32^1 



SCIENTIFIC MEMORANDA. APPLICABLE i 

 TO RUHAL ECONOMY. | 



Lime U ;in alkuline onrlh, ;iiid wlion (livesiod ; 

 of the aciil wilh which it is natui-.tlly comliined, i 

 is caustic lilie potash. It exi.sts iii rock<, in; 

 eiirths, in waler, in vegetahles, ;inil is the b;isis | 

 of Hninial bones. It is combined wilh carbonic; 

 acid in common lime stone, chalic, marble, and; 

 the shells of marine animals; with sulpiiiiric 1 

 acid in gypsum ; with fluoric acid in Derbyshire | 

 spar, iVom which is manufactured vases and ; 

 other ornaments ; with phosphoric acid in the; 

 bones of animals and shells o\ &%<''. To render: 

 carbonate of lime (common iiine stone) snbser-i 

 vient to r.griculfnn; and the arlr, the carbonic 

 acid is expelled by licaf, in ;!ie common proces.s 

 ot burning;. It Ihns becomes caiul'tc or quid;. 

 lime. But its value as such is impaired in pro- 1 

 portion as it recoinbines wilh carbonic acid,: 

 which it does rapidly if exposed to the atmos-! 

 phere. It also possesses a strong affinily for' 

 water, and will absorb one lonrih of its weight i 

 o^" that fluid ; and yet remain perfectly dry: — ' 

 The water becomes solidified, and identified | 

 wilh the earth. The heat, therefore, that is | 

 evolved in the process of slacking lime, is the | 

 caloric of the wafer, as it passes to its solid 

 state, anil does not proceed from the lime as is 

 sometimes supposed. — Parkes. U|)on an aver- 

 age every Ion of lime stone has been found on 

 experirarfnt, to produce II cwt. I qr, ~i lbs. of 

 quicklime, weighed before it was cold ; and 

 that when exposed to the air it increased in 

 weight daily, at the rale of a hundred weight 

 per ton, I'or the first live or six days after it was 



drawn from the kiln Bishop H'aho.i. These 



facts suggest the impoitance of transporting 

 lime, where it is to be used at a distance from 

 the kiln, as soon as possible after il is burnt ; 

 and also of using it speedily when its cuuslic 

 qualities are lu be relied on. Slacked lime, 

 therefore, is a combination of .^^iS parts of lime, 

 and 17 parts of »vater solidified; and in this 

 state it is called hydrate of lime, to denote its 

 union with hydrogen, the principal constituent 

 of water.— i'ce Duvu''s .'ig. Chcm. p. 283. 



Caustic or fjuick-lirae is extensively used in 

 the arts, but 1 shall confine my present observa- 

 tions to some of ils benefits in husbandry. 



^Vhcn lime, freshly burnt or slacked, is mis- 

 fid with any moist fibrous vegetable matter, 

 ilicrc is a strong action between the two, and 

 Jliey form a kind of compost together, of which 

 u part is usually solulile in water. Lime thus 

 lenders matter which was before inert, nutri- 

 tive to vegetables ; and as charcoal and oxygen 

 abound in all vegetable matters, (]uick lime is 

 converted into mild lime by absorbing carbonic 

 acid, which is their joint product. — Davij. Lime 

 pos.srsscs the property of hastening the dis- 

 solution and putrefaction of all animal and veg- 

 etable matters, and of imparting to the soil the 

 power of retaining a qnaritity of moisture ne- 

 cessary for the nourishment and vigorous growth 

 of plants. — I'arkcs. 



-Mild lime, powdered lime stone, marles or 

 olialks have no action of this kind upon vegeta- 

 ble matter. By their action they prevent the 

 aio rapid doco.'nposition of substances already 

 ilissulved; but they have no tendency to form 

 soluble matters. — Davy. 1'hey are niecliKuic- 

 ally beneficial ujion sands, in rendering them 

 more firm ami adhesive; and u;ion clays, in ren- 

 dering them less so. 



NKW ENGLAND FARMER. 



[May, 5, 



The fertility of a soil depends materially (the useless in a state of solution if it so abounded as 

 fond of vegetables being alike present) on its j >vholly to exclude air, for then the fibres or 

 absurbont ipialities ; or the power which it pos- 1 mouths, unable to perform their functions, would 

 sesses o( retaining a quaiilily of moisture neces- i soon decay and rot oiT. 



sary I'or tiie nourishment ami vigorom groivth i Earths are bad conductors of heat; and it 

 of plants. When this power is great, Davy ob- , would be a considerable time before the gradu- 

 scrve?, the plant is 3up;)lied with n)oisfure in ully increasing temperature of spring could corn- 

 dry seasons ; and tlie ejfecl of evaporation in the i municate its genial warmth to the roots of veg- 

 daij !s codulcracted by the absi-rption of u'/iieoKS etahles, if iheir lower strata were not heated by 

 vc'/jo:(/-/(-om t/iC o(;/ioi/j/iti-c, l>y the interior parts! some other moans. To remove this defect, 

 of the soil during the day, and by both the inle- 1 which alwajs belongs to a close compact soil, 

 rior and the exterior di.ring the night. This ; it is necessary to have the land open, that there 

 shows the importance of keeping the soil loose, ' may be a free ingress of the warm air and tepid 

 even in droughts, in order to render it perinea- 1 rains of spring. Animal and vegetable substan- 

 ble to the atmosphere and dews. Various soils 1 ces, exposed to the alternate action of heat, 

 drieil at 1 12, were found by Davy, to acquire 1 moisture, light jnd air, undergo sponlaneousf de- 

 in an hour, by exposure to a moist air of 62* compositions, wliich would not lake place inde- 

 an increased weight of from 3 to 18 grains in i pendent of it. Thus pulverizalion increase.s the 

