive to the health of the stock which browse upon them in our pasture fields, they are no less valuable when dried into hay. The natural history of the grasses has long since been written; they are what belong to one great family of plants—the graminaceous—and possess certain characteristic properties by which we readily recognize them. The chemical and other properties of the grasses differ very considerably.. One contains more albuminous compounds; another, more mineral ingredients; one is most nutritive at the period of flowering; another contains most nutritive matters when fully matured. It is, however, singular that we are not in possession of reliable data whereby to pronounce an opinion as to the relative merits of the grasses. Science has thrown some light upon this subject; it is but that dim glimmer which prevents our seeing the entire distance before us. There is a dark place which must be illumined, and an ignorance which must be corrected, ere the farmer and the grazier can truly balance the merits and demerits of particular grasses for particular purposes. Chemical analysis alone will not accomplish all that we require, any more than the empyric conjecture of the more practical man ; the two must cooperate, and naturally correct an^l assist each other. The grasses, like other plants, are amenable to those various physical agencies which influence vegetable life. Heat, air, and light exercise their own distinctive functions in modifying the size, etc., of plants. That there is most intimate connection, too, between the soil- and the character of the vegetation which it naturally bears, is well known. It is also a well known fact, that the manures with which we top-dress grass lands, very considerably influence the character of the sward, diminishing the proportion of one species of grass, and increasing break their force, or shield him from the full that of another. The laws by which these weight of misfortune. It is as if his right modifications were eff'ected, remained unhand was withered, as if one wing of an old known, however, until Messrs. Lawes and eagle was broken, and every movenient that | Gilbert undertook to investigate the subject. he made brought him to the ground. His 'In experiments instituted to test the effects eyes are dim and glassy, and when the film I of different manures in simply increasing of death falls over him, he misses those ac-|the valuable yield of grass, they were so customed tones which might have smoothed struck with the marked eff"ects of some of his passage to the grave. |the manures in destroying certain plants and

more facts might be gfven, and more'might be said in refuting the position advanced. There is, however, one paragraph so flagrantly unjust, that I must be permitted to reprove it. He says, " We had better attribute much to the ' guiding finger of Omnipotence,' than to say ' we know all about it—electricity has solved the whole' myste ry.' " These words, " guiding finger of Om nipotence," I quoted from his first essay; but the language that makes me say, "we know all about it—electricity has solved the whole mystery," is not mine; and to place it where it stands, is to make the reader suppose it to be mine, which, whether so intended or not, does me injustice, and- deceives the reader. I am a plain man, I like plain dealing, and therefore speak plainly.

I will now close, and with the above exception, will say that I have been gratified, And can, in sincerity, adopt the professor's language: " Meantime I shall be glad to hear from my good friend again, although I have not the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with him." I think I have "brought forward facts, well authenticated," which any person may verify for himself, who will earnestly endeavor to do so; and " by a legitimate process of reasoning, based upon these facts, I trust I shall'be able to show him that he has been entertaining erroneous views and advocating unsound theories," in advocating a downward flow of sap in plants. All that is necessary, is to examine fairly, with a mind divested of previously conceived opinions, and then I shall expect yet to receive his "sincere thanks."

Yardly Taylor.

Purcelvillej Loudoun Co.j Va.

The death of an old man's wife, says La-martine, is like cutting dpwn an ancient oak that has long shaded the family mansion. Henceforth, the glare of the world, with its cares and vicissitudes, falls upon the old widower's heart, and there is nothing: to

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families of plaiiUs, that they souL^ht the assistance of the late Professor Heufrey in classityinp: the plants composing the sward. The plots selected for botanical examination were:

1. Not .manured.

1. Manured with ammoniacal salts alone.

3. Manured with mixed mineral manures alone.

4. Manured with do. and ammoniacal salts.

5. Manured with do. and double quantity of do.

6. Manured with farm-yard manure.

7. Manured with do. and ammoniacal salts.

The herbage was classified chiefly into (a) «;raminaceous plants, (/>) leguminous plants, and (t) miscellaneous herbage, principally weeds.

