1837] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



373 



In prPtJOiiliiij; these inul similar notos of aijricu!- 

 tiiral practict's, aiy purpose is to coiivey iiilornia- 

 lioii aiul iiistriiciion, and by no means to seeic or- 

 ra.*ious to hostow |)orst)nai rompiiinnits, and euio- 

 iiicH, even whtMi they nia\- iic well lieserxi'il. — 

 My observaiioiis ai'e nol iiiliMiiled to ha\'e aii\' 

 liearinif on ilie individuals, whose lUrms or laliors 

 are relerred lo, except in strict and necessary con- 

 nection willi their characters as farmers. But so 

 Jar as the amount of a ipan's properly, or Iiis o-en- 

 ral |)roceedin<is and success, serve lo jrive charac- 

 l(!r, and Ibrce, and value, lo liis practices in larniini:-, 

 to pass by all such tliin<fs entirely vvilhout notice, 

 would, to strangers at least, p:realiy lessen whate- 

 ver value or instruction sucli statements miijht 

 possess. For these reasonvS, I hope that the lew 

 remarks that will Ibilow, will not be considered 

 either uncalled lor, or obtrusive. 



iMr. Sampson's distini^uished success, as a far- 

 mer, is known by report to all who have heard of 

 him ; but they have probably also heard, and cor- 

 rectl}', that he is a very wealthy farmer — and it is a 

 common sayin<r, that "with money enouffh," ma- 

 ny would be good farmers, who always have con- 

 tinued bad .ones, merely because poor. Mr. 

 Sampson berran his iarminip at daily labor, be- 

 tween the plou^rli handles, on his fi^ither's poor 

 farm, in Goochland — and from that humble be- 

 ginning, and with means of every kind, in his ear- 

 ly life, either very scanty, or entirely deficient, he 

 has gained his wealth and eminence, solely by liis 

 lianils and head — his labors, his knowledge, and 

 his attentive care, as a cultivator of the soil. 



But mere industry, even when guided by the most 

 correct knowledge, without capital, or with very lit- 

 tle capital, could not have alone produced this 

 result. He, therelbre, very discreetly, when first 

 of age, hiied his abilities for managiuij a larire 

 farming capital, to one who possessed the capi- 

 tal, and wanted and could well appreciate, and 

 properly compensate such services. He under- 

 took the management of the large and valuable 

 estate on James River, since owned by John 

 Wickham, esq., and remained twenty years in 

 that one service, and for the last sixteen of them 

 in that of the present propiietor — who is himselfj 

 one of the most enlightened, judicious and success- 

 ful agriculturists, of all who do not reside on, and 

 personally superintend their farms. In that time, 

 Mr. Sampson had earned enough capital of his 

 own, and credit, to buy the farm on which he has 

 since resided and cultivated ; and for that purpose, 

 with regret on both sides, the connexion ceased 

 between him and his employer, the long continu- 

 ance of which was so unusual, and so honorable 

 to botli parties. 



Mr. Sampson furnishes also a striking contra- 

 diction to another popular opinion, which is at 

 least as generally received as the one just stated, 

 that it requires wealth, or surplus capital, to make 

 a iTood farmer. This is the opinion that experi- 

 meaiers are always bad fanners. That there are 

 very many injudicious experimenters, and that 

 they are, of course, unsuccessful as farmers, is 

 very true; but it is equally true, that there are a 

 hundred times as many persons, who are as bad, 

 a.nd even worse faraiers, who never tried an expe- 

 riment hi their lives. Mr. Sampson has been 

 throughout his faming life, in the management of 

 his own lands, a frequent and bold experimenter. 

 And though no one can expect the greater pro- 



portion of any m-w experiments to be profitable or 

 successtid, in his case, their general result has 

 certainly not accordi'd vvilh ilie [lopular opinion of 

 the character and the lorlun<;s of experimeuiing 



(ill iners. 



Till!: ALM:(;i:i) nisAi'i'ioARANn: of i.iaiE, af- 



TlAi ITS Al'PLU'ATION. 



The following-, is an entire though a sliort article, 

 of the last No. of tlie Cultivalur: and iVoni its f'oiiri, 

 seems to be editoiial. 



"Lime, we mean the carbonate, whether in the form 

 of powdered limestone, eliete lime, chalk, marine 

 shells or marl, diliers in one particular from the other 

 common earths- — clay and sand :- — it decomposes and 

 disappears in the soil — sund and clay do not. Hence 

 the advantage of re-appiying calcareous matters to 

 soilsat intervals of a tewyears — of re-liming, re-marl- 

 ing or re-ashing liliagH lands." 



We should not have discovered what was meant to be 

 conveyed by the expression that lime "decomposes and 

 disappears in the soil," if it were not made sufficient- 

 ly clear by the context, that the writer considers the 

 carbonate of lime as a temporary and transitory ma- 

 nure, which, at intervals of time, and not of long time, 

 (if requiring renewal in "a few years") will disappear, 

 j like putrescent manures, and the soil be again destitute. 

 We should not have expected this opinion to be either 

 entertained and thus l)roadly expressed, or endorsed by 

 the editor of the Cultivator — though we may find as 

 eioneous opinions on lime in almost every book on ag- 

 riculture, and almost every week, in some agricultural 

 publication, and seldom think it vvortli while to notice, 

 or correct them. 



II is very true, according to our views, that calcare- 

 ous earth, when given to the soils that most require it, 

 and in barely sutficient quantities, is decomposed, and 

 forms new combinations of lime (but little, if at all 

 known to chemists, ) in the soil, and in the plants which it 

 helps to nourish. But this decomposition \s\evy differ- 

 ent from the destruction or disajypearance of the manure 

 A very small proportion of lime enters and forms part 

 of growing plants; and so much as is carried off in the 

 grain to market, or is not returned to the land in ma- 

 nure afterwards, certainly does "disappear" and is lost 

 to the land. But this proportion is so small, that, except 

 in theory, it is scarcely to be considered an exception to 

 the permanency of calcareous manures. So some por- 

 tion of silicious earth is, in like manner, taken up by 

 the growing wheat and other plants, and therefore, it 

 Would be equally correct to speak of the silicious sand 

 in soil as a fugitive ingredient, which will require 

 renewal "at intervals" if not "of a few years," at 

 least of a few centuries. Practically, the lime given, 

 by nature to the fine lands of western JVew York will 

 be as little likely to "disappear" in the cultivation of 

 centuries, as will the sand be perceptibly be diminish- 

 ed on the lands lying still nearer to tlie residence of 

 the editor of the Cultivator. And when the calcare- 

 ous ingredient has been given by man, to a soil natu- 

 rally deficient, "whether in' the form of powdered 

 limestone, effete lime, marine shells, or marl," there is 



