Richland beacon., 1880-02-14

then set aside fer two or three weeks,
giying very little wafer; then rcpo i'll a
soil composed Of well dcccmpo.ed leaf
mould, mixed with 4 ~priukling of good
garden soil, few rusty nails, AMI d. laver
Of charcoal at the bottom Of the pot Ia
secure good drainage. In few weeks
new shoots full of flower buds will START
all over, growing very rapidly.
SOMETHING OF CHEMISTRY.
To the best Of our ability we will re-
plv To a letter signed Chemistry" writ
ten from Cowcta.
In the formation of soils, oxygen is
he primary agent. 1t combines with
calcium, magnesium, aluminium, silicon,
and forms respectively lime, magnc-ia,
alumina and silica; these four solids,
from the basis of our soils; the princi-
pal constituents of soils are clay, lime.
sand and organic matter, or the dccaycd
parts Of animals and vegetables, and the
three alkalicS, ammonia, nitrogen, and
hydrogen.
Soils differ greatly in the proportion
IF their constituents and in their origin.
and 50. have names Indicating some
special element they contain that give
Il character TO the whole mass. And 50
we have clayey soils-meaning not that
they are composed alone, but that they
contain a large per cent. of that dcuse
earth. What is called clay by farmers
is combination or mixture Of pure
clay and sand. Then we have silicious
soils, meaning not that snch soils con-
tain not only sand, but that this con>ti-
tuent is so abundant as to give a sandy
character to the soil. Then again we
recognize calcareous or limcy soils, not
indicating by that term that such soils
are composed entirely Of lime, but that
this constituent abonnds in quantitic,
unusual in other soils.
Clavey soils are not free from sand ::
siliciouS soils are not free from clay
Calcareous soils may contain SILICA and
and clay, 50 that in fact tlfese several
soils minele with each other.
In examining the soils of any fields we
can easily make an approximation to
their composition. We can easily distin-
guish Il sandy from clayey soil, or from
Il calcareous one. We can easily distin-
guish organic matter from clay or sand.
Even fields that yield paying crops vary
greatly in their composition. The best
way fora farmer to examine soils and 10
determine their capacity for raising spe-
cial crops is t. sow patches of different
seed and ascertain by actual observations
what plants grow the best-what fields
yield the most remunerative crops.
Other rJrpnnl. nyiSt that odd
fertility to nearly CIV ry soil. Drainage
may often render an acid soil sweet. Few
rootlets are able to withstand the harm
full action of long soaking.
WHAT FERTILIZER?
A farmer must learn by observation
and experiment what his soil lacks and
what his special crops require, before he
can understandingly apply any special
fertilizer. Whenever stable manure is
applied to hoed crops, the nearer you
can keep it to the surface the better.
ITS IMPORTANCE.
m The colt" N crop this season is half
IT illion bales greater than ever before.
iObaccO is i'm excess of all former esti-
mates by 1900, 900 pounds, sugar 200.-
600 hogsheads, the excess of wheat is
10000, 900 bushels, and corn 100, O00. 900.
And yet even farmers Themselves cannot
realize the importance Of the agricultu-
raj interests, and not only farmers, but
politicians, legislators and the public
generally. There is no industry 50 de-
serving the fostering care of the govern
ment.