The graminaceous plants formed, at the time of cutting, 75 per cent, of the produce of the manured -portion ; on the part manured with farm-yard manure they found 87J per cent ; ibl per cent, when farmyard manure and ammonical gaits were used; 75 per cent, on the portion to which mineral manures were applied ; 89 per cent, where forty pounds of ammoniacal salts alone were used; 79J per cent, by the same amount of ammoniacal salts and mineral manure; and I 97} per cent, whore double allowance ofi both ammoniacal salts and mineral manures' were app>licd. The quality of the gramin-Jtceous herbage varies, no less than the proportion of it which composed the herbage under the different manures.

At one time the graminaceous portion of the herbage consisted of 06 per cent, of flowering or seeding stem, and 34 per cent, of leaf and undtvclloped stem, on the un-manured plot; 59 per cent, of flowering and seeding stem by mineral manure alone; 40 per cent, of the sanie by annnoniacal salts only; 75 per cent, by a joint application of animal and mineral manures; 67 percent, by double application of both manures; and 80 per cent, when farm-yard manure and ammoniacal salts were applied.

It has been found that the manures which increase the amount of whole produce, also increase, in a very high degree, the proportion of graminaceous herbage, a conclusion which is of no less interest than importance. The foregoing facts also lead to another instructive conclusion, namely, that nitrogenous manures have a special effect in de-

velloping the " proportion of leaves and shoots," while mineral manures tend to the increase of the flowering and seeding of the plants ; a conclusion of great practical value to the farmer, as it teaches that guano and sulphate of ammonia produce very different results from tho.<e mineral manures which depend for their efficacy on their containing the ash constituciits of plants.— Irish Agricultural Review.

From the Ohio Farmer,

What's my Farm Worth?

I have invested so much money in a farm, tools, team, &c.—what are they worth to me? They are my capital in trade—what income do they yield ? They are my principal in bank—does the hiterest support me ? I know of no set of queries to which a greater variety of answers might be obtained. Some men will grow poor in the most lucrative kinds of business, while a grinding, halfpenny sucker, will grow rich in the dullest and hardest. Some men would put my farm at §50 per acre, and would realize an income of 20 per cent.; another would put it down to §25, and would not obtain from it five per cent. There is no kind of capital, the returns of which arc so various, in different hands, as arable lands; and all this difier-encc arises, as will be readily seen, from a difference in management.

But I have got my farm, with its needful buildings—my teams, my cows, sheep and pigs, and chickens, and njy tools—and these all together are my icorkiwj c(tj)i(<il. It is a little diflerent from so much value in cash —there is a little more wear and tear, and it is not quite so easy to change its location anil direction, but 1 confess it cannot slip awa}' quite so readily, and is therefore safer. Now, every acre of this land represents §50; whether it is in a state of high culture, or in wood, or wet, unproductive marsh, or swale, it lies there, §50 each acre.

Now, unproductive capital is a dead loss to a man. Land that don't produce anything, is like money locked up in a chest. Kvery acre of my farm, which lies unproductive from any cau.se—from barrenness, from want of draining, from brush and briars along the fences, from lack of manuring, or good plowing, or anything else, is a dead loss to n)e, year after year, as long as I endure it, to the amount of its cost, at lea.st. Now, the question is, can I afford to endure

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

[May-

this loss ? Is it economy for me to invest my money in such a way that it yields no returns? I think not. I had better unite my labor with this capital, until I bring each acre to its highest capability of productiveness. I see a difference between losing the interest on each $bO and making a nett profit of $20 per acre.

