Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

126 AGRICULTURAL. DANIEL LEE, Id. D., Editor. * ~ SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 10,1569. ■ f - ■ - TRANSACTIONS OF THE NEW YORK STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY FOR 1858. We are indebted to the able and indefatigable Secretary of the Society above named, B. P. Johnson, Esq., for a copy of the eighteenth an nual volume of its transactions. As this Agri cultural Society has achieved greater distinction both in this country and Europe, than any other in the United States, our readers, we doubt not, will be gratified to see in this connection a plain statement of the elements of its eminent success. The octavo volume before us contains 854 pages, and unlike most other annuals of the kind, it is substantially and handsomely bound, ap propriately illustrated, and filled with reading matter on rural subjects at once now, critical, and instructive. It is not alone the large and flour ishing State Society that furnishes interesting contributions to the pages of this work, but ac tivo county societies and numerous farmers’ clubs contribute valuable information in almost every department of Agriculture. Twenty-five years labor and study have been earnestly de voted to organize a system of associated effort in behalf of agricultural improvement in the State of New York, intended to cover its whole area, and convey the light of truth and of progress into every farmer’s dwelling. It would be claim ing too much to say that this comprehensive idea has already become history. Alas, such is the force of parental errors and traditions, and such the popular aversion to new notions in tillage and husbandry, based on the discoveries of mo dern science, that, while a few thousands have achieved wonders in the way of improvement, the millions still pursue the old colonial practice of impoverishing the soil and emigrating to fresh ' lands which abound in the almost illimitable West. The facility with which the people eve ry where can run away from their exhausted, or partly exhausted fields, and obtain elsewhere rich virgin soils for littlo or nothing, is the most serious obstacle to the universal adoption of a self-sustaining system of agriculture on this con tinent. We havo seen and lamented the work ings of this great evil for forty years. Its ten dency is to prevent the due husbanding of the elements of fertility which Providence has plac ed on and near the surface of the ground for the equal support of the vegetable and animal king doms. It encourages the deplorable waste and destruction of the natural resources of the soil wherever it is cultivated. It makes ignorance and savage cultivation the ruling powers in the republic. ' To counteract, and in some degree prevent the sad consequences which must inevitably re sult from the abuse of all the arrablo lands on the continent by the enterprising white race, the educated and patriotic friends of agriculture in New York have labored, and are still labor ing with equal zeal and knowledge. The Legis lature of that old and populous commonwealth has wisely given encouragement to all agricul tural, mechanical and educational associations for cultivating tho human mind. The social and scientific power of combination of thought, of capital and of industry, is more developed in New York than in any other State in the confed eracy. Under the general banking law, a thou sand poor men, having each a little capital, can bank lawfully and successfully, as well as the richest mau in the metropolis. Thoy may build and operate’ railroads, under a general corpora tion law, or steamboats and steamships, cotton mills, iron-forges, school-houses and churches, 'and in all exercise corporate powers without any special legislation. Every Fanners’ Club in ev ery rural district is organized under a general statute; its professional library is protected by law, and fostered by agricultural publications printed by tho State, as was the beautiful vol ume before us. New York, when first organi zing a State government, adopted “Excelsior” as the motto on her seal; and she still acts on the sound principle that “knowledge is power." Wo know that there are many who contend that all libraries and institutions of learning ought to be left to individual effort; that no leg islation should aid in any way to promote either the mental, moral or social culture of its citizens; and especially that it should do nothing to create an increase of agricultural knowledge, among its rural population. It is our humble purpose to analyze this do-nothing, anti-improvement policy. Come, let us reason together. Shall we work for the benefit of ourselves, our chil dren and our State? Is tho answer yea?