Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1850-11-20

Ply thVAI.
From what have before said, i. will be
seen, too, how it sometimes happens that
thin stratum of sterile earth may over-lie
a rich and highly productive soil, which
only needs being brought within the reach
Of atmospheric influences, by deep plough
ing, to shew its fertility; or again II may be,
that by mixing the upper with the second
stratum, in like manner, by deep ploughing,
each supplies materials for the promotion
and growth Of vegetable matter in which
the other was deficient. and thus an excel
lent soil be made where either strata, sepa-
rately TILED, would have continued unpro-
ductive. In these, and such like instances,
the labour, skill and science of man can be
applied in concurrence with, and in aid of,
the grea. and uniform operations Of nature
successfully and most profi'ably to himself.
Upon what are called good neutral soils
that is, soils containing in abundance al
most all the elements which enter into the
composition Of vegetables, or all the more
bulky of these elements, and yet inert-.he
work of Improvement is easy and of this
character, free from the distractions Of
stones and rocks, free from torrents and
abrup, preci pieces, Of level and gently undu-
la,ng surface, is the county we inhabi..-
lnvilngly it lies spread gu. before US, seem
! ing to need but the touch Of the magican's
wand to spring into new life and vigor and
TEEN with abundance. Were many, or i'll
deed any, Of the bulky constituents Of plants
absent, or much deficient, very differen,
would be the task we propose to undertake,
and it would at once be acknowledged to
be too difficult or impossible Of execution.
But This is not the fact. And we have but
TO apply our minds and hands, guided by
the knowledge we have already acquired,
or Of easy acquisition to all who will dill
accomplished. We must know or ascer-
tain by the aid of scientific analysis or ex-
pertinent, or both, each one for himself, the
true character Of the fields we would in
prove, that we may act in each case in con-
currence with, and not in contraventon of,
the workings of nature; that we may sup
| ply tina, which is wanted and not tina, which
is already present in sufficient or perhaps re-
dundant quantity; for although the same
general characteristics prevail throughout,
YET, IN our alluvIal region, there are many
notifications rendering the alkali in the
one instance, the acid in another, and The
salt in the third, the proper material to be
supplied, as is seen BY plaster acting finely
on one portion Of a field and up to a given
line or slope, hey ond which il is inert, and
pure lime becomes on this second portion
active and efficient! II is needless for me
to tax myself or you here, by giving or al
tempting to give the results of any chemi-
cal analysis Of soils taken from this or that
locality. This has been done and better
done, time and again, by others and be-
sides it could amount to nothing more than
useless display or worse; it might lead in
to error. Human labor is too valuable, has
too much about which it may with certain
ty Of beneficial results be employed, to be
trled with in this way. IL we attempt to
work by The teachings of science, she must
be brought to act on the precise spot where
we mean To operate, and thus the danger of
different interfering agents and substances
be avoided, and certain knowled &c obtain
ed aud TO this, 10 great measure, are attrl-
butable the superior advantages of practical
experiments. These are unerring in their
teachings, and, besides, they are within the
/
the learned and scientific.
Enough has been said 10 shew that we
should not expect to improve by attempting
TO supply, TO any great extent to the soil,
the actual food Of plants, but rather by pre-
pairing the food already in place and sup
plying lis condiments; or by removing or
neulralizng deleterious substances which
may be present. To some extent, it is true,
the materials we supply may and do become
actual food, and are detected in the compo-
si!ion of the plants produced, but this can
only be to small amount, though il may yet
be essential but it Is apparent that bushel
of plaster, few bushels of lime, or guano,
or of ashes, or a few pounds Of soda, or
magnesia, cannot, by serving only as food
for plants, increase The production to very
many times their own bulk and weight
The first mentioned then, mus, be the chief
mode in which the wonderful effects of these
and other fertilizers are wrought. have
said the composition of vegetable and other
substances was constantly going on upon
the face Of the earth, by force of the unalie
rable laws of nature, wherever the materials
and agencies necessary to the composition
Of any particular substance, were brough.
into such relative positions as to adm. of
the appropriate action and reaction taking
place between them and | have shewn you
that, for our purposes, very much the greater
par. of all these materials and agencies al
ready abundanily exist in our soils, or in
the air-lhat is, they are present, but inert,
locked by some secret spring which you
are 10 touch. To find tina, spring and touch
il Alright is your first task. and here you
bring into reqnisition the highest faculties
of the intellectual being Here you employ