But there is another consideratimi: my farm is my capital in bank, and as a good financief I should be careful of my drafts upon it. In plain English, my farm, from the surface down as deep as I want to work it, is all wheat, corn, oats, rye, barley, fruit, animals, grass, butter, cheese, etc.—whatever I desire of these things, lo! I have it in my fiirm— in its raiv state —and I have paid $50 an acre for the privilege of getting these materials out into organized and valuable products. Now, if I ship 200 bu;;hels of wheat, 500 of corn, 50 barrels of fruit, 10 firkins butter, and so on, I am actually sending away the most valuable portions of my iarm—I am drawing out the principal from its place of deposit—from every acre I am taking away a certain, tangible proportion of my $50 worth of farm. How long it would take me to get all my grain, and grass, and fruit, and animal materials, from the soil into an organized, merchantable shape, I cannot tell; I know some farmers who have done it in a short life-time, and who are now mourning because they have not another farm to conquer, or rob, rather. They have drawn all their capital from bank, and of course the annual income is cut off. But I don't want to do this; I want to keep my principal good in bank ; I want to reap the largest returns possible from it, and I want every cent of it to produce something. Here are three important and foundation principles to guide me to be a successful farmer, and to guide every farmer: First, every acre must be brought under culture. Second, it must be made to give a maximum yield. Third, the condition of the soil must be kept up to the highest point of productiveness. What, then, is my farm worth ?— Chas. Betts.

Put no dependence on genius. If you have great talents, industry will improve them ; if you have but moderate abilities, industry will supply their deficiency. Nothing is denied to well directed labour; nothing worth having is to be obtained without it.

i S0utIjtrH ^laiittL

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.

Virginian Independence again.

In the remarks submitted on this subject in our last issue, we quoted from the speech of Mr. London the following passage, credited by him to a correspondent:

"A vessel drawing fifteen feet water, coming to Richmond with plaster from Nova Scotia direct, has to pay $100 to $150 [not $1 00 to $1 50, as incorrectly printed in our April number] for a pilot, equivalent to one dollar per ton on plaster, while a vessel from Massachusetts, or Maine, with a coasting license, takes no pilot, brings plaster subject to no tax, and pays the northern man his profit."

We reproduce this paragraph for the purpose of correcting a slight inadvertence of Mr. London's correspondent in predicating his calculations of pilotage from sea to Hampton Roads^ and thence to Richmond, on a vessel drawing fifteen feet water, whereas the depth of James River does not safely admit of a draft of morc^ than 11 feet at Richmond, and limits the ascent of vessels from 11^ to 15 or 18 feet draught to City Point. But, the intelligent reader will perceive that the difference is rather seeming than real, or at least of no great importance, since by a careful examination of the old law, we find the pilotage on a 15 foot vessel, going to and returning from City Point, to have* been $8 60 per foot, amounting in the aggregate to $129 j while on a vessel of 11 feet draft, pilotage out and in amounts to the sum of $125 69. Still, this slight modification of the statement, iliough more strictly conformable to the state of facts, does not impair the force of the argument respecting the practical operation of our laws against the direct importation of the plaster used by our agriculturists. The licensed coasting trader, from any of the Northern Slates, may still reap the fruit of the discriminating tax in his favor, imposed by our bungling and unjust legislation, operating, as it manifestly does, to

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the ilnmn^o nnd oppreitsion of our own citizens and in t^flort denying tlifni iho free exerrise ofj ihcir niulouhled right to pni ticipntf, upon terinn of jii!-t crpmliiy, in tho ilirect foreign trade of the conntry. The old Inw, to which we have referred, hn;) been reviseil and amended (?) by tlie late General Assembly, but instead of removing the evils, so fur as the city of Richmond and thai portion of the Siatu of wliiuli il is the commercial centre are concerned, they hove only of:;<ravttteil them, as will be seen by the folU)winiJ imposing facts which we now bring to view. By the late Act of tho Gerieral Assembly, vessels from British provinces, trading to Alexandria, are placed upon the same footing with our coasting vessels, whilst the like provision is not accorded to the same class of pro-Tincial British vessels trading to Richmond, or Other town, situated upon any stream in the Commonwealth other than the Potomac River. But we reserve this subject for more elaborate examination hereafter, and pass on to the consideration of another, which is at war with the maintenance of an independent attitude by Virginia. We mean the practical operation of Banking.