— Then tell us how we shall labor. Is it wise to reject all the advantages of modem experience as to the manifold benefits of reading, writing and arithmetic as taught in primary schools?— When we have taught the people to read at some expense to the public treasury, why permit this acquirement to be almost entirely fruitless ? Place a good farmers’ library worthy of the name, in every county of the State of Georgia, and make it accessible to the public, and can there be a reasonable doubt that these well se lected books would do much not only to instruct the people, but also to create a general taste for reading and the acquisition of useful know ledge ? In this way thousands of families would begin to buy good books, and soon possess valuable libraries of their own, who are now destitute of this most prolific source of domestic enjoyment and ol pecuniary profit. This practice has produced the happiest effects in other States, and commends itself to the regards of all. Agricultural books are now exceedingly cheap in this country; and although many are of little value, yet enough are reliable and instructive to form a most useful professional library. We trace the progress made in New York husband ry mainly to its numerous agricultural journals I Tmm mwTMmnw mm&3 ui wmmnmm. and the excellent libraries to be found in its State, couuty and town agricultural associations. Tens of thousands of both sexes have become earnest students in the pleasing literature of the farm, the garden and the orchard. Tucker, Downing, Johnson, Thomas and others have done much to render these home studies attrac tive as well as useful. Public opinion there early compelled the Legislature to print, gratui tously, agricultural books to form the nucleus of society libraries;' and to aid in creating this public opinion, the writer gave free lectures on rural science and literature in almost every county in the State. Public opinion in Georgia is nearly ripe to compel its legislature to culti vate agricultural wisdom within its ample do main. It is only a question of time when we shall have a creditable rural literature of our own. All the elements of power and of distin guished success are here and ready for use; but who will do the laborious thinking, the sound writing, and the printing ? Who will make all the researches by working early and working late? Labor omnia vincet. But who will be tho earnest, the unselfish laborers ? —■»»» ■ v.KHH and horns—animal physiology. Bishop Pierce, in one of his racy letters, Foot prints across the Continent, published in the New Orleans Christian Advocate, thus notices the lengthened ears of mule rabbits in western Tex as, and the still more extraordinary horns of Texas cattle: “While here, I was induced to go out one af ternoon with a company of friends on a rabbit hunt. A fine lot of grey-hounds were assem bled—besides “Tray, Blanche, and Sweetheart, the curs of lower degree.” Mule rabbit s abound in this region, and are very destructive in gar dens and fields. They are about three times as large as the common hare, and it is said exceed in speed, especially when they can find a patli or road, any other animal. A grey-hound can sometimes catch them on the prairie. Their, long ears are very conspicuous, being commonly erect, but when hard pressed in a race they are laid flat upon the back, and then their speed is more like the flight of a bird than the movement of an animal on the ground. In hunter’s phrase, we ‘ jumped ' a great many ; and in ev - ery instance when the chances were equal, they escaped. Some two or three, surrounded by dogs and horsemen and frightened into confu sion, were captured. The desperate speed witli which these Texans follow in tho chase was as entertaining to me as the contest between grey hound and rabbit. One gentleman told me that he measured a pair of ears, eighteen inches from tip to tip. To those who are fond of curious enquiries, it may bo an interesting question: Do food and climate affect the length and size of ears and horns f Mule rabbits are peculiar to open plains, des erts and dry places. They are to bo found from the Trinity river to the Pacific coast. Here, too, especially in Western Texas, tho horns of the cattle are extraordinary in length and circumference. I have seen them seven feet from point to point; and was told that occasion ally they measured nine. I have seen a pair of elk-horns which I will not venture to