Written for the Indiana Farmer.      ^_    -    _
A Course of Chemistry and Geology for
the Practical Farmer.
By Walter May Hew, St. 1 >., Instructor In  Chemistry, New York Preparatory Medical College.
PROPERTIES AND ORIOIN OF SOILS.
Having gotten our general view of tho
field of agricultural chemistry we may invite the reader's attention to the fact that
the scientific statements we shall endeavor to present, with the utmost simplicity and brevity, represent a very vast
amount of scientific labor. These labors
of the great leaders of chemical and geological sciences have been supplemented
during tho last two decades by nearly a
hundred and fifty experimental stations
devoted exclusively to the solution of
practical problems, relatinii to all kinds of
farm products. Germany led the way
and the States have now a small number
of such stations that are doing excellent
work.
We now take up the consideration of
those properties in soils which havo little to
do with their chemical composition yet
materially affect their fertility.
THE FUNCTIONS OK THE SOIL.
The functions of tho soil may thus be
stated:
1. To furnish support to the plant and
enable it to fix Itself.
2. To furnish nourishment.
:i. .To. furnish conditions favorable to
'those chemical changes which must take
place In order to prepare the food of tho
plant; as in the case of felspar in granite,
the original material contained in the soil
has often to undergo important changes
before it is available for plant nourishment.
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES   OF SOIL.
Temperature and Heat Conduction.
Some soils become much warmer than
others though exposed to the same amount
of sunshine. It is generally the dry soils
that are very hot, and the wet soils cold.
The brownish red soils of the new and old
red sandstones are much warmer than ordinary soils and the black peaty soils are
warmest of all. The dark colored organic
matter renders the soil specially absorbent
of heat.
Density and Weight.
-■  Sands and marls are heaviest: dry, peaty
soils are the lightest.   These  latter are always improved   by rolling or treading of
stock or by the addition of clay or sand.
Cairillary Action.
This expresses the freedom with which
water passes through the soil. It affects
the warmth of the soil, and it increases the
need of good drainage when there is a wet
subsoil.
Absorption of Water.
The strongest clays absorb and retain
very much more water than' the sandy
soils. Peaty soils are still more absorbent;
hence these must be drained and the
drains be carefully kept open.
The Drying Nature.
Sandy soils will lose their water by evaporation three times more qucikly than
heavy clay, so that they not only retain
less, but lose what they do retain very rapidly. This property, of course, is a valuable one during very wet seasons.
Deliquescence or Absorption from the Air.
In the cool" of a summer night even
when there is no dew, a clay, or especially
a peaty soil, will get back from the air
part of the moisture lost during the day,
while sand will re-absorb nothing. This
property is almost entirely dependent
upon the proportion of clay and organic
matter in the soil.
Shrinkage During Drouth.
Peat and the strongest clays shrink
nearly one-fifth in bulk, which compresses
the roots and excludes the air, greatly to
the detriment of the plant. Sand is not at
all allected in this way by drouth, and
this is the final consideration that makes
It so clear  how desirable it is that a soil
should   contain  a fair  proportion of all
these ingredients.
THE ORIOIN OF  SOILS.
Digging through the upper crust of the
earth we pass through soil and subsoil until we come to the more or less solid rock.
Few rocks when exposed to the air and
especially to moisture letain all their
hardness. For the most part they crumble. Vegetation springs up and slowly a
soil is formed. Xow the geologist discovers that these rocks are all of them either
sandstone, limestone, or argillaceous rocks
or shale. Consequently the general proposition must bold good, namely that soil
is derived from the decay of tho solid
rocks. Tho crust of the earth Is made up
of the original igneous or unstratified rocks
and the stratified rocks which have been
formed from the first by the action of
water. In certain localities a portion of
the unstratified rocks may remain near
the surface in contact with the la3*ers that
elsewhere cover them; or again, volcanic
and other action In past ages may have
throwrf up subterranean masses and disrupted the level-lying stratifications. In
some cases the action of water  will  have
may be conditions of soil more favorable
to this or that crop than the nature of the
underlying formation would lead ono to
expect. The general laws that hold with
regard to the character of soils accompanying the various strata we shall brielly set
down, leaving it to the common sense of
the reader to explain those exceptions
which are occasionally to be met with.
THE ORDER OF THE STRATA.
One practical application of geology is of
the utmost value. A certain farmer whose
land Is on a clay formation may have adjacent to him a lime stone formation
which lies on tbe clay rock up to the point
where it ceases. Again, in another direction may be a sandstone formation
underneath the clay and appearing whero
it ceases. Now, such bt-ing the case, that
relative order of the three formations will
always hold good, and the farmer who is
on the clay formation, if he is well-informed will not expect to get lime by sinking a hole in his own fields.
In our next paper we shall present the
variousgeological formations in their order
and study tlio agricultural features that
accompany each of these.
To be continued.