In our former article we inerely mentioned the reference made by Mr. London to the transactions of the Virginia Banks as hurtful to the commercial find agricultural interests of Virginia. We recur to the subject for the jmrpose of citing passages from this part of his speech in illustration of his position. Before doing so, however, we propose to make a few observations upon what we understand to be the relations of Banking Corporations to the boily politic. They are created by public authority in con-siderotion of their supposeil subserviency to thfe pidjlic weal. They are indued with certain faculties and powers, privileges and immunites, which do not apply to individuals or unchartered associations, but exclusively to themselves. They exercise the high attribute of issuing notes of circulation within the prescribed multiple of their specie capital.

They are permitted to use the notes so issued as money in discounting negotiable paper, taking interest in advance upon notes issued by individuals, but poying no interest upon their own.

Within the limits of their authorized circulation, and to a reasonable extent on their deposits, tlie discounting of paper may proceed without any other limitation upon the discretion of tho Banks than that which is prescribed by a pru-

dent care always to reserve, within their control, active and available re.-ources sulficieiit to meet all their liabilities.

In considerutioti of these high attributes and prerogatives, the Banks are held to the obligation of maintaining a sound convertible currency, equal in value tothe precious metuls, by not transcending the limit of public c-onfidence in the excessive extension of their circulation, and by their prompt jjayment of all their liabilities in gold or silver.

Inasmuch as the paramount condition on which they were created was their public utility, and the profit of stockholders only,a secondary consideration--however desirable as an incident—the Bonks ore not only boun^ strictly to <jbey this fnn<lamental low of their existence by subordinating their private emolument to public duty, but, lire umler the strong, implicit obligation, so to conduct their business operations as never to jeopard the pul)lic weal, or betray the slightest disregard of the overruling consideration upon which their chartered privileges M'ere obtained.

The advantages expected to arise from these institutions were, in contemplation of law. to accrue to Virginia, by their affording to her men citizens the . facilities promised in effecting through their instrumentality the exchanges of trade, and in discounting the negotiable j)nper, of approved character, offered them by Virginian customers, thus converiiirg into active means that which would otherwise remain unavailable until at maturity, and consequently tend, wliile so remaining, to neutralize so much copital and to check, pro tanio, the operations of the commerce of Virginia.

Now, if these views are correct, it is manifest that dealing in exchange and the discounting of bills maturing out of the State cannot bo reconciled with the ' poramount condition' of the creation fif our banks, ond the ' implicit obligation' they are under to furnish to the cilizens of Virginia the means at their disposal for facilitating the traile and commerce of Virginia. We may be told that discounting bills drown on sliipments from Virginia, payable without her limits, does meet this cardinol requisition, by furnishing to our own tnerchonts the accommodation required to facilicate their operations. But who is it tliat entails upon our merchants the necessity of going abroad to find a market for their commodities, at the cost of freight, commissions, guarantee, storage, marine and fire

