1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



291 



To Mr. John Rlar.^hiill, for the best heifer under 

 two years old, by CardwelTs Durham, out oC 

 tlu>. Ponipey cow. 



To Mr. .loliii ]Marshai!, for the best brood mare, 

 Whiitloborry, by Roanoke, out of Wakefield, 

 hvSir Hal. 



To Capt. llonry A. Watkins, for the best yoke 

 oxen. 



Do. do. do. do. mule. 



To Mr. Henry Carnngton, for the best beef. 



J)o. do. do. do. do. heili-r un- 



der three and over two years old, by Col. Rich- 

 ardson's bull Powell. 



To Mr. Ilcnry Carrinfrton, for tlie best filly one 

 year old, by imported Claret, out of Blanch, by 

 (Ja.scoio;ne, c. d. JMiss Ryland. 



To Mr. R. I. Gaines, for the best bull. 



J)n. do. do. do. Saxon ram. 



JNlaj. "William Gaines, for the best two-year old 

 colt, by Carolinian. 



IMr. Thomas F. Merryman, for the best foal, by 

 imported Emancipation. 



To Mr. Wyatt Card well, for the best saddle 

 horse, out of Amy, by Gracchus, by Gas- 

 coiffne. 



■Communicated by order of the Society, 



Hexry Carrington, Sccry. 



From the Cultivator. 

 MINERAL MANURES. 



Although there is much to please and interest 

 the mind in practical firminn;, yet, devoid and 

 apart from the theory, it is little eipe than a rou- 

 tine, suited to the capacity and ambition of uncul- 

 tivated minds. An active and enlio;htened mind 

 seeks to understand the cause and efiect — to apply 

 the sciences; in short, it is restive, until the que- 

 ries embraced in agriculture, are disposed of and 

 determined upon sound philosophical principles. 

 'Tis this constitutes theory; and 'tis this theory, 

 that unlblds a world of beauties to the scientific 

 agriculturist, of which the mere prejudiced practi- 

 cal farmer, the mere tyro and novitiate, must re- 

 main ignorant, and that too, of the highest branch 

 of the prolession which he follows. 



Tlie improvement which has been effected with- 

 in the last twenty years in several of the eastern 

 counties of Pennsylvania, (and especially in 

 Chester,) is almost incredible. And the whole is 

 mainly attributed to a regular and judicious use 

 of lime as a manure. To me, it has been matter 

 of astonishment, to find this inestimable restora- 

 tive meet with so little favor in the minds of the 

 conductor and correspondents of the Cultivator. 

 My farm is situated in a district of secondary for- 

 mation, and the soil is principally calcareous, yet 

 I have seen the most surprising beneficial effects 

 attending the free use of lime and plaster; the 

 latter apparently reacting on the former, and con- 

 sequently, the greatest benefit is derived by using 

 them together. The crops, not oniy on my own 

 farm, but on others in this vicinity, have been dou- 

 bled by a free use of mineral manures. When 

 a farm has been improved so as to produce heavy- 

 crops, there will be such a corresponding increase 

 in the quantity of stable manure as to insure its 

 future fertility. I look upon the immense beds of 



limestone in this region as nn inexhaustible store 

 designed by the wise CJovernor of the world to 

 keep up the strength of the land, in all time to 

 come. I regard the limestone of Pennsylvania 

 as a mineral, which will confer more real benefit 

 on posterity than any of her other mineral trea- 

 sures. The aid which it promises to contribute to 

 the support and improvement of her agriculture 

 cannot be easily overrated. Some idea may be 

 formed oi' the estimation in which lime is held 

 here as a manure, by the fiict, that farmers come 

 fiom 25 to 30 miles, i. e. i'rom Maryland and the 

 poor district ol primitive formation in the south- 

 ern part of Chester county, bordering on the Mary- 

 land line, to my limekiln and others in the neigh- 

 borhood; the lime costing those farmers 25 cents 

 per bushel when delivered. To the liirmers in 

 that quarter, lime is the "anchor of hope ;" there 

 it has already made the barren and desert place 

 glad, and is fast putting a new and improved fiice 

 upon the country. The Itirmers, even there, with 

 this far fetched means of improving their land, 

 prefer bettering their condition by liming near a 

 good market,rather than migrate to the exuberant 

 soil, and realize the Utopian dreams and liiiry tales 

 of the " far west." 



On part of my farm, 300 bushels of lime per 

 acre have been ap|)lied within 30 years, at the 

 rate of about 100 bushels per acre at a dressing, 

 and always put on ireah, and slaked, then imme- 

 diately spread. I am not inclined to believe that 

 liaje should become carbonated before it is appli- 

 ed. I adopt Sir Humphrey Davy for my proto- 

 type, in every case involving agricultural chemis- 

 try. 1 shall be encouraged so to do, until some 

 modern wiseacre can clearly demonstrate that Sir 

 H. is wrong. Doubtful points in Davy's theory 

 have become demonstrable truths with me, after 

 being aided and enlightened by the lamp of expe- 

 rience. Lime, in its fresh caustic state, only 

 wliile an alkali, acts as a decomposing agent in the 

 sod; rendering v(!getable substances soluble — but 

 when a mild carbonate, it operates only like marl, 

 in improving the texture of the soil, according to 

 Davy, whose authority is unquestionable, and the 

 theory, at all events, may fairly challenge contra- 

 diction; hence the advantage of applyng lime, 

 like stable manure, in a fresh state. 



With regard to the theory, or the manner, in 

 which gypsum operates on vegetation, an acciden- 

 tal circumstance which occurred in my practice 

 or under my own eye, goes further to establish 

 the truth in my mind, than all the ink which has 

 been spilled on the subject; even the adopted 

 theory of Prof. Low and British Husbandry to the 

 contrary notwithstanding. In April, 1S32, I sow- 

 ed hall a bushel of plaster on a small piece of land 

 in the middle of a wheal field, for experimiCnt in 

 order to ascertain whetherthe plaster would have 

 the slightest effect even of changing the color of 

 the wheat. The result answered my expectations; 

 there was not a shade of change in tlie color of 

 the wheat in the future stages of its growth. In 

 autumn following, the same field was again 

 ploughed for wheat and the plaster course turned 

 down, the field was deeply ploughed, say 7 or 8 

 inches — the spring fijllowing the field was sown 

 with clover seed; the secret then was speedily 

 developed; when the wheat was cut in harvest the 

 growth of clover on that same land which hatl 

 been sown with plaster, was so luxuriant as to 



