IMPORTANCE OF LIME IN THE SOIL. 153 



my observation goes, certain kinds of pears will flourish abun- 

 dantly in certain localities, and not in others. A gentleman from 

 this place who went to New Hampshire, — I think it was near 

 the town of Meredith, — told me he tried pears, and found that 

 the trees would grow with great thriftiness for a few years, and 

 then they would die. He repeated the experiment for a succes- 

 sion of years, and always with the same result. There must 

 have been something in the climate or soil that was not adapted 

 to the pear. I suggested surrounding them with coarse sand 

 or fine gravel, and he told me he would try the experiment. I 

 do not know what has been the result. I believe an analysis of 

 the outer bark of the apple shows fifty per cent, of lime. What 

 is the result of observation ? We find that the regions where 

 the apple is most productive are those regions where limestone is 

 most abundant, other things corresponding. Now, in the early 

 orchards of Massachusetts and New England there was suffi- 

 cient vegetable matter, with some lime, in the soil, to produce 

 results corresponding with the hopes or wishes of those who 

 planted the trees ; but in the course of years those elements 

 became exhausted, and hence we do not have sucli remunera- 

 tive crops as formerly. Can we not supply the deficiency by the 

 application of lime? That is one of the necessary elemeLts in 

 the composition of fruit. I do not know how far that may be 

 practicable. I was speaking to my friend Slade here on the 

 subject, and he told me that he had in some instances applied 

 mortar and old plaster to trees, and found that the trees were 

 more productive and the fruit fairer. 



Now, in order to be successful farmers, it is essential that we 

 should study the elements that enter into the composition of 

 whatever we wish to produce. We find, in relation to certain 

 grasses, for instance, that by the application of certain mineral 

 manures, some fertilizing elements are drawn from the atmos- 

 phere, which, in combination with the fertility of the soil, insure 

 a good crop. 



When I was a boy I remember there was an old field that 

 was so poor that it would not produce sward enough to hold to- 

 gether. It was ploughed up and potatoes raised on it, some 

 manure being placed in the hills. There was no grass seed 

 sown, but to my surprise then, as I was less experienced then 

 than I am now, a bunch of clover came up the succeeding 

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