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[Mat

insurance, &c., &c.—ainountint? to from seven and n lia'f to 15 or 20 per cent, on their home value ? Why must our cotton, flour, manufactured tobacco, and other mw and manufactured articles be sent to the North instead of finding purchasers in our ownniarts? The answer is but too obvious. Our Banks will not furnish them with the same pecuniary facilities for holding their commodities at home, (to await the demand from the purchaser, and to aid in building up our home trade), by large oddf, as they ■will do upon bills drawn on projjerty deported from our own markets, to find purchasers elsewhere. For the paltry consideration of the additional, illegitimate gain of |^ to ^ per cent. exchange, our Banks subject our own citizens to the necessity of a shave of some ten per cent, in charges- -(which goes to enrich Northern cities, and build up their trade)—in order to place themselves in the favored position necessary to enjoy "Bank facilities" for conducting their business. Now, if our trade is thus profitable to the North, is it not manifest, that if our producers and manufacturers should be assisted by loans from our banking institutions to enable them to hold their c(fhimodities until they find a home purchasher, by which they would effect a savmg of commissions, &c., amounting to at least 7 to 10 per cent.—we say, is it not manifest that northern dealers would send money, obtained from their own Banks, to purchase these commodities, and ours be released from the burden of furnishing-the capital, as they have been and are doing mediately by discounting the acceptances of insatiable northern commission merchants, who take to themselves the lion's share—sucking the juice from the orange and accounting with the shipper for the pulp and the skin as the "net proceeds" of his adventure* Now, what would be the eflJect of such a reform, as is implied above, in banking administration? What would become of the so called balance of trade against Virginia, which is claimed as the basis of premium on exchange in favor of the North? The true nature of this balance of trade, claimed as the basis and warrant of a premium on exchange is simply this : the voluntary action of our Banks in depreciating their own currency, which they are bound to maintain at the par of gold and silver, upon-the basis of the equality o^^hich it professedly rests, by giving their own notes at a discount of i^ to ^ per cent., and sometimes more in exchange for New York or other northern bank paper at their par value, if indeed, they are equal to gold and

silver, which, by a palpable misnomer, is called premium on northern fimds, while it is in fact nothing more nor less than the discount upon Virginia currency, or its degradation below the sjieoie standard. Just as the dearness of all the means of subsiitence, and the general rise in every description of property, cheat us with the semblance of present and growing prosperity, when the fact is we are really growing poorer, and all our imaginary prosperity is owing to the depreciation of nioney by reason of an inflated currency, as we shall learn to our cost, when by inevitable necessity, unless the established connection of 'cause and effect can be broken, this state of things shall be replaced by the fearful reaction which is destined to succeed it; or to use other language : when Bank liabilities for their circulation and to their depositors, have to be met at every hazard by a peremptory challenge of individual debtors to the liquidation of their indebtedness, contracted under this plethoric state of the currency, and required to be paid at an enormous sacrifice of property, arising not only from the deficiency of the circulation consequent upon its sudden and exhausting depletion, but still more by the-panic which closes the grasp of the capitalist firmly and inexorably upon his money, and fills with consternation and alarm the unfortunate debtor, ^iit it is high time we should introduce to the reader's attention the extracts promised from Mr. London's speech. They are as follow:

"But the uses to which the banking capital of the Slate has been applied, with the knowledge and consent of the Legislature, forms another item in the chain of legislation by which our vassalage to the North is continued. By the returns made to the Legislature for the year ending 1st October, 1855, * * it will appear that the total discounts payable in and out of the State of the different Banks and branches in Virginia, pursuing their vocations under charters sid)ject to the control of the Legislature of the State from October the 1st, 1854, to October 1st, 1855, were in Virginia $64,990,377.90; out of the State $18,363,3.38.85. The proportion is not less now, as may be inferred from the fact that uniformly, northern bills aiC preferred by the banking institutions of the State."

******

'•When the discount follows upon a transaction by which the property of the citizen of Virginia passes into the hand of the northern buyers, the banks are mere brokers, who buy these evidences of indebtedness, made in pursuance of the transfer of Virginia property to some one who has bought it of him, and instead of allowing him to find a purchaser for his bill, which could be more readily done than to find a purchaser for the article itself, which was the

-mmm^^

I860.]

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bn^is of the paper, we nilow the banks (whose Iff^al v«H'ati(>ii!» should be fo <!iscoiint or h'n<l their inenns to cili/ens of the State upon the security of two respon>i!>k' luinuv"*) to enter the market nn bill-brokers merely, buying; of one man to sell to nnoiher—the proceeds of trans-neiions that are frecpiently in advance, made with the fact nnnonnced by the Banks, 'that if certain (lour, for instance, is sent to Baltimore, the bill made on this shipment will l)e discounted, whereas if the Ihuir jjoes tft ^lexnndria it will not be discounted." The preference for northern bills is sliown by the fact that on many occasions sixty days is the limit «)f tiitie for Vir pinia paper, whilst ft)ur months on any V'nnkee point is ili«?counted—not to proceed into detail further with this branch of the subject.'

