NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



379 



yeas to 87 nays. The New England members vo- 

 ted as follows : — 



Ayes— Messrs. Allen. Appleton, Duncan, Fowler, Mann, 

 Thompson and Scuilder of Massachusetts; Ooodenow, Reed, 

 Smart and Washburn of Maine; Mearhnm of Vermont; Per- 

 kins of New Hampshire; Kmy and Thurston of Rhode Island; 



Chapman, Cleveland and Sey niHiir of Connecticut. 



Nays.— Messrs. Appleton of Maine; Hibbard of New Hamp- 

 shire. 



LIMB AND ITS USB IN AGRICULTURE 



Lime is one of the most abundant substances in 

 nature — usually as a carbonate, consisting of 5(>£ 

 parts of carbonate, and 43| of carbonic acid, in 

 100 of the mineral. In burning, the acid escapes 

 in the firm of steam. It is then quick-lime. 

 After exposure to the atmosphere, it absorbs wa- 

 ter, slacks, and falls into an apparent dry powder; 

 it is then hydrate of lime, and is in the form in 

 which it is generally used for agricultural pur- 

 poses. It is the most valuable, when used direct- 

 ly after it lias fallen into powder. If long ex- 

 posed 1 1 rain and dews before being spread upon 

 the Ian I, it loses a great portion of its fertilizing 

 powers, which principally consist in its action 

 upon vegetable matters, causing them to decom- 

 pose, and in its neutralizing power upon acids, 

 which abound in some soils. 



The Quantity of Lime to the Acre. — In Great 

 Britain from 100 to 400 bushels are applied at 

 once, at intervals of ten, fifteen or nineteen years 

 — the, term which leases run. In this country, 

 the most common practice is to apply 30 or 40 

 bushels once in three years, which is the prefera- 

 ble mod;. We have seen it applied with good 

 effect, h iwever, at the rate of 800 bushels to the 

 acre. This was upon a very stiff, cold clay. 

 Three hundred bushels would be about ten tons to 

 the acre. Ten inches depth of soil, would weigh 

 about 1000 tons. That would give one per*cent. 

 of lime. A case is reported in England, of soil 

 upon which 120 bushels of lime had been used, 

 being analysed, which apparently contained the 

 same component parts as that along side, which 

 had not been limed for a great number of 

 years. Yet the limed land produced 20 tons of 

 turnips to the acre, while the unlimed portion 

 only produced two tons, tops and all. Tins was 

 upon red sand-stone land. One of the effects of 

 lime is, it gives the soil power to absorb ammonia 

 from the atmosphere, and retain that which is dis- 

 engage I by the decomposition of vegetable matter 

 and m inure in the soil. Hence the importance of 

 applying lime with green crops, or using coarse 

 manure witli the lime. 



Indications of want of Lime in the Soil may 

 be seen in heavy crops of straw, and light crops "I' 

 grain ; and in root crops where they seem to run 

 to fingers and seed. Experiments should be made 

 by every farmer with lime, upon various crops in 

 ail his fields, to ascertain Avhether lime would be 

 beneficial to him. Very few places will be found 

 where it will not be so. 



To Apply Lime to the Soil, spread it evenly up- 

 on a crop of clover about to be plowed under, or 

 sow it upon the surface with the wheat, and har- 

 row thoroughly. It should never be combined 

 with manure, unless the whole is immediately 

 plowed in. • 



To what Soils is Lime Applicable 1 — Every clay 

 soil, every peaty soil, and every soil in which vege- 

 table fibre does not readily decay because that is a 



sign that it contains some antiseptic acid, which 

 prevents decay. This is the case in peat beds and 

 swamps. Sandy, or thin soils, may be overlimcd 

 and injured ; because, in causing the decay of 

 vegetables, it sets free the ammonia, the very sub- 

 stance of fertility required. "To prevent this, 

 more food must be given for the lime to act upon. 

 Xo farmer, who knows what the action of lime is, 

 upon all soils, will ever do without it, as an acces- 

 sory to his manure. It is a component part of 

 all crops grown by the farmer. When applied to 

 land which had not borne wheat for many years, 

 it has at once restored it to fertility for that crop. 

 Where it has failed once to remunerate the farmer 

 using it, it has proved of the greatest benefit a 

 hundred times. 



Use of Lime with Peat. — The slow decomposi- 

 tion of peat is an objection to its use. By the 

 term, we mean all swamp muck, partaking more 

 or less of that character. All peat contains resin- 

 ous matter, which prevents decomposition. By 

 adding lime, the resin is combined and forms soap, 

 and the fibre then decays as rapidly as any other 

 vegetable substance. 



Lime in the Soil. — Many farms which once pro- 

 duced good crops of wheat, because there was 

 lime enough in the soil to supply the requisite 

 quantity to the grain, have ceased to he produc- 

 tive. They still produce a large growth of straw, 

 but not a remunerating crop of grain. In some 

 instances, such lands have been restored to their 

 former fertility without applying a bushel of lime. 

 Do you ask how? Simply by plowing deeper. In 

 the hard, untouched and unexhausted subs >il, 

 there was plenty of lime lying hid. which only 

 wanted stirring up and exposing to the action of 

 the atmosphere, and bringing within reach of the 

 roots of the plants, to produce the same effect 

 originally derived from the top soil before it was 

 exhausted. Our constant advice will he to use 

 lime, plow deep, subsoil and drain stiff lands, in- 

 crease your crops, and grow rich, which you will 

 do if you read and heed. — The Plow. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 SAVING HERDS' GRASS SEED. 



There are several reasons why every farmer 

 should make it a general rule to save his own grass 

 seed. Much of the seed of commerce, either from 

 age or injury, is incapable of vegetati >n, thereby 

 producing great disappointment and deranging the 

 best laid plans of rotation; it often contains foul 

 seeds, such as white daisy and other pestilent 

 plants, that when once introduced it is almost im- 

 possible to eradicate. It is much cheaper; and 

 when raised on the farm is generally sown with a 

 more liberal hand than when bought at three or 

 four dollars a busl el, as is occasionally the price. 



I have, for several years, practised the following 

 method, and found it' to answer my purpose very 

 well, and it may perhaps he of service to some of 

 your readers. I select a suitable piece that is free 

 from every thing hut what I wish to save, and as 

 soon as the seed has become hard, t. ike a grain 

 cradle and cut the h°ads off as near the top as pos- 

 sible, not taking more than from six to twelve 

 inches, and have a man follow and tie it up into 

 good sized bundles, and another follow him with a 

 scythe and mow the bottom close. Three men, 

 with a boy to carry off tiie bundles and set them 



