sequently applied orgaaic manures. Care must 

 alwayg be taken not to exhaust the soil by over- 

 cropping: after the application of lime in any 

 shape, and the most approved and least exhaust- 

 ing coui'se or rotation adopted on similar soils 

 should never be departed from ; and a farmer 

 should never yield to the lure of a deceitful fer- 

 tility consequent on a first application of lime ; 

 for the stimulus vv'hich produced this fertility 

 will speedily exhaust the vigpr of the soil, un- 

 less its energj- is supported by judicious man- 

 agement. 



11. It is very advantageous in some cases to 

 apply the lime in the form of a compost, with 

 clay, earth, or sand. A sort of artificial marl is 



thus formed, which is advantageously spread on 

 gra.s.s lauds, affording them additional nourish- 

 ment, at the same that the tiuickdime or hydrate 

 is partially deprived of its caustic property, 

 which recommends the practice much — caustic- 

 lime in powder being, in quantity, destructive to 

 living vegetables. When the object is to im- 

 prove the texture of a soil of sand, or clay, or 

 peat, a compost has much to recommend it. — 

 Lime combined with sand being best adapted 

 to an aluminous or peaty, and with clay for a 

 siliceous subject. A compost in such cases 

 has been found to be eminently beneficial, 

 and preferable to the application of unmixed 

 lime. 



ELECTRICITY 



APPLIED TO AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE. 



As heretofore intimated, we may here repeat, 

 that the experiments in the application of elec- 

 tricity, which have lately attracted a good deal 

 of notice in Europe, have not befcn attended 

 with results sufficiently uniform and encourag- 

 ing to warrant plain, prudent, practical men, in 

 giving their time and pains to a subject as yet 

 rather too much iVj the clouds. Still, as one of 

 the sentinels, on the look out for any thing that 

 may turn up in this very age of invention and 

 discovery, it will be expected of us to cry WIio's 

 there ? whenever any thing new makes its ap- 

 pearance on the Agricultural Horizon. 



In cases like this, as in the application of 

 steam and the attraction of lightning from the 

 clouds, the way is, perhaps too much so, to receive 

 the first suggestions with distrust, if not ridicule. 

 " Visionarj- enthusiasts," " crack-brained men " 

 — generally pennyless, arc left te go ahead, as 

 they may, or fall as tliey often do, victims of 

 poverty, distrusted and repulsed by your " prac- 

 tical man," and your "man of means" — .such 

 was the fate of Fitch— such of Rumsey. It 

 was not their kind fate to meet with a Bridge- 

 water, an Appleto!*, or a Lawrence; and 

 the world knows them not as the first suggest- 

 ers of steam appliance to navigation — poor thej- 

 lived and dying are forgotten. Within the 

 limits of this verj- corporation lives now almost 

 unknown, if we are not misinformed, a second 

 James Watt, in the person of a retiring and ob- 

 scure genius — Bogardus.* 



In the garret of the Treasury- Buildings at 

 Washington, is a gray headed man, of three 

 score years and ten, witli an eye and a soul 



* See Proceedingg of American Institute vol I 

 page 4^4. 



(217) 



fired with intelligence and spirit — the man who 

 first measured the Sabine with chain and com- 

 pass, who fought by the side of Jackson at New 

 Orleans — a man who thirty years ago wrote in 

 this city an " Emigrant's Guide," who of His- 

 torj'. Geography, and Statistics, knows more 

 than all in the building put together — and who 

 does the reader suppose this man is and what is 

 he about ? It is no other than the venerable 

 William Darby, employed this hot weather, 

 through his ' ten hours,' at one of the lowest 

 desks in the building, on the pay of a half- 

 fledged midshipman, at work that any common 

 clerk might perform — such is political justice — 

 but we had no calculation of being borne away 

 on a visit to him just now, even by force of 

 electricity. Electrocnliure, we were going to 

 say, will be further experimented upon by sci- 

 entific enthusiasts, and by tho.se who mingle 

 science with practice. If successful the public 

 will hear of and enjoy the results. Until these 

 are known, we shall do no more tlian note what 

 occurs at home and abroad, as briefly as may be 

 consistent with our duty to journalise such 

 things. Happily the monthly space allowed us 

 leaves us still room enough to keep pace with 

 all practical developments. None, therefore, we 

 are persuaded, will deem it inappropriate that 

 we cater as well for the man of the closet, as 

 for him of the field. For the votary of science 

 who goes before to explore the grounds and 

 mark out the way, as for the working man who 

 follows after to reap and gather the fruits of his 

 discoveries. What follows then, is what we 

 have seen most worthy of preservation. We 

 arc aware that what is slated in reference to 

 Mr. Foster's experiments, has already been 

 published in most of the agricultural journals ; 



