Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1855-02-16

soil! Certainly not. IL manure Will oe-
compose aud disappear like wood consumed
in fireplace, may not vegetable mould
do 30 likewise? Aud ifthe mineral known
as common salt and salts Of lime and pot
ash will readily dissolve on the ground in
rain water, and pass iu state Of solu-
ton deep into the earth and reappear in
springs, wells, and rivulets, may not SINH
lar minerals naturally in the soil, and rem
dered soluble by tillage, be also dissolved
aud washed out Of the mellow ground into
the compact sub-soil, or into swamps, rivers,
and the oceanI
The principal object Of ploughing and
hoeing is to increase the quantity Of avail
able food for the crop; but while the
plants are present in the soil and growing,
it is BY no means certain that all the ma
nurc or other fertilizers applied to the
land, or all the elements of the crop natur.
ally in the soil, enter the roots Of culsivat-
ed plants, and appear at the harvest
Under certain circumstances, the loss by
teaching and solar inuAences is very large.
In producing small crops Of corn, cotton,
wheat, and other plants, the waste Of raw
material is far greater in proportion to the
harvest, than in large crops whose roots
and foliage cover the surface both in and
above the soil universally. Small corn
or cotton plants, and these quite distant
one from another, greatly favor the volati-
sation Of all volatile substances and the
washing away Of all soluble elements.
9. Tii1uge and ervppins exhaust land
faster than it can be done in any other
way short Of cartins of the surface soil in
a mass. The degree Of injury inflicted by
this operation is very variable not only
on different nelds, and soils, but on the
same surface at different times and seasons.
A light, open, sandy soil that has no clay
foundation will not bear p.oushins and
cropping SO long, with so small deteriora-
tion, IS the same soil with . clay
sub-soil. Light, sandy soils aoound in
North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Geor-
gia, and South Caralina, and most of these
when fresh yield fair crops. Their red
clay lands are not so easily worked, but are
more enduring and generally more produc.
tive.
The limestone soils of the Cherokee
country, of Tennessee, Kentucky, Missou-
ri, snd other States, are altogether different
from any formed from the ae6ri, Of grant,
tic, ruetamorphic, and sand rocks. 1t is
impossible to form an intelligent opinion
of the exhaustion of a soil BY any given
amount Of tillage and cropping, without
knowing something Of the parent rock.
from which the earth was derived, and
something Of its physical and chemical
properties. A knowledge Of the principles
Of geology and chemistry is invaluable to
one who desires to understand in advance
what are the natural capabilities Of any
arabic land; and what clements of crops i,
is most likely to have in too small guam.
tity.
It often happens that . soil partakes
very little Of the character Of the rock tba.
lies but twenty or thirty inches below its
surface.
This is owing to the circumstance that
a different kind of rock has furnished the
earthly matter deposited above the solid
strata. In several counties in Western
New York, the soft Medina soft sandstone
has been comminuted and carried by tidal
currents, glaciers, icebergs, or some other
moving force, many miles southwark, and
spread over iime.rocEs, hundreds of feet
higher than the parent sandstone, both ge-
ologically and geographically. Although
resting on limerick, these soils often lack
uue W VeSIce.
The durability Of soil is governed, in
an eminent degree, by its texture and by
grotnetric properties.
Tenacious clay lands setain fertilising
salts with peculiar and remarkable affinity.
When we'll drained and thoroughly titled,
they yield up their nutritive constituents
as fast As is profitable. Where one has
but small surface TO operate on, tho ap-
plication Of clay to sandy soils is very use.
full. The deeper and more thoroughly one
cultivates his land, removes al that it PRO.
duces, and makes no adequate restitution,
the faster will he impair the natural capa-
bilities of his soil. No matter with what
skill and science farmer extracts immense
crops from his fields; the larger the amount
Of potash, soda, magnesis, soluble flint,
phosphorus, sulphur, chlorine, and orga-
nised nitrogen, carried of in crops, the
poorer his land must become, unless part
Of all these Ingredients bs returned to the
eapth ,eherce thew were taken.