No. 11. 



Long Manures. — Lime. 



353 



and air, incline a plant more to become fruc- 

 tiferous than to an increase of wood, or an 

 extension of branches ; and in such a situa- 

 tion, the greatest supply of food beincr appro- 

 priated to the production of fruit or seed, tlie 

 plants grow less to stalk, l)ranches, and leaf. 



Hence, it is very truly remarked by an 

 ingenious writer on fruit trees, that they 

 produce the most generous fruits when their 

 roots spread near the surface of the earth : 

 and whether we consider such effects to be 

 produced by the roots being kept more within 

 the influence of the sun and air, or by the 

 peculiar nature of ihe fond supplied by the 

 soil in such a situation, it operates in sup- 

 port of one and the same conclusion, namely, 

 that it is necessary the roots should be kept near 

 the surface ; for whether that which supplies 

 the food of plants be a red, a black, or a 

 brown loam, or sand, or clay, the proper 

 quality of food, or habit in the plant to in- 

 duce fructification and produce the most per- 

 fect seed and fruit, in the most abundant 

 quantity, can only be furnished within a cer- 

 tain depth. 



Thus, the roots having collected and ab- 

 sorbed, or taken in a supply of food or nu- 

 triment for the sustenance of the plant, the 

 next object for consideration will be, how, 

 or in what manner, or by what means, such 

 food is disposed of, and appropriated to the 

 uses of plants, and to the formation of its 

 various substances 1 — an inquiry of the 

 greatest importance, and is determined by 

 the leaves, stalk, and branches." 



Long Manures. 



The knowledge of some general principle 

 is necessary, to enable the farmer to prose- 

 cute, with success, some of the most import- 

 ant branches of his business. The correct- 

 ness of this remark is demonstrated, in the 

 successful application of the different kinds 

 of manures. It is well known they cannot 

 communicate nourishment to the plant, with- 

 out going into a state of solution, for which 

 water is the agent. So far as the food of 

 plants is supplied by the soil, it appears very 

 certain that it is imbibed by the extremities 

 of the roots only. For it has been discovered 

 that the portion of the soil which is soonest 

 exhausted, is precisely that part in which 

 the greatest number of the extremities of the 

 roots lie. If those extremities are cut off, 

 the root increases no more in length; but the 

 sides send off fibres which perform the func- 

 tions of roots and imbibe food by their ex- 

 tremities. It appears, then, that the nourish- 

 ment derived from manure, must first be dis- 

 solved by the moisture of the soil, and after- 

 wards come in contact with these extremi- 

 ties, to assist the growth of the plant. Hence 

 the application of undecayed vegetable ma- 



nure, as straw, cornstalks, &c. spread and 

 mixed with the soil as eU'eclualiy as is prac- 

 ticable with the plough or harrow, will con- 

 tribute much less to the value of a crop than 

 many suppose. The following account, by 

 a distinguished author, devchipcs facts re- 

 lating to this subject, which may be of much 

 practical utility : — It appears, says he, from 

 the experiments of Mr. llassenfrats, that sul)- 

 stances employed as manures produce effects 

 in times proportioned to tlieir degree of pu- 

 trefaction ; those substances most putrid pro- 

 ducing the most speedy effect, and of course, 

 soonest losing their efficacy. Having ma- 

 nured two pieces of the same kind of soil, 

 the one with a mixture of dunjr and straw 

 highly putrefied, the other with the same 

 mixture newly made, and the straw almost 

 fresli, he observed, that during the first year, 

 the plants which grew on the land manured 

 with the putrefied dung, produced a much 

 better crop than the other; but the second 

 year, (no new dung being added) the ground 

 which had been manured witli the unputre- 

 fied dung, produced the best crop. The 

 same thing took place the third year, after 

 which both seemed equally exhausted. — Ge- 

 nessee Farmer. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Lime. 



Mr. Editor, — I have just done kivering my 

 corn, as we old field Marylanders say ; and 

 now that I have time to lay down the hoe, 

 I hope you will allow me to break a lance 

 with your correspondent, Mr. S. Kirkbridge 

 — whether a real or fictitious name I know 

 not, nor is it material. I observe that he 

 has made an attack upon the report of our 

 Stale Geologist, (see April number of the 

 Cabinet, page 275.) I am not about to defend 

 the author of that report, he is able to defend 

 himself when necessary to do so — all that 

 interests me in the comments of your cor- 

 respondent upon that report is this: — I fear 

 that what he has said in opposition to the 

 use of lime (coming, as it does, from a 

 Pennsylvanian) may have a pernicious effect 

 upon the minds of some of my timid neigh- 

 bours, who have but just commenced re- 

 claiming their worn-out land by the use of 

 that article. I have had some little experi- 

 ence myself in the use of it, and 1 have no 

 doubt as to the great benefit that will result 

 to this section of country from its applica- 

 cation, even to the extent recommended by 

 Mr. Ducatel, any thing your Morrisville cor- 

 respondent may have said to the contrary, 

 notwithstanding. 



1 have seen it applied at the rate of from 

 sixty-five to one hundred and twenty bushels 

 per acre, upon land entirely worn out by our 



