284 



THE FAllMEKS' REGISTER. 



dered nearly certain," says an eminent writer, 

 " that manures act by the salts they contain, act- 

 ing when brought in contact with the earths in 

 producing galvanic currents,'' and of course 

 stimulating the plants in their growth. On this 

 subject, however, I give no opinion ot" my own. 

 because I can comtirehend muih more cle;irly, 

 the neutralizing eiiects of acids and akalies. 

 and the ahisorbent powers of ihe difi'ereni ma- 

 terials. This view may regulate our practice 

 quite as well as the Ibrmer ; and indeed there 

 seems to be nothing discordant between them. 



It is not many years since the existence ol' acid 

 soils was denied, or overlooked. The editor ol 

 the Farmers' Register, in Virginia, was the first lo 

 point out the error or ovcrsicht ; and the subject 

 is now better understood. He i'urnished no evi- 

 dence indeed of the presence ofuncombined acid ; 

 but the circumstantial evidence wbs very strong 

 and pointed ; and in my judgment he liairly made, 

 out his case. Since the publication ol his •' Essay 

 on Calcareous JManures," other writers of great 

 respectability have either adopted his views, or 

 furnished additional and positive proofs of their 

 correctness. 



The question may occur, why is not an acid 

 soil as liertile as any other? It is more lertile 

 than any other for such plants as the red sor- 

 rel ; but not lor the plants which are tiie chief 

 object ol" the farmer's culture. These generally 

 require a neutral soil — that is, one in which lime, 

 under some form or other, occurs in consideiable 

 quantity. 



Although clay, according to Dr. Jackson's 

 classification, is arranged as an alkaline earth, 

 yet, as such, it is so feeble, that when united with 

 si/ica or sand alone, the mass becomes acid, and 

 unfitted /or our usual crops. On such lands, 

 Indian corn assumes a yellow sickly aspect, even 

 when it is not injured by stagnant water. And 

 what is the cure 1 Apply lime enough, and then, 

 says an accurate observer, '• the young corn takes 

 immediately a deep, healthy color, belore there is 

 any perceptible ditierence in size. The crop will 

 produce from fifty to one hundred per cent more 

 the first year, betbre its supply of I'ood can have 

 possibly been increased.* And why '? Because 

 the poison which has paralyzed it, was destroyed. 

 It is well known that when magnesia occurs 

 among quick-lime, it is often injurious to the 

 land. Such a mixture is called hot lime, from 

 its burning alkaline quality, — the magnesia not 

 combining so speedily as lime do^s, with car- 

 bonic acid, which would render it mild. Besiiles, 

 the lime, having a stronger attiaction lor that 

 acid, will either be served first, or take it from 

 the magnesia till it has got enough. I have 

 seen spots of earth, where large heaps had been 

 thrown down to slack, remain barren — as free 

 from vegetation as this floor — for two or three 

 years, although the ground had been carefully 

 scraped over when the heap was removed. 



Yet such ia the stuff to which the south-eastern 

 part of t'ennsylvania owes much of its fertility. 

 Formerly, when I lent a hand to that process, it 

 was considered that 30 or 40 bushels to the acre 

 were as much as the land could bear without 

 injury. It was Ibund, however, that rich land 

 would bear more than poor land ; and in pro- 



cess of time they discovered that 100 bushels to 

 the acre might be saltjly and profitably applied 

 to pastures, or meadows. The lime was slacked 

 in large heups ; and then Irom a cart or wagon, 

 on a calm day, it was scattered with a shovel 

 evenly over ihe grass. Il lell nmong the decaying 

 leaves, which in warm weather yield carbonic 

 acid, and it became mild without injuring the 

 crop. 



Some years ago, I publislied an account of 

 this simple ujethod, believing it supe^ijtf to that 

 of any other country, and you may juo^ of my 

 surprise to see it staled in a work of high au- 

 thority, hearing the date of 1840, that magnesiarj 

 limestone is unfit for ttie purposes of agricul- 

 ture ! 



Lime, however, possesses other properties be- 

 sides that of neutralizing acids. One of the 

 most remarkable is the power to absorb putre- 

 scent manures; and to hold the fertilizing es- 

 sence till it is wanted by the crop, through eve- 

 ry vicissitude of the seasons, and through indefi- 

 nite periods of time. There it is, locked up ; and 

 nothing at common temperatures, but the energy 

 of a growing plant, can unlock it.* 



Lime has therelbre been styled the basis of 

 all good husbandry. It stores up the manure 

 that is not immediately wanted, (or future use — 

 a kind of save-all. When the supplies from the 

 barnyard are spread and ploughed into a soil 

 that is nearly destitute of lime, the growing 

 crop catches a part of its virtue ; but a very 

 large part escapee, -and very little will be leit 

 (or the benefit ol those that succeed. 1 had 

 been used to such soils until I removed to my pre- 

 sent farm ; and was then agreeably surprised to 

 see how much more durable were the effects 

 of stable manure. My fields were limed by the 

 deluge. 



Unwholesome vapors and villanous smells 

 are also ahsortied by lime ; and some places, 

 once remarkable lor insalubrity, have been chang- 

 ed in their character by liming or marling the fields 

 around them. Nuisances are converted into ma- 

 nures. A striking illustration of this principle is 

 contained in the following account Irom the Essay 

 on Calcareous Manures. 



The carcass of a cow, killed by accident late 

 in the spring, was laid on the ground, and covered 

 bv about 25 bushels of broken shells mixed with 

 45 bushels of earih chiefly silicious. Alter the 

 rains had settled the heap, it was only six inches 

 thick over the highest part of ihe carcass. The 

 process of putrelaction was so slow, that several 

 weeks passed belore it was over ; nor was it ever 

 so violent as lo throw off any effluvia that the 

 calcareous earth did not intercept in its escape, so 

 that no offensive smell was ever perceived. In 

 October the whole heap was carried out and ap- 

 plied to one sixth of an acre of wheat ; and the 

 effect produced far exceeded that of the calcareous 



Essay on Calcareous Manures. 



* The following; extract from Liebig's Organic 

 Chemistry, is cited as a parallel case : 



" An abnormal production of certain component 

 parts of plants, presupposes a power and capability of 

 assimilation, to which ihe most powerful chemical action 

 cannot be compared. The best idea of it may be form- 

 ed by considering that it surpasses the power of the 

 strongest galvanic battery, with which we are not able 

 to separate the oxygen from carbonic acid," p. 184. 