Sioux City Corn Palace Opens Sept. 25; closes Oct. 11,1890.
eaten through difierent kinds of strata
lying one upon the other, so that the
slope of a country that was once the side
of some island sea shoys various kinds of
rocks in close . proximity. This at once
explains why on the same farm tho soil
will be found to differ very greatly from
field to field, while another farm shows a
striking uniformity in the character of its
soil.
EXCEPTIONS TO TIIE OENERAL RULE.
If one considers that the deposits from
the oveflowings of great rivers, the formation of mud banks in beds of lakes, and
all the action of water and winds generally
have during modern times or comparatively recent centuries, formed the softer
and uppermost crust of the earth and naturally mixed up considerably the materials of the subjacent strata, one will cease
to be puzzled by the occasional discrepancies observable .between the character of,
the soil and the underlying rock. It is
necessary to realize that a geological formation including sometimes beds of rocks
many hundreds of feet in thickness represents the work of countless thousands of
years, and the vastness of the scale on
which nature works furnishes the best security against a capriciousness of phenomena that might bewilder the observer.
Here and there on a certain farm there
Our Washington Letter.
From Our Regular Correspondent:
Will the Treasury of the United States
have a surplus on the first day of July
1891? or will there bo a deficiency on that
date? Senator Allison and Representative
Cannon, speaking for the administration
and the Republican party say there will be
a surplus, and they both present an elaborate array of figures to prove their
statements. On the other hand Representative Sayers of Texas, the mathematician
of the Democratic side of the House, says
there will be a deficiency on the date
named, and he also gives figures to prove
his statement. In view of these directly
contrary statements, both supported by
figures it seems that the aphorism
"figures cannot lie" will have to be reconstructed.
It scarcely seemed possible that any
great interest would be aroused in the tariff bill after the long and monotonous debate in the Senate, but just as in everything else, it is the unexpected that happens, and everybody has suddenly become
deeply interested in the closing debate on
that measure. This is doubtless largely
owing to the fact that reciprocity, which
has suddenly become so very popular,
formed the text from which the Senator-
spoke.   Senators  on the  Republican side
have done the most of the talking this
week. Some of them have been quite outspoken in thoir opinions of the compromise reciprocity amendment reported
from the committee on finance, and Senator Sherman made an argument in favor
of his amendment extending reciprocity
to Canada, but it is doubted whether he
was seriously in earnest, it being generally
believed that he was only trying jp throw
cold water, so to speak, on reciprocity generally, acd Mr. Blaine's scheme particularly. But the die is cast and limited reciprocity we are to have, and it will be
found when the vote is taken next week
that its opponents will bo out of sight. It
is also practically certain that the House
will agree to the reciprocity  amendment.
The friends of Commissioner of Pensions
Raum who had stuck to him after he had
admitted that he had borrowed money on
notes endorsed by Lemon, the pension attorney, had a severe strain put upon their
friendship when Representative Cooper,
the author of the charges, brought out tho
fact that Representative Smyser, a member
of tho investigating committee, was a
largo holder of stock in the refrigerator
company of which Oen. ITaum is president. Mr. Cooper introduced a resolution
in the House discharging Mr. Smyser
from further service on that committee,
but that gentleman resigned which made
tlio resolution unnecessary and it was
withdrawn. This incident has undoubtedly had a damaging ellect upon (Jen.
Raum's case with the public at large.
The River aud Harbor bill has been reported from the conference committees
substantially as it was passed by tbo Senato; there are reductions amounting to a
few thousand dollars, but they aro so insignificant when compared with the total
amount appropriated by the bill—nearly
?2..,000,000—that one naturally supposes
that they were only made for appearanco
sake.
The House bill against lotteries has
been reported to the Senato without
amendment, and tho present program is
to pass it as soon as tho tarill' bill is out of
the way. Tho lottery lobby has not given
up hopes of staving oil'action upon it; but
it is not apparent how it can be done.
Tne bill against grain "options" seems
tolhave beon quietly "hung up" for tho
session. There was big money represented by those who came here to oppose it
and big money counts sometimes, even in
Congress.
Representative Kennedy, of Ohio, created a sensation in the House by attacking
Senator Quay by name for his action in
having the Federal election bill postoned.
He compared the Senator to Judas Iscariot,
and demanded his removal from the head
of the Republican Xational committee.
Speaker pro tem Burrows has been criticised for having allowed the speech to bo
made.
New Monarch Wheat.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
A few weeks ago I wroto in favor of tho
Xew Monarch, on account of not winter
killing. I had not threshed it then. It
disappointed me in .ho yield and accord-
ing^to the Ohio Agricultural Experiment
Station report, it smuts more than any
other variety, therefore would not advise
anyone to sow it. There was some smut
in mine. My advice is, if acertain variety
does well in a certain {soil and section,
stick to it and don't fool with new varieties. J.B.
Sunman.
Daviess county'farmers have-suffered severely undor the prevailing epidemic of
barn burners. The favorite method of the
incendiaries in the county appears to be
to put a piece of cheeso in a box of matches
and then conceal it in a hay loft, leaving
the rats to start the fire.