Cheraw gazette and Pee Dee farmer. [volume] (Cheraw S.C.) 1838-1839, 1839-06-28

tough paste, smooth and soapy to the touch.
By burning, i, becomes very had; when
drying. aluminous earth shrlnks greatly, II
becomes mass of hard Jumps, separated
by cracks and fssures, which become SO
many lit le reservoirs Of standing water
when Fl led by rains, and remain so when
the Jumps, by slowly imblbing the water
are distended enough to fill the space oc.
cupied before.
Calcareous earth, or carbonate of lime.
is calcareous earth combined with carbonic
acid, and may be converted into quick
lime by heat. Lime is soluble in acids;
during the solution the carbonic acid es.
capes effervescence. Ia thus manner, the
carbonate oflime, or ca!careous earth, may
not be easily distinguished from silicious
and aluminous earths, but from all other
combinations of lime. Magnesia earth,
like lime, IS usually found in combination
with carbonic acid but even in this, its
natural stale, it exists in such very small
quantities in soils, and is found so rarely,
that ts name is useless addition to the
lists ofthe earths of agriculture.
All the earths Individually, when as pure
as they are ever furnished by nature, are
entirely barren, nor would any addition of
putrescent manures, enable either of the
earths to support healthy vegetable l'fe.-
The mixture of the three earths, in due pro.
portion, will correct the defects Of all, and
with a suffiriency of animal or vegetable
matter soil is formed. Such is the natural
surface of almost all the inhabitable world,
and though the qualities and value Of Soils
are as various as The proportions OF their
ingredients, yet they are mostly SO constl.
,uted, that no one earthy ingredient IS so
abundant but that the texture of the soil IS
mechanically suited to the production OF
some valuable crop. Some plans require
a degree ofcloseness, and others Of OPEN
ness in the soil, which would cause other
plants to decline or perish. AS the qualities
and value of soils depend on the proportions
of their ingredients, and the grand desIdera.
tum in agriculture, is to obtain mixture OF
the earths, best calculated to produce va
riety of the most valuable crops, we can
satisfactorily comprehend in what manner
that object may be obtained. Sllicious and
aluminous earths, BY their mixture, serve to
cure the defects Of each other. The open,
loose, thirsty and hot nature of sand, being
corrected by and correcting in turn the close
adhesive and wet qualities Of alumnous
earth. This curative operation, however.
is merely mechanical, and it seems prooa.
bio that calcareous earth. when IN large pro.
portion, also aids the corrective power OF
the other earths. In addition also to the
mechanical effects Of calcareous earth, il
possesses chymical powers more etectual
in altering the texture Of soils, and Tor which
a comparatively small quantity is sufficient.
The chemical action of calcareous earth, as
an ingredien. Of soils, will be particularly
noticed hereafter, when we come 10 the con-
sidera,ion of the food Of plants. From what
has been said, it would appear reasonable
to class and name soils according 70 their
predominant earlhy ingredients, which ex'
er: the greatest power, and most strongly
mark the character oI the soil. The pre-
dominant ingredient is not always the most
abundant. If the most abundant was con.
sidered the predominant ingredient and
gave its name to the soil, then almost every
one should be called silicious, as that earth
is seldom equalled in quantity, by all the
others united. II the earthly parts OF a SOIL
were two.thirds silic.ous, and one-th'rd alu-
minous earth, the peculiar qualilles OF the
smaller ingredient would predominant over
the opposing qualities Of the sand, and the
mixture would be tenacious clay. If the
same soil had contained only one-twentieth
part of calcareous earth, that ingredient
would have had more marked effects on
the soil, than could have been produced by
either doubling or diminishing to halt their
quantity, the silicious and aluninous earths
which formed the great bulk of the soll:-
But every farmer can readily discover what
are the most marked good or bad qualities
of his soil, as evinced under tillage, and
those qualities can be easily traced to their
predominant ingredients. A siliclous, or
sandy soil, has such proportion OF sllcous
earth as to show more of its peculiar pro-
perties than Of any other ingredient. 1t
would be, more or less, objectionable for its
looseness, heat or want Of power 10 retain
moisture, and: not for ,oughness, liability to
become hard after wet ploughing, or any
other quality of aluminous earth. In like
manner an alumlnous, or clayey soil, would
show strongly the faults ofaluminous earth,
though more than haIf its bulk might be Of
silicious earth. Hence every farmer can
readily Judge of the perfection and of the
defects Of his soil, which, from a knowled &c
of the distinctive properties of the earths'
he will be Enabled to correct by the addition
und mechanical mixture of such earta as
msy appear to be deficient, thereby produce
a soil, the best calculated to promote the
growth and perfection Of vegetation.