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

ply them.
From what have before said, it will be
seen, too, how i. sometimes happens that
thin stratum of sterile earth may overlle
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,
,ha! 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 titled, 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 great and uniform operations Of nature
successfully and most proi'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-lhe
work of improvement is easy and of this
character, free from the obstructions of
stones and rocks, free from torrents and
laling surface, is the county we inhabit.-
Invlingly it lies spread ou. before US, seem
ing to need but the touch Of the mag gician'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 different
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
gently search for it, and the task will be
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 contravenllon Of,
the workings of nature; that we may sup
ply that which is wanted and not that 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 field and up to given
line or slope, bey ond which it is inert, and
pure lime becomes on this second portion
active and efficient! Il is needless for me
to tax myself or you here, by giving or al
tempting to g We the results of any cheml-
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 il 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
trif1ed with in this way. lf 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 knowledge obtain
ed ; aud 10 this, in great measure, are attri-
butable the superior advantages of practical
experiments. These are unerring in their
teachings, and, besides, they are within the
F reach of all, the unlearned as we'll as the
The learned and scientific.
I Enough has been said TO shew that we
should not expec! to improve by attempting
to supply, to any great extent to the soil,
the actual food plants, but rather by pre-
: pairing the food already in place and sup
: plying It's condiments; or by removing or
, neulrallzing 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-
siion of the plants produced, but this can
J only be to small amount, though ii may ye
= be essential but ii Is apparent that bushe
of plaster, few bushels of lime, or guano
e or Of ashes, or few pounds of soda, oI
{ 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, must be the chic
= mode in which the wonderful effects of these
E and other fertilizers are wrought have
e said the composition of vegetable and Other
e substances was constantly going on upon
{ The face Of the earth, by force of the unale
S rabe laws of nature, wherever the material:
e and agencies necessary to the composition
y of any particular substance, were brough
\ into such relative positions as to admit o
e the appropriate action and reaction taking
;. place between them and have sheWn yol
n that, for our purposes, very much the create
part of all these materials and agencies al
i, ready abundanlIy exist in our soils, or il
$ the air-lhat is, they are present, but inert
r locked by some secret spring which yo,
o are 10 touch. To find lha, spring and toucI
s it Alright is your first task, and here yol
: bring into reqnsltion the highest faculties
n of the intellectual beng, Here you emplo,