The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1849-08-18

Twelve acre held an immense quantity OF |
gypsum, (or plaster of Paris) I'asked him !
why he did so; he said friend had found it
to be good thing fof lurnips. I asked him
if he knew what his soil was nude Of
and what the crop he wished to}faisa was
Of Ele said he did not. I'point. 4
ed out to him the fp'ly Of applying ma
nnre which either his soil might have in 4
abundance already; or which his crop
might not require at nll.ta He gave me an
inpertincnt reply, and passed on. He
sowed wheat, and had a badscrop. could
have;tolas him thst He had anal yzed good
wheat, It's aahes would not contdin h6Ovs
two hundred and fiftielh part OF Piasterio:
the whole-scarcely; trace and therefore
in putting gypsum 10 arheat, he pdt what the
plan, did not live on, and would moi Sal, 80
to speak. lleuce his labor had been quite
useless. and his plaster, which cost him, in
purchase money and labor, thirty dollars,
was worse than money thrown away. By
his not taking me for his guide. he spent
thirty dollars Of hard money, and lost, as far
as that field was concerned, n year Of valu-
able, irredeemable time. He looked puz.
z!ed al the result, and wondered how
his friends turnips prospered so well
with plaster and his wheat so badly. I
took II turnip and anaIyz.d il; showed
him that the ashes Of its root Confined e5
per cent ofs,he plaster of Paris. in the form
OF sulphuIic acid and lime, and the ashes OF
its leaves contained no less than 80 per cent
proving that nearly one third of the
whole incombus,ible matter of the plan,
consisted Of pInster of Paris, which il suck
cd fro fh.. oil epn L
said, ''lhe turnip lives greatly on this ma
nure, while wheat scarcely to"rhes 1t, 'ur.
nip grows fat on the food that wheat would
starve with. Had you known the compost
ton of wheat and lurnips, you would have
saved you money and crops.
By and by, tlea:say heard it reported
tha, I had said plaster Of Paris was an
excellent thing for clover. To redeem his
character he bought lol more, and applied
it with the assurance Of being rirht this
time. File top dressed IL acres of ID acre
field in the Spring, with cwl to the acre,
and uiumphanllY waited the result. Ex
cessive was his chagrin when he found The
I two acres untouched we're. if any thing, bet.
ter than the remaining twelve acres he had
SO extensively manured. He complained
TO me. lasked him. as before, ii ne knew
. the constituents Of the soil, whether i,
needed plaster Of Paris; and Of his crop.
whether it required it for food?" No. he
said, he had heard from me tha, clover con.
tained' plaster of Paris. and he though, he
was doing right to give it some-bu, he
knew nothing aboutthe SOIL
l analyzed his soil, found that 1t contain.
cd, naturally fresh and unexhaus,ed. an
abundance of gypsum,
An, Hearsay," said l: what you would
save If you, would let me come =uusai iiso,
with you. I could have told you your soil
had abundance of plaster aIready;Sit want
cd no more; and your purchasing plaster,
and hauling ii SO mnny miles, was as wise
as if you had hauled ton of Goals twenty
miles 70 burn at the mouth of coal pit,
where they were laying blocking up the
entrance. Here is more money thrown
away"
tlearsay took me to live with him at
once. cos, him four or five dollars a
year; but raise, expand, and delight his
mind. In dark winter nights, show him
the beautiful resources of nature: we make
wonderful experiments, which instruc, nm
amuse ourselves, and teach his ia -niiy. We.
see the glorious wisdom of our Almighty
Father; and he saves money and labor at
every turn, and all the year round 1 am
worth hundreds Of dollars per annum to him.