352 . 
The black sand of the cranberry-lands of New Jersey contains about 
24 per cent. of vegetable matter. Where this is present no lime should 
be used, at least on the high lands, but irrigation is always necessary. 
The report of the New Jersey State Board of Agriculture for 1875, page 
28, gives an analysis of nine varieties of soil of that State, consisting of 
gneiss, magnesian, slate, red shale, marl, soil of drift of South Jersey, 
soil of alluvium, sea-border, and soil of the tide-marshes. The organic 
matter contained in these soils is, respectively, 6.89, 5.52, 5.12, 7.45, 
12.56, 1.90, 1.61, 4.14, 7.45 per cent. But the soil of the cranberry-bogs 
on which lime has been applied at the rate of 40 bushels to the acre is 
composed wholly of vegetable matter. In the same report, page 55, 
appears the following statement of an experiment made with lime by 
David Petit, esq., Salem, N. J.: 
About twenty-five years ago I had a field of the outcropping of the middle green- 
sand marl-bed covered with Pennsylvania slaked lime, 100 bushels to the acre, before 
seeding with wheat. Iwas advised not to do so, that it would injure the crop, for lime 
applied directly to the wheat-crop would prevent its ripening and cause it to rust. 
But the land being of a dark color and early, the crop was good, without rust, and I 
had a good stand of young grass; but the next year the action of the lime with or 
upon the marl (although it was the poor outcropping) was strong on the young clover— 
gave it such an impetus in growth that it shot up above the timothy, then fell, anc? 
smothered it out long before mowing time. 
It is stated by William G. Woodnut, page 54, that he used 900 bushels 
on one-third of an acre for a compost for low meadow to great advan- 
tage. He says: 
Nine hundred bushels on one-third of-an acre will make nearly 17 bushels-to the 
rod, which will cover the land an inch deep. If the land was plowed 6 inches deep it 
would make the compost one-seventh lime. The result of the compost when applied 
to the lower meadow was very satisfactory. 
The president of the West Jersey Agricultural and Horticultural 
Association, Salem County, page 55, says: 
Our farmers are using lime freely. * * * The quantity used per acre is from 40 
to 60 bushels of slaked lime. * * * Many use it thus: The strips of land where 
the lime lay in rows were plowed, lime and sod, under together. No result here til 
after years. In fact its use seemed narrowed down to this—get the lime on. 
William Statesir, esq., of Freehold, writes, page 56, that he uses 75 
bushels to the acre with advantage. 
We have evidence that in the Connecticut River Valley from 200 to 
300 bushels to the acre have been used with advantage. In this valley, 
doubtless, a large amount of organic matter is deposited yearly, and in 
this case a large amount of lime may be profitably used. In the nine 
cases of analysis given, the organic matter in the respective soils varies 
from 1.90 to 12.56 per cent., the whole giving an average of about 5.84 
per cent. The farmers use "from 40 to 100 bushels to the acre with ad- 
vantage. Now the cranberry bogs will average, probably, 18 inches of 
soil composed almost wholly of organic matter. If, then, 75 bushels 
are required to the acre containing 5.74, say 6 per cent., of organic 
matter, how much should a cranberry-grower use whose peaty soil con- 
tains 75 per cent.? It would require 9374 bushels to the acre to equal 
that used by the New Jersey farmer; but as a large portion of the solu- 
ble lime would be washed away annually by irrigation, 1,000 bushels 
per acre would sdarcely equal the farmer’s application of 40 or 50 
bushels. 
But, fortunately, these calculations do not apply to ail cranberry 
lands, since some require little or no lime, and, as stated in a former re- 
port on this subject, the use of lime in some cases would be injurious. 