describe, for fear some one might suspect me of ‘spinning a yam’ and breaking the thread.” No fact in animal physiology is better estab lished than that food and climate do affect not only the horns and ears of wild and tame ani mals, but every bone, muscle, organ and func tion in tho system. Even in Georgia, our cattle, hogs and sheep exhibit a large excess of offal as compared with what well bredanimals of the same species ought to show. Dirt-eating, pot-bellied children arc deformed by the large consumption of improper food and by tho same law which deforms badly kept pigs, lambs, calves and colts. The hornless cattle of England and Scotland have been made such by skillful breeding. Tho long ears of the ass and mule, tho rabbit and hound might be got rid of in a few generations. Some dogs have only rudimentary ears and tails; while swine have been changed even more than the big tailed sheep of Barbary. The plasticity of animal development is a curious study, and opens up to the scientific farmer a wide and most interesting field for experiment and im provement. i* i —i COTTON CULTURE WITH THE SUPER-PHOS . PHATE OF LIME. From what we have seen of the action of Su per-Phosphate of Lime on Cotton, as the fertili zer is manufactured by Mr. Hoyt, and from what planters have told us who have used the article, we believe that this commercial manure will prove more profitable on the cotton plant than Peruvian Guano, or any other mixture now in the market. In a recent visit to Beech Island in South Carolina, Mr. J. S. Miller, a skillful and successful planter, was so kind as to show us numerous rows of growing cotton whe»e Pe ruvian guano, lloyt’s Super-Phosphate and gyp sum were applied to adjoining rows, leaving one between unmanured, as an experiment. Since the recent abundant rams, the guanoed rows show the largest growth of weed, but somewhat less fruit than the rows to which the super phosphate was applied. The number of pounds used was the same for each row, estimated at 300 lbs. to tho acre; and as the cost of the super phosphate is not over two thirds that of Peruvian guano per ton, the saving in using the former is one dollar in three. It will be found that the super-phosphate is a more durable manure than the guano named; and will therefore benefit several after crops At the meeting of the Beech Island Planters Club, last Saturday, we conversed with gentle men who have used the super-phosphate on their cotton pretty largely, and with very satis factory results. Chemical analysis shows that nearly half the ash, or earthy part of cotton seed is pure phosphoric acid; and it is not extraor dinary that there should be less phosphates in the soil than the growth of a large yield of fruit and seed requires. If after experience shall confirm the peculiar adaptation of soluble phos phates to meet the wants of tho cotton plant in producing a largo development, not of weed but of cotton, then we shall undertake to show that | it is far better economy to manufacture the sft» per phosphate of lime in the South, than to pur chase it of northern manufacturers. We must import sulphur and make sulphuric acid. — -+•+■ - i^ SOME OF OUR AGRICULTURAL EXCHANGES. The American Farmer, a monthly magazine of agricultural and horticulture, published at Baltimore by N. B. Worthington, has reached its fifth series, and claims to be the oldest work of the kind in the United States. It is ably con ducted, and deserves its success. Price one dol lar per annum. The Southern Planter, published at Rich mond Ya., has reached its nineteenth annual vol lume, and reflects, not unworthily, the intelli gence and agricultural enterprise of tho “Mother Os States.” Subscription price the same as that of the American Farmer. August & Wil liams proprietors, tnd J. E. W ili.iams Editor. The Farmer anp Planter is an able month ly published at Columbia S. C., by R. M. Stokes, at a dollar a year. South Carolina has many clever writers on rural affairs, but it is some what difficult to nake them communicate their agricultural knowledge to the public. The Southern Cultivator, published in this city, is too well known to our readers to need more than a mere mention. It has always main tained a high postion among journals of its class. The American Oottox Planter and Soil of the South is publisied at Montgomery, Alabama, by Dr. Cloud, tnd conducted with the ex perience and abiM.y of a man who unites a thorough practical knowledge of agriculture to much scientific reading and thought on the sub ject. It is a montily, and sold at the usual price of these periedieals. m Sweet Wa er, Tenn., Aug. 25, 1859. Dr. Dan’l. Lee -.