THE FARMKR'S MAGAZLMi. 



435 



rcutal of farms, the increased though not iucreas- 

 iiijjj rate of hibour, uiul tho iiicrcasecl vahu; of arfi- 

 llcial iiiauurcs, that uakss i)ro[)cr atlcntiou is j)aid 

 to the prudent aud ccoiiomical application, as well 

 as liberal aud generous allowance of manures to our 

 fields and crops, it is in the very nature of things 

 utterly impossible for the agricultural iu.'erest to 

 keep (I neither mean nor say) a ■head but a-breast, 

 for that is our proper and natural position, witli tJie 

 commercial and nuuiufacturing interests of this great 

 country. Yes, sir, the time is gone by, when isola- 

 tion can benefit auy class ; and certainly if anything 

 were yet needed to dispel remaining class importance 

 and bigoted imaginary iude])endencc, it is the sad, 1 

 had almost said the unparalleled money crisis, or 

 ordeal through which our own country and other 

 nations of the earth are at this moment passing. 

 Talk, sir, of independence I^what can be the use of 

 such a word, wheu England, the wealthiest country 

 in the world, reels and staggers the moment brother 

 Jonathan lives beyond his means, and thereby be- 

 comes unable to meet his just obligations? And if it 

 be so with nations, so is it with individuals, ])ro- 

 fessions, and classes, and so is it with agriculture. 

 Agriculture can only thrive as such, wiien our mer- 

 taatile and manufacturing interests are in a healthy 

 state ; in fact, they arc mutual handmaids, or help- 

 meets for each other. Aud bearing this in view, I 

 proceed, without further jireface, to grapple with my 

 allotted subject. 



In doing so, I assume our lands are ready for the 

 reception of manures ; not ready, like the toil-worn 

 hoi'ses, by over- taxation, work, and exiiaustiou, but 

 ready from being laid dry and clean. 



All of you, I presume, are practically, if not literally 

 familiar with the sage saying, " Dry your lands, clean 

 your lauds, and feed your lands." By-the-bye, sir, 

 you may remember being present at our last agri- 

 cultural society's dinner, held in this very town. 

 Our chairman, on that occasion, Mr. Crackanthorpe, 

 claimed the authorship of that sagacious saying on 

 the part of Lcrd Lonsdale. Had Mr. Crackanthorpe 

 been conversant with the agricultural writers of 

 Rome, he would have known that it was Cato, the 

 famous old Roman, and not my Lord Lonsdale, who 

 uttered those memorable words, so pregnant nor/ 

 with the experience of ages, " Dry your land, clean 

 your land, and feed your land." 



Assuming that all whom I now address are disciples 

 of old Cato, and that all your lands are dry aud clean, 

 I proceed, not theoretically, but practically, to point to 

 those manures, as also the season, manner, and crops, 

 to which they should be applied, in order to ensure 

 successful results. Of course, most of you are aware 

 of the length of time to which my observations in 

 this district of country extend ; and therefore it is, 

 I only expect, and ask you to pay that attention, 

 which the facts to be stated, aud the circumstances 

 of the case, may seem to demand at your hands. 



To proceed then, and at the very beginning I 

 meet with diCficulties, these ditlieulties arising, in 

 part, if not altogether fronr the variety and number 

 of manures now palmed upon the agriculturist, each 

 claiming for itself to be the very panacea for all the 

 wants to which our cereal aud vegetable crops are 

 subject. And the first of these, and perhaps the one 

 upon which more than upon all the others put to- 



gether, there is the greatest diversity of opinion as to 

 whether it is a manure or not, is the farmer's time- 

 honoured assistant— lime. i\lany, aud some of them 

 great authorities too, only assign linn; a place in the 

 apothecary's or druggist's shop. Now, sir, with all 

 respect to these eminent authorities, I make bold to 

 say, they have maintained, with fidly as much dog- 

 matism as practical coanuon sense, tliat lime is sim- 

 ply a imrgative or medicine. 



Sir, I know not which may be the general opin- 

 ion enterl;ained by this Club, touching tl»e ingre- 

 dients which com[)Osethe most useful article in the 

 manure table or shop of the sagacious farmer of 

 olden times, nor am I at all anxious to open up what 

 I fear might only lead to, and end in very unprofita- 

 ble discussion. But assuming, if there is even one 

 here who holds that lime is simply a purgative, and 

 not a manure, even that one will admit, tliat waving 

 the discussion (inanure or medicine), lime is, at 

 all events, a very large manure-producer. How, 

 the question then is, and in what state should lime 

 be applied ? I presume, we are all at one in 

 reference to the necessity of its being burnt, cal- 

 cined, or in a caustic state. The question is, 

 how long should it lie after removal from the kiln, 

 and before its application to the land ? And before 

 we are in a condition satisfactorily to answer this 

 question, we must ascertain what results are ex- 

 pected from its application, and to what it is to be 

 applied. In a general way, we say, if it is to be 

 applied to old grass land, that is, land never in- 

 tended to be turned by the tearing plough, or at all 

 events very remotely, then to all such, but to such 

 alone, let it be completely fallen, dissolved, cooled : 

 in fact, all but soured, before it is spread over, and 

 in a quantity of not less than ten tons, and up to 

 fourteen per acre. Thi? quantity, the larger espe- 

 cially, is a liberal and generous allowance, in fact 

 almost a complete covering to the land, and tends 

 mightily to eradicate and waste away the old moss, 

 which, whether it be from the extreme humidity of 

 these two counties, Cumberland and Westmoreland, 

 I know not, but certain is the fact, moss is most 

 ])redominent in all our high j)astures. And if thi.s 

 statement is borne out by observation, which I 

 maintain it is, then certainly no small or inconsi- 

 derable advantage is gained ; as I doubt not, the 

 theoretical, as well as practical grazier, must have 

 noticed the single-pointed grasses that find their 

 way late in spring, through the dense hide or carpet 

 of moss with which all our high, and, even in many 

 cases, our low-lying pastures abound. Such pas- 

 tures, lying in a state of nature, may be, and gene- 

 rally are stocked or stinted late in spring, or early 

 in summer, with cattle. But what is the conse- 

 quence ? The poor animal is doomed to endless toil. 

 He must rise early, and labour late to keep alive, 

 to keep the skin and bones together, and then, 

 when withdrawn at our ever-memorable Broiigh- 

 hill time, the owner or grazier finds the summer 

 past, and his beast neither bigger nor better, and 

 that although paying a stint price— hardly an ac- 

 knowledgment for ])ossessiou— he has actually been 

 paying too dear for his whistle. But, on the other 

 hand, wherever this class of land or pasture has 

 had a liberal allowance of lime, in the manner de- 

 scribed, there immediately, without any application 