 ItJOO, in proportion to the vegetable and finely tiu<Bher of the fibrous roois or tnonilis of plants; 

 divideit matter contained in ihe ditlerent speci- 1 facilitates the more speedy and perfect prepar- 

 mens — the absorption being greatest where ! alien of the^r food ; and conducts it, .^o prepar- 

 Ihese most prevailed. Vegetable substances ed, more readilv to their roots. — 5<:s Griic:i:U. 

 possess the power of absorbing ami retaining -...aile and Loudau. 



moisture in the greatest degree. Mild lime, on These principles are illu*!rated by the fertili- 

 carbonate of lime imparts this property to sands ty of a clover lay. The roois of ihis plant [lene- 

 iii a retn-itkable degree; and marles are there- irate Ihe joil in every direction; and as lliey 

 fore nsctul on such soils in proportion as they <lecay,lhi'y alTMid not only the elements of food, 

 abound in this carbonate. ; but Iroe admission to heal, air and moisture, the 



— ! agents for preparing this food. A com[jlefe pul- 



Pulicri^ation. — Even a free silicious soil will veri/.Mtion is induced. Mence nio't ci'ops are 

 if left untouched become too compact for the ! benotilted by a clover lay; and probably none 

 proper admission of air, rain and heat, and lor j more so than Indian corn, which is enabled to 

 the free growth of the lilires ; and strong upland | multiply its mouths to an incredible extent. It 

 clays, not submitted to the plough or spade, is the properly xvhich they possess Of pulv'eriz- 

 will, in a few years, be found i<i the possession ing the soil, that renders almost all root crops 

 of fibrous rooted perennial grasses, which form melioratitig, and piojier to precede barley and 

 a clothing on their surface, or strong taproot- wheat. The fffects of jjulverizalion in multi- 

 ed trees, as the oak, which force their way 1 njyjng fibres Is particularly apparent in trees 

 through the interior uf the mass. Annuals and jwnl shrubs. Trees taken I'rom a forest arc 

 ramentaceous rooted herbaceous plants cannot found to possess tar less fibrous roots than thn.-e 

 penelrale into such a soil. taken from a ciiliivaled nursery. This is ihe 



The first object then of pulverization is to reason ihat forest trees, raised in a nursery, are 

 give scope lo the roots of vegetables ; lor wilbout i rnurh more liable to grow than those taken fioni 

 abundance et'llicse no plant will become vigor- uncultivated giounds. Curwen has furnished a 

 ous, whatever may be the richness of the soil in ■ remarkable evidence of ihc benefit of pulverizn-, 

 which It is pl.icoj. The fibres of the roots take,jjon, in his '• Hints on agricultural subjects.'" — '. 

 up the tx ract of the soil, or food of ihe vegeta- [jg grew thirty five and an half Ions of cabha- 

 ble, in jiroporlion 10 their number. The more ges, somd of them \veighing fit'ly-five pounds-, 

 the soil is pulveii?ed, the more these fibres are (,„ m, ;,cre of stifi" clay, in a very dry season ; 

 increased, the more lood is abs irbed, aad the .,nd he imputes tlie success of the experiment 

 more vigorous does the plant become. Diihamel principally to very frequent ploughings which 

 and Tull ascertained by various experiinents,tliat he gave to tlie crop, 

 ihe increase of these fibres wasio proportion to 

 the pnlvei j/.ntion of the soil ; though it is noin 

 known, that the vigor of growth, deper.ds not 

 as Tull suppofiei).^ entirelij upon pulverization, 

 hut essentially ujion the ijuanlily of food wilhin 

 the reach of Ihe fibres. 



A second use of pulverization is to iiicre;ise 

 the capiltarij attraction^ or sponge-like property 

 of soilh, by which their humidity is rendered 

 more uniform. To illustrate this, let the vcader 

 e:iamine his garden during a drought. Ho will 

 find those parts the most moist where the spade 

 or hoe are ihe most fre-cpieolly use-d. They are 

 the most permeable to heat and air, and draw 



Cnmhtrric! . — As Ihis fruit is largely employed 

 in mo,t liimllies, some persons may be glad to 

 be informed, that these berries may be preserv- 

 ed several years, merely by drying them a Ut- 

 ile in the sun, and then stopping them cloiely 

 in dry botlles. — Parkes. 



B'ack Chi-rrtj — {primus Cffrnsi/s.)— The gum 

 which exudes from this tree is extremely nutri- 

 tious ; indeed it is equal in every respect lo 

 gum arable. llassel(|uist relates that a hundrej 

 men, diiriug a siege, were kept alive nearly 

 t>vo months, without any other siibsisience than 

 most moisture from the subsoil during the day, I a little of this gum take^ occasionally into the 

 and from Ihe ataios|ihere during the night. — i mouth, and suffered gradually to dissolve. — lb. 

 Pulverization promotes the access of water, I — 



v;hich holds in bolulion the food, lo the roots ofl Oxalic acid — ((/ic acid nf sorrel.') — Readily dc-» 

 the plant. (composes sulphate of lime (cypsum.) Parkes.^ , 



Another benefit results iVom the adntission ryiThis explains why plaster aliraiis benefils clov- 

 air. Manure is useless in vegetation till it be-ier, &c. on liie light grounds which abound in 

 cocjes soluble in water, and it would remain ^gorre! 