—Dear Sir: To day I send by Express, the Yelv-et, or Amsterday Blue Grass seed. When Icu the grass and threshed out the seed, there was more than I calculated there would be, and I tlnrefore send you more than promised, viz: a two-buslieirsackfull. It would not surprise me if you find it equal to the or chard grass in yovr climate; and perhaps in some respects prefenble. It grows finely with clover, and thoy are ready to cut about the same time. I have not been able to find any orchard grass seed for sale. Persons who have of the grass have not been partiiular to save the seed; not knowing that they vould be in demand. We have had a superabindance of rain through Au gust, which has grettly improved our prospects for a good crop of ccm. I think it will be the most abundant that we have raised in this sec tion of country, for yiars. Tho ground is also in fine condition for flowing and preparing for a wheat crop. Past ires were never finer at this season of the yeir. With respect, yours, J. T. Lenoir. Tho writer of the above letter will please ac cept our best thanks for tho sack of grass seed which came safely to our residence, near Athens. Tho “Velvet Blue Grass” is probably the “soft woolly grass” of English authors (Ilolctis lanatus) which we have yet to describe in our “Study of Grasses.” By referring to the table published in the Field and Fireside of June 4th, it will be seen that it stands among the few best plants for cultivation. We will not anticipate what we intend to say in another place on this grass, but respectfully suggest to our Tennessee friends who reside in grazing districts, that by saving seeds of all their best grasses and sending them to Atlanta, Augusta, and other Southern cities for sale, a satisfactory return in money may be realized. We shall cultivate the seed received from Mr. Lenoir with due .care, and report its relative value. The fact that Mr. L’s butter,sold in this market by Thomas P. Stovall & Co., is equal to any Northern butter, and produced in a good degree of the “Amsterday blue-grass” is itself a pretty strong commendation. There is no reason why Southern farmers may not supply all Southern cities and villages with butter and cheese equal to any in the world. In skillful hands, no branch of rural industry is more pro fitable ; and it is time to let northern dairymen know that we can not only raise our own wheat but produce butter and cheese enough to eat with our bread. We must rise above the un wise agricultural dependence upon others, for forage for our horses, and provisions for our selves. We hope that Mr. Lenoir will extend his dairy until ho sends to this market the produce of two hundred cows. His example will bo worth millions to the South. — Wild Grape Vines in Louisiana. —So nu merous are wild grape vines in North Louisiana, that the Louisiana Baptist advises the making of Communion wine from them instead of pur chasing adulterated material for this purpose. It intimates that these wild vines abound every where in North Louisiana. If this be so, why would not other and superior grape vines grow well in tho same places ? — N. 0. Bulletin. There is no doubt that the best wine grapes in the world may be successfully grown, not only in North Louisiana, but ip nearly every other Southern State. The climate is such as will favor the formation of the maximum quan tity of saccharine matter and delicious aroma, both of which are indispensable to the produc tion of superior wine. In the climate of Cin cinnati there is a deficiency of the aroma in the grapes, which no addition of sugar, nor ofbran dy, nor of anything else, will serve as a substi tute. Tho only way to escape this climatic dis advantage is to grow grapes under glass, or have vineyards farther South. The temperature of this State and South Carolina is admirably suited to grape culture and wine making. Ex perience, as in cotton culture, will, ere loßg, prove the soundness of our physiological views on this interesting subject. Wine must have the right natural flavor to be a first rate article.— Wine made from grapes grown in the open air, at the North, never has the proper aroma ; nor can sugar, alcohol, nor artificial compounds and abominations meet the exigencies of the case. Cotton Seed for Cattle Feed.