The partiality of the Banks for northern funds over paper maturing at their own coimiers, often results in the manufacture of fictitious paper to meet this preference. "'A Yankee'' sells "his acceptances and his name, in many instances worthless at home, for a commission to a Virginian, to whom it (is) more valuable than the stock of the State of Virginia in his transactions M'ith the Banks. Reaso'ning on these subjects is useless, unless these startling facts will make US |)ause in our policy, when we see one-fourth of the entire bankii.g capital of the State used to foster and cherish the disci[)les and confederates of Sewaril, Sumner, Wilson and others."

Mr. London objects very strongly to tlie practice of the Banks, for the consideration of i per cent, brokera^'c, «)f lending their credit by the endorsation of sterling bills tlrawn by individual exporters of produce, "in order to make them sell in northern markets ;'' the effect of which is, tljat it '* compels the importers in Virginia either to scml to New York a check, bought of the Bank, to buy a sterling bill, or to pay in Virginia wliat the bill is worth in New York and the exchange, as it is falsely called between New York and Virginia—the whole transaction in this affair, as well as in the former, results in this, that ^11 of the influence and power which capital can exert, operates against an independent Virginia commerce and in favor of perpetuating our vassalage to northern masters.''

"Without stopping to trace this evil througlj all its ramificatkms, enough has been stated to warratit the enactment that hereafter no bank or branch in tlris State shall carry on. either directly or indirectly, any operations in any bill, note, or other evijtlence of <lebt, i7iaturing out of the State. Let them be what they ought to be, simply offices of discount and deposit, and leave the exchange business to be carried on by the merchants of the State. The usual argument relied on for defending these transactions is,

that it enables the produce buyer to pay more for wheat ami tobacco than he otherwise could d(», if he hud. Pir in>tance. to bring his money into the Slate, and pay it down for her agricultural products. An easy and conclusive reply to this specious statement of this view of the (pie^tion is simply this: between the seller and the buyer as few Imnds as posjiible is the best for the producer. The instrimientality of the incorporated in>fitutions. is wholly from con«'i<lert»tionj» of prr>lit. and residts simply in enabling them to snb>tilulo to a greater extent their notes in>tead of specie; it is Jiy this system of exchanges tliat the real redem[)tifin point for the Biink issues c»f Virginia, has been made in New York, and not here iti Virginia, Cut these institutions (df from any participation in any thing which can divert their attention* from the plain duty imposed alike by law and eommon sense, of keeping their notes as good as gold, being always convertible into coin; and using their means in the legitimate busmess of discounting the notes secured by two good names of the citizens of Virginia, and leave the business oTbuy-ing and selling bills f)f exchange, where the hand of government ought to be seen or known only in enforcing contracts between merchant ancl merchant. This change in our system of banking is demanded by every consi<leration of State interest and State i)ride, and is ab.-oliitely essential in the great reforms indicated in the previous observations. Surely there is enough of legitimate business i)aper secured by two sidjstantial names in Virginia to abstirb all of tlie banking facilities to be furnished by our Banks, without seeking to fasten ourselves to the changes and speculations of any other State North of us. The present miquitous sy>tem taxes our mannfacttirers of tobacco and every thing else, except, probably, flour, quite one-' eightli of the whole value of their entire pro-diu'tions, in commissions and other charges, without returning fme farthing (except the amount made by the banks in exchange, which is not above one-quarter per cent.) in any way to the capital or labor of the State; for if any thirig is beyond dispute, it is that every charge of every kind must come out of the land and labor of the country ; for it is obvious, that if the manufacturer sold his productions here in Virginia where they are ma«le, whoever bought them would be as able to f)ay the prices he has been in the habit of paying through Yankee commission houses, who are too often mere men of straw, kept up solely by the fact that our Banks will discount pa])er i)nyable in New York before they will discount similar paper jiayable in Virginia; ought there to be this liberty exer-ciseil by any. hands over which the State exercises any controll" *

