1SS7] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



453 



view the stiheme is preijrmiit with the niost im- 

 portant advcuita<fes to tlie British empire, and 

 therelbre well worthy the attoiiiion of the cnliyrht- 

 ened and philanihro[)ic. statesinaii. If may also 

 serve to show how rinmerical and crude Uie the- 

 ories of those alarmists are, wiio would terrily us 

 with tile dread o(" a superabiuidaut [)npulation. 

 In tlie laiiwuaiife of tlie eloquent author whom 

 we have ah'oady had occasion to quote. "Culti- 

 vated produce has hitherto outrun population, and 

 to all ap()earance will always do so. From the 

 increasiuoj enterprise and science of agriculturists, 

 not only the merits of many of the varieties of 

 grain, roots, and <frasses. &(;., now in existence 

 and as yet very little known, will be more fully 

 elicited, but new varieties, and even genera pos- 

 ses.sed of more uset\d properties than any of those 

 now cultivated, will continue to be discovered. 

 From the tiicts we have adduced, and the extra- 

 ordinary phenomena constantly occurring in the 

 vegetable kingdom, this is by no means improba- 

 ble. Be this, however, as it may, two laws are 

 visibl}' operating in nature — one that its produce 

 shall always be increasahle by human labor and 

 skill. Ordinary but diligent exertions of these 

 have hitherto abundantly sufficed for all that has 

 been needed. Local distress, indeed, may arise 

 from temporary seasons, but never Irom a failure 

 ■ot the powers of vegetable nature." 



From ttie Maine b'armer. 

 INCREASED USE OF LIME IN MAINE. 



It is gratifying to notice the increasing inquiry 

 respectmg the best mode of raising grain crops, 

 and the consequent call liir, and application of those 

 articles which are found essential to the growth and 

 perfection of the kind of seed sown. The dispo- 

 sition which now manilests itseltj is greatly owing 

 to the stimulous which has been given by the 

 state in the shape of a bounty on the wheat crop ; 

 and farmers, who have thus become roused to the 

 importance of cultivating this crop themselves, 

 very naturally turn to the means tor doinsi it best. 

 Wherever lime has been properly used it has been 

 found to be a profitable and even essential article, 

 and there is much enquiry for it. Hitherto the 

 trouble of obtaining it, has prevented many from 

 using it as they would. We hope that this diffi- 

 culty is vanishing, lor it has been found that in 

 every county large deposites of limestone exist ; if 

 not pure enough for many of the purposes of the 

 arts, yet sufficiently so for all agricultural wants. 

 Even if this were not the case, the imnjense for- 

 mations of the best of limestones in the counties 

 of Waldo and Lincoln, and in other places on the 

 seaboard, can supply the whole union with this ar- 

 ticle for centuries to come ; and it is with pleasure 

 that we learn that some of our Kennebec friends 

 are making arrangements to keep a large quanti- 

 ty of fresh burnt lime- constantly on hand, and to 

 be sold at a rate which will satisfy every farmer 

 and induce him to lay in a store of" it lor the use 

 of his farm and compost heap. 



While upon this subject we would refer the 

 reader to the following" remarks of Mr. Ruffin, 

 Editor of the Farmers' Register, who has done 

 more than any other man' to enlighten people 

 upon the nature and uses of lime or calcareous 

 manures. In commenting upon a letter written 

 by our venerable friend, Charles Vaughan, esq., 



upon culture of winter wheat, he says, "The 

 reader of the foregoing piece (Mr. V.'s letter) 

 should bear in n)ind the great ditliculty and uncer- 

 tainty of raising wheat in Maine, which have ope- 

 rated so strongly on most liirnaM's, as almost lo 

 stop the culture, and on others to seek relief in the 

 suhstituliun of spring wheat and other inefficient 

 remedies. 



The legislature has entered upon the field of 

 controversy, and by ihe olier of a bounty on every 

 bushel raised, expect to bear down the existing ob- 

 stacles to wheat culture in Maine. 



This bounty, (on the policy of which we com- 

 mented at page 692, vol. iv. of the Register,) it is 

 said will have the eli'ect of increasing enormously 

 the crops of wheat raised in Maine — hut will not 

 remove or lessen the true and great obstacle, (//le 

 want of lime in the sinl.) and the increase will pro- 

 bably be purchased at a dear rate by the treasury 

 bounty. Let the legislature of Maine induce 

 (whether by bounties, instruction or otherwise,) 

 the application of calcareous manures on the lands 

 now so deficient in that necessary ingredient, and 

 their thence newly acquired fitness f^jr wheat will 

 cause the culture and success of that crop, without 

 a distinct legislative bounty for its production. In 

 the last paragraph of Mr. V.'s letter, there is a 

 strong confirmation of our opinion upon this sub- 

 ject, (which we have stated more at length before, 

 in the remarks referred to above,) in the fact that 

 newly cleared wood lands on which the wood has 

 been burnt, produce wheat with great certainty. 

 Now the only cause of this, is that the ashes of 

 the trees supply the land for one year with a suffi- 

 ciency of carl)onate and phosphate of lime to be 

 taken up by the wheat, and which ingredients, in 

 unusually large proportions, are essential to the 

 healthy existence of that crop. If the intelligent 

 and public spirited editor of the Maine Farmer 

 will exert his influence to have the trial of calca- 

 reous manures fairly and fully made on proper 

 soils in Maine, we will hazard any reputation that 

 we may possibly possess, by the prediction that 

 the alleged obstacles to that culture, of climate, 

 &c. will be (bund no longer to be very important." 



In answer to the above remarks of Mr. Ruffin, 

 we would with deference say — that we difier only 

 in the means of obtaining the same object. After 

 some seven or eight years' labor in the cause with 

 but partial success, we found it necessary to 

 change the shape of the contest, and rouse our 

 fiirmers by some immediate and personal incen- 

 tive to the production of wheat. This has been 

 effected by the bounty. 



There is no better way to rouse a people to si- 

 multaneous action than by touching their inter- 

 ests. M ake it evident to them by the shortest and 

 least possible amount of reasoning that it is for 

 their interest to do this or that, and they will soon 

 start an inquiry into the ways and means for doing 

 it. Hence the increase call for lime, arid conse- 

 quently the increased exertions made to supply 

 the call, and, beyond a doubt, the increased supply 

 of bread raised within our borders in fiiture. 



From the Genesee Farmer. 

 TENDENCY OF SOILS TO DETERIORATE. 



The natural, the inevitable tendency of all cul- 

 tivation of the soil, is deterioration. The richest 