— The Phila delphia correspondent of the New York Tribune writes that persons in that city have actually begun to import cattle feed from the cotton States, in the shape of cotton seed, oil cake and meal. Within a short time a process has been de vised by which the oil contained in cotton seed is extracted in large quantities. The residum isjan oil cake which has been found on examination and trial to be richer in albumen and mucila genous and saccharine matter than the far-famed linseed oilcake. A Philadelphia house has re ceived several tons from New Orleans, and henceforward will keep themselves regularly supplied. Mountains of this cotton seed have been thrown away or burned during the last fifty years, as it could be applied to no useful purpose. But from present indications a veiy extensive trade, both foreign and domestic, is likely to grow out of it.— Detroit Tribune. The burning of “ mountains of cotton seed” is a fiction so extravagant that no one but the writer for an abolition sheet would venture to make the statement. THE STUDY OF SOILS BY THE EDITOR. Chapter lll.—Clay in Soils. It has already been stated that the simple mineral called alumina is the base of all clay. In 100 parts of alumina there are 63.3 aluminum (a simple metal), chemically combined with 46.7 oxygen. Alumina contains, according to Sir Robert Kane, 5.3 per cent less oxygen than si lica. The effect of this seems to be that, while silica has acid properties, alumina has an alkaline reaction. Hence these two most abundant min erals in nature have an affinity for each other, and, when united, form the purest porcelain clay known in chemical language by the name of sili cate of alumina. Pure clay (kaolin) is composed exclusively of silica and alumina, and usually in tho following proportions: Silica MA 63.4 Alumina 45.5 42.6 46.6 100.0 100.0 100.0 Clay usually contains from 13 to 20 per cent, of water. The above figures indicato the com-- position of three samples of pure clay after all the water was expelled. Ordinary clay in soils contains far more silica and less alumina. It is rare in the clay soils in this country that one finds so much as 10 per cent, of alumina. This mineral is easily obtained from alum and from aluminous earths. It is as white as lime or white earthemware, and has a remarkable affin ity for water and organic substances. It com bines readily with phosphoric, sulphuric, and other acids, and retains ail alkaline minerals in solution with extreme tenacity. Not only all soils, but all sedimentary and igneous rocks, yield alumina on analysis. Even crystals of flint have been found to contain alumina, lime, iron, and potash, by Berzelius. Greenstone, a rock of ancient volcanic origin, has the following composition, according to Bendant: Silica 63.8 Alumina 14.2 Oxide of Iron 5.8 It is rare, if ever, that one meets with either sand or lime rock which yields no allumina on analysis, while all slates and shales abound in this mineral. Few rocks form so productive a soil as basalt, which is of volcanic origin, and has tho following composition, (byGmelin:) Part soluble in acids. Part ins’ble in acids Silica 35.741 48.500 Alumina, 11.121 6.792 Oxide of manganese 1.487 Oxide of Iron, ——— 9-3 S 3 Protoxide of Iron 16.015 Srtontian 0.112 Lime 11.914 17.895 Magnesia, 10.484 18.181 Soda, 8.264 Potash 1.204 Water 6.630 The above figures show tho interesting fact that basalt contains a largo amount of silica, alu mina, iron, lime, and magnesia, in a condition insoluble in acids. Not only these minerals, but potash and soda, exist in a similar condition, as will be shown when we come to study the la tent resources of poor soils. It is generally known that alluvial clay lands are both durable and productive. Why they are so is a matter not so well understood. It arises from the fact that they possess all the elements of crops in an available condition, and so intimately blended with clay (which is not tho food of plants) as to endure without exhaustion for an indefinite number of years. These elements are silica, lime, potash, soda, magnesia, chlorine, sulphur, phosphorus, iron, carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen. Other minerals are occasionally found in cultivated plants; but they are not regarded as indispensable constituents in their composi tion. It is known that neither of the four or ganic elements called carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen, can be dispersed with in the growth of any plant; nor can any of the others, exept, perhaps, soda, in a few vegetables grown on the farm. Mulder gives very minute analy ses of three specimens of clay taken from the Ziiyder Zee, which Were performed by E. 11. Yon Baumhauer, with the following results: First. Second. Third. Insoluble sand, with alu mina 57.646 51.706 55.072 Soluble silica 2-340 2.496 2.286 Alumina (soluble) 1.880 2.900 2.888 Peroxide