We have before us some startling statistico^ going to show the "losses sustained by our farmers an«l planters upon the sale of their crops," &c.; but we are obliged for the present to withhold them. They, with a further examination into the new pilot laws, will forn\the subject matter of a future article, in which we shall attempt

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to show the hostility of the laws of Virginia to her commercial iiulependence, and how bur-thensome has been her policy to the agricultural interests of the State. W.

State Agricultural Fair.

We congratulate our readers on the auspicious event of a union between the Virginia Stale and Virginia Central Agricultural Societies, for holding the next annual Fair on the beautiful and commodious grounds of the Central Society. The time will be fixed in a few days, and the details of arrangements, premium list, &c., will be announced as soon as practicable. Care will be taken to anticipate the usual time of holding the Fair, so as to allow ample time for visitors from the remotest parts of the State to return home before the occurrence of the Presidential election. " Come, haste to the wedding ye friends," &c.

Lime and Salt Again.

"We have already expressed our own opinion that slaking caustic lime with salt water, results in the production of two new articles, viz: Chloride of lime and carbonate of soda. We do not consider ourself so good a chemi^^t as to state this as a fact, beyond the fear of contradiction—but we have no reason to doubt it. The mixture has a very strong and peculiar smell, which we believe is produced, by the presence of chloride of lime, which certainly "smells aloud."

We have been told by several persons, that salt had proved an effectual remedy for "lirne-burnt" land—and we cannot explain its action upon any other grounds than those we have hitherto published.

Dr. John DuVal, of Petersburg, has called our attention to an unintentional omission in our former article, of one chemical result of the mixture, that is, the formation of the hydrate of lime, before it can be converted into a carbonate by exposure to the air. This we do not consider of any materinl importance, as the affinity of lime for carbonic acid is so strong, as to ensure the speedy change to a carbonate whenever it is so exposed.

Dr. DuVal says he.has never been a believer in the "mutual decomposition theory," but in view of the importance of the fact—whenever it can be established as such—he intends experimenting this year for his own satisfaction. We hope all qf our readers—who may have the

opportunity—will do the same, and give us the results.

Emulation Club.

A friend from Petersburg informs us of the establishment, in his neighborhood, of a club— the object of which is to ascertain, by carefullj^ conducted experiments, how far a man may venture Jo go in expenditure, per acre, in "high farming," without incurring loss. The land is to be measured by the club—(the manures applied—the crops all pitched—the rate of expenditure, per acre, left to the discretion of each member,) and the products housed, and measured under their immediate surveillance. The report is to be made out by the members of the club, so as to exclude any possibility of mistake as to cost and yield per acre. We commend their example to our readers everywhere: and hope that every neighborhood will at once establish a similar club—as no member runs much risk of any loss, while he secures the probability of great gain.

Bright, on Grape Culture.

We have received from the Author, Mr. Wm. Bright, of the Logan Nursery, Philadelphia, a very neat and handsome duodecimo volume of about 120 pages, on the.-'Single Stem, Dwarf, and Renewal Systems of Grape Culture." The work contains an outline of the above system ; directions respecting the culture of the grape on poles, and for the propagating and fruiting of them when so cultivated; also, directions for the cultivation of the grape in gardens and vineyards; for the preparation of the soil, planting, pruning, and mulching of vineyards ; for the treatment of vines in city yards, and|'on arbors; and also for the renewing of old vines.

