38 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



tinue them as they now are. And now the whole 

 question is narrowed down to this single point, in 

 which stale are manures most susceptible ol pre- 

 servation, when Ipfc on the eiiifkce, or when par- 

 tially covered? On this suhjpct, I suppose, there 

 can be no division of sent nient. Every one will 

 agree, that vpgelaiion undorjiDes a murh more 

 rapid deray when covered ilian when uncovered. 

 In accordance vviih this, every farmer ploughs in 

 his green crofis, or dry crops either, when he wish- 

 es ihem to undergo a speedy decomposiiion. I 

 conclude, therelbre, thai surface applications of 

 manure are to be preferred. 



COCKROACHES. 



From tlie American Farmer, for 1827. 



Having eeen a plan proposed some lime since, 

 in the Former, for driving the cockroach Horn 

 books, furniture, &c., by the use of spirits of tur- 

 pentine, for the benefit of those infested with ihem, 

 I propose the followinff plan, the success of which 

 1 have ILilly tested. Take an ounce vial and put 

 in sweet oil or soap-euds, to the depth of an inch, 

 and set the via! against the books, shelves, or 

 places infested, so as to facilitate their getting in. 

 They will readily go into the vial, and are unable 

 to return, as the oil or suds renders it impossible 

 for them to climb up the sides of the vial. I tried 

 this plan in a closet very much infested, and in a 

 few weeks the vial was filled within an inch of the 

 neck. I emptied it, and in a lew days there was 

 not one to be found in the closet. If you consider 

 this worthy of publication, it is at your service. 



OK LIME AS MANURE, AND CALCAREOUS FOR- 

 MATIONS OF THE MOUNTAIN REGICN. 



[The remarks and inquiries addressed to us by 

 one of the most intelligent and successful improvers 

 of land in western Virginia, concerning the calca- 

 reous tufa of the limestone streams and other 

 calcareous substances of the mountain region, 

 have induced the republication of the following 

 letter, which presents views that we long ago 

 took up on that head, and which we have since 

 had no cause to alter, nor means to test, by further 

 observations. — Ed. F. K.] 



From the Winchester Republican, 

 Agricultural Society of the Valley— May 29, 1826. 



A letter from Wm. B. Pace, esq. enclosing a 

 communication from E. Ruffin, esq. was receiv- 

 ed, and the communication Irom Mr. RufRn or- 

 dered to be printed. 



Coggiri's Point, October 20, 1825. 



Dear sir, — Your letter reached me only a Cew 

 days before the commencement of a long journey, 

 which has prevented my attending to your re- 

 quest until this time. 1 shall now endeavor to 

 answer your inquiries as fully as my limited means 

 will permit ; though I cannot expect to furnish 

 anv thing of more value than loose hints, which 

 perhaps may serve as subjects for a Frederick 



farmer to think about, but not as rules to direct 

 his practice. 



It should be observed, that though I have ap- 

 plied 7nild lime !o more than 500 acres, scarcely 

 any use h;is been made by me of caustic or quick 

 lime; and therelbre I have no practical know- 

 ledge 01 its peculiar solvent power. According 

 to the theory of Davy, while lime continues caus- 

 tic, it acts powerfully on all animal and vegetable 

 matters in contact with it — breaking down and 

 rotting whatever is hard, insoluble and inert — and 

 driving off or destroying whatever is already 

 rotten, or fit for the immediate use of growing 

 plants. Hence, we may infer that the mere 

 causticity of lime will he serviceable or hurtful, 

 according to the state of the vegetable ingrediens 

 of the soil. But as usually applied, quick lime 

 becomes as mifi as before burning, by again ab- 

 sorbing carbonic acid from the atmosphere, before 

 its solvent power can be exerted. JNor do I think 

 this power can salely be used in our climate, ex- 

 cept in very lew cases j as on broom-straw old 

 fields, or newly cleared poor woodland, which 

 contain much inert, and hut little active or soluble 

 vegetable matter. Under our hot summers, 

 vegetable manures rot too fast, and the cultivator 

 should endeavor to retard, rather than hasten their 

 decomposition. But a different practice may be 

 proper in colder climates. Frequent applications 

 of caustic lime must be highly useful in Scotland, 

 lor. example, where vegetable matters, unrotted 

 and insoluble, have continued to accumulate and 

 extend, until one sixth of that country is covered 

 with barren peat. 



It follows, then, that however powerful may be 

 the effects of caustic lime, they must be consider- 

 ed as separate and distinct from the durable and 

 far more valuable eflfecls of mild lime, or calca- 

 reous manures in general. The same substance, 

 (quick lime) will at different periods act as two 

 kinds of manure, entirely different in their modes 

 of operation ; and, on the other hand, many sub- 

 stances having different names, (as old burnt 

 lime, chalk, shells, limestone, leached ashes, and 

 marl,) all have different proportions of the same 

 calcareous ingredient, and ought to be considered 

 as the same manure. Yet most writers class 

 these manures under different heads, without 

 knowing the sameness of their predominating 

 qualities ; and many absurd practices owe their 

 origin and continuance to the same error in our 

 practical men. Thus the industrious farmers of 

 Long Island have long used, as a manure, leach- 

 ed ashes, brought hundreds of miles by water : 

 they have even sometimes stripped the soap fac- 

 tories in Petersburg, paying five or eight cents the 

 bushel, besides the expense of so long a trans- 

 portation. Yet, whatever benefit was obtained 

 from this manure, they might have found as well 

 in the fossil shells which I believe lie beneath the 

 surface of all Long Island, and which, even if 

 carried the same distance, might be applied at 

 less than half the cost of an equal value of ashes. 

 Your remarks show that we agree in this view — 

 and that you correctly consider our calcareous 

 manures as substantially the same, though your 

 practice maybe confined to calcined limestone, 

 as mine has been to fossil shells. 



I now proceed to answer your particular inqui- 

 ries. You ask my '' opinion as to the utility of 

 lime as a manure in general ; to what crops and 