of iron 9.039 10-305 11.864 Protoxide of iron 0.350 0.568 0.200 Lime 4.092 5.096 2.480 Magnesia 0.180 0.140 0.128 Potash 1.026 1.480 1.521 Soda 1.972 2.069 1.937 Ammonia 0.060 0.078 0.075 Phosphoric acid 0.466 0-324 0.478 Sulphuric acid 0.896 1.104 0.576 Carbonic acid 6.085 6.940 4.775 Chlorine 1.240 1-302 1.418 Humic acid 2.798 8.991 8.429 Crenic acid 0.771 0.781 0.037 Apocrenic acid 0.107 0.160 0.152 Uumin, vegetable remains and water chemically combined S-324 7.700 9-343 Wax and resin trace. trace. trace. Loss 0-542 0.611 0.753 100.000 100.000 100.000 Few river flats, or alluvial bottoms, show soils so rich in the raw material for making bread and meat as the above. It is unusual to find arable soils in which 45 per cent, are soluble in boiling acids, including the organic matter and water of absorption. It would have been instructive to be informed what elements, and how much of each, were soluble in rain-water, or in distilled water; but no information of this kind is given. The quantity of alumina is small. The first specimen gives less than 2 per cent., and the second and third less than 3 per cent. It is generally characteristic of strong fertile soils to abound in the peroxide or red rust of iron. The river bottoms of the Zuyder Zee, so famous for their durability and fruitfulness contain an aver age of more than 10 per cent of this mineral. Os lime the percentage is unusually largo. An acre of common earth an inch in depth weighs about 100 tons; so that, estimating a soil to the depth of only 10 inches, we have 1,000 tons of earthy matter to operate upon in tillage and husbandry. The average of lime in the samples given is near 4 per cent. At this rate a ton of soil will con tain 80 pounds, and of course, 1,000 tons, 80,- 000 pounds, or 40 tons. Allow 200 pounds of this mineral to be washed out of an acre in a year by leaching rains, and removed in crops, and the quantity above named would last 400 years. A soil, however, will cease to produeo grain long before the last particle of lime is taken out of it. The supply of magnesia, though much less abundant, is sufficient for all useful purposes. Most crops consume more magnesia than lime, as will hereafter be demon strated by trustworthy analyses. The soils under consideration are remarkably rich, both in potash and soda, and it is doubt less owing to this circumstance that so large an amount of silica is spt down as “soluble.” Es timating the potash at one per cent only, and there are 10 tons of this alkali within 10 inches of the surfaco on an acre. By examining the figures, it will be seen that the supply of soda is nearly twice as large as that of potash. Con sumed at the rate of 100 pounds each per an num, the soda would last four centuries, and the potash two. But before the alkalies in the soil were exhausted, sub-soiling would be practiced to render those 20 inches below the surface en tirely available to needy crops. Particular at tention is invited to the ammonia found in these soils. The amount is not peculiarly large, but it is an element of fertility too often overlooked in stud ying the sources of productiveness in cultivated lands. Probably the earths analyzed by Von Baumliauer have been cropped some two thou sand years. One hundred thousand parts of these soils contain respectively 60, 78, and 75 parts of ammonia. Thisgives 1,200 pounds to the acre, estimating the weight of available soil at 1,000 tons in the earth that contains the least of this volatile alkali. Doubtless the principle source of ammonia is the decay of organic substances in the soil, such as manure, plants, and insects ; some is also derived from the atmosphere through the fall of rain and snow. There is an other source which is worthy of consideration. Critical readers will seo that both the protoxide and peroxide of iron figure in the composition of these fertile lands. The protoxide is literally the first oxide, and consists simply of an atom of Oxygen chemically combined with one of iron. The scales that fly off from a heated bar when hammered on an anvil by a blacksmith, are the first oxido or protoxide of iron. The peroxide is the red rust of this metal, and consists of two atoms of iron chemically united to three of oxy gen. Now, in converting the protoxide of iron into a peroxide in a moist soil, (a result greatly promoted by tillage,) water is decomposed. Its oxygen unites with the iron to form rust (perox ide) and its hydrogen combines at once with ni trogen in the atmosphere, and is always present n soils, to form ammonia. Most farmers have_ observed that soils often change