The work has some observations on the Ohio German system of grape culture; on the management of, and on atmospheric conductors in the cold vinery; inside and divided borders in the vinery, and composts and soils for bf)r<lers; the planting and training in the cold vinery; management of the hot-house; injurious effects of deep, rich borders, and deep planting in vineyards; special manures for the grape, and method of applying them ; concluding with an appendix on inside borders and shallow planting ; shallow planting of trees, and a new method of constructing vineries.

We think the reader will find that a large amount of practical knowledge is to be gained by a careful study of this little volume.

TUB SOUTIIKIIN PLANTER.

819

At Home, March 2n<l, 1800. ) Jacksun Co., Arkansas. ^

Messrs. .Au(;u8t ff Wtlluims:

Dfar Sirs—The "back numbers" of your inucli L'stecnicd niagn/.iiie are duly to hand, fur wliirli favour jdease iiccept my tliniiks.

Can ytui or some of your correspondents j,'ive me iiome iiilbrnuition re^^ardin^ a farming iiii-plenicnt iliat will cut corn and cotton stalks i^o IJjnt tlicy can be properly turned under with a good two horse plow ?

I learn that the corn planters of Ohio and Indiana have ceased to use the ohl ruinous plan of raking and burning them.

If you can refer me to anything on the sidi-ject, the information will be gratefidly received by Yours, very truly,

Inexperience.

Remauks. —The simplest and cheapest contrivance we have ever seen recommended for knocking down corn-stalks before plowing, was a sapling, or jtole, long enough to reach across three or four corn beds—to the ends of which trace chains were fastened and connected together at the ring of a double bar, to which two horses were attached. It was tlien ilragged over the field. We never saw ojie work, but presume there would be no difliculty in the way of its successful operation. As it "carries a wide row,'' a man couKI soon level a large liehl of corn-^talks

We annex a diagram fgr the purpose of better explanation

We ank the favor of Doctor Jno. R. Woo«U, of Albemarle, to give uh h history of his last year's crop " from the stump.''

We saw his crop sold at the "Exchange" here, and were struck with the neatness and taste with which the bundles were put up, as well as the very fine quality of the Tobacco.

Near Richmond mir lands are better adapted to the growth of " Shi(>ping Tobacco " than any other kind. The leaf is usually too thick and heavy for "manufacturing" purposes.

To get a good price for shipping-leaf, it it necessary to handle it properly, anil to prize it par-licidarly well.

We hope Dr. W. will comply with our rerjuest as soon as may be convenient to him.

Mr. Ficklen's "Black Hawk."

See the advertisement of this fine Stallion in our advertising sheet. Wo have had the promise from Mr. F. to furni>h us with the picture of this superb animal for insertion in our [lages—and regret that the delay of the artist, in executing it, has kept it from us so long. It is almost useless to say anything about the " Black Hawk '* stock of horses, as their great superiority in their class has been so well tested in the United States. We do not beljeve that they can be excelled for quick draft and saddle horses—while their good tcinper, stylish, lofty carriage, speed and endurance combined, make them the horse for all pleasure purposes.

Polo.

Tobacco.

Afany of our subscribers have begun to raise Tobacco without any previous knowledge of the best modes of successful handling and prizmg. We have had frequent requests from them to give as much information on the subject in our columns as we could gather from experienced plantcr^. This we have done, and propose still to do.

The Sale of Devons at Bhinebeck, N. Y.

A noie just received from Mr. Wainwright informs us. that in. conseq»ience of Mr. Alexander's sale of Blooded Stock being advertised to come ofl^ on the same day as the one he had chosen, he l>as concluded to postpone Ijis sale of Devons until Wednesday, Juue 13th, «'»-••-•

^ Short Horns at Auction.

• Our readers will find in our advertising sheet an advertisement of James Gowan, Esq., (near Philadelphia,') of his stock of fine cattle at auction.

Mr. Gowan has been long and favorably known to breeders, and his sale will afforil all tli«)<" who wi.->!i to buy fine stock an opportunity to do so.

Thr Quarterly Journal nf ^rt is to hand, filled with a variety of entertaining and instructive articles.