their color with" in a few years after they are first broken up, as suming a darker hue, and sometimes a deeper red. Such soils contain a good deal of iron, and if lime is not wanting, they grow more pro ductive by tillage. In the virgin earth, more or less of this iron is united with sulphur, forming a mineral of a bright yellow color called iron pyrites, or sulpliuret of-iron. Tillage decompo ses this compound. Oxygen combines with the sulphur and forms oil of vitriol, called sulphu ric acid. Oxygen also unites with the iron and converts it into the first oxide, when the oil of vitriol and oxide of iron combine and form a very soluble salt called copperas, or sulphate of iron. If the soil contains a sufficient quantity of lime, or the farmer applies it when needed, this mineral takes the sulphuric acid away from the iron by a stronger affinity, and forms gyp sum, or sulphate of lime. The protoxide of iron thus deprived of its oil of vitriol by lime, is soon changed into a peroxide, in which condi tion it is not only harmless to all crops, but a valuable condenser of fertilizing gases by rea son of its porous nature. In well-drained and long-cultivated soils, sul phuric acid is never abundant, because all its Salts, except gypsum, are exceedingly soluble* and readily washed away in all water that pass es over or through the soil into springs or creeks. When the oil of vitriol unites with soda it forms glauber salts, which, as every farmer knows, are very soluble. With mag nesia, this acid forms epsom salts, which are equally liable to be washed out of tilled earth. Alum, or the sulphate of alumnia and potash, is subject to the same operation. It takes nearly 500 parts of water to dissolve one of the sul phate of lime or gypsum, lienee this is the best compound of sulphur for all agricultural purposes. Phosphoric acid is an element of fertility of great importance, and one which is never whol ly absent from any soil that yields either food or clothing for man. Baumliauer found from a third to a little less than half per cent, of this acid in tho Zuyder Zee clay lands. In ordinary soils, most of this acid (which is formed by tho union of an atom of phosphorus with five of oxygen) is combined with iron and alumina. In this form, the acid is sparingly if at all, availa ble as the food of plants. It is the phosphate of lime, not alumina nor iron, that forms tho bones all animals; and it is the phosphate of lime, that they require in their vegetable nour ishment. Os course no crop can extract bone earth from a soil in which no bone-earth exists. But, fortunately for the farmer, bone-earth can be formed by simply applying lime to a soil that contains phosphoric acid in combination with iron or alumina, and thus produce the phosphate of lime, or bone-earth. Let us suppose that all tho phosphoric acid had been consumed by pre vious crops, and by the long continued wash ing and leaching of arated soil; would the ap plication of simple lime, or gypsum, create an atom of phosphoric acid where none existed ? Certainly not. Hence tho necessity of applying bones , or phosphates in some other fertilizer, when this acid is lacking. The carbonic acid found in the soils under consideration was doubt less mostly combined with the alkalies, potash and soda, and the alkaline earths, lime and mag sia, forming carbonates of those minerals. Apart, however, must have been diffused through tho porous mass in an uncombined state. When vegetables and animals complete their decay in the soil, carbonic acid, water, and ammonia are the ultimate products, not to name the incombus tible minerals which exist in organized beings. Chlorine , which abounds in 'the soils under consideration to an unusual degree, is a heavy gas, of a deep sea-green color, very pungent and irrespirable. It forms not far from 60 per cent, of pure dry (anhydrous) common salt, which is a compound of chlorine with the metallic base of soda, called sodium. Hence the chemical name of salt is chloride of sodium. Chlorine is an im portant element in tho vegetable and animal kingdoms; and salt has been used as a fertilizer since before the time of Moses, and also with human food. Wo read of salt not fit for the dung heap, in the Bible, indicating one use to which it was applied. “Ye are the salt of the earth, " expresses a high popular appreciation of this compound of chlorine, many centuries before the chemical nature of salt was known. Chloriuo combines readily with hydrogen, and forms a strong acid called hydrochloric,, formerly muria tic acid. All tho salts formed by this acid or chlorine