56 



GENESEE FARMER. 



April, 1845 



soil, and its mechanical etruclnre, leirg no lees im- 

 portant than its chemical fertility — in fact, a heavy 

 application of manure, badly mixed, often injures the 

 crop. V.'hen I hear a fa:mer say, that from the best 

 manured field he ever planted he got but 50 or 60 

 bu.'-hels of ccrn to the acre, I have replied, " Had you 

 planted closer, cut out the barren stalks and suck- 

 ers, and worked and heed it more and earlier the 

 product might have been doubled. The secret why 

 river bottoms produce better than uplands is resolved 

 into the simple fact, that Nature there has mixed 

 the soil into a rare consistency, which enables it to 

 absorb and retain the atmospheric gases, almost 

 without tillage. * * * « 



Of mineral manures, I have only room now to 

 speak of lime, the most common as well as the 

 most economical manure of this class. All vegeta- 

 ble physiologists agree, that no plant can be fully 

 matured without those alkalies, earths, and phos- 

 phates which constitute the ashes of plants. It has 

 of late beeii fully ascertained, by Professor Wohler, 

 of Gottingen, and others, that all limestone which 

 has formed, by disintegration, the soil on which 

 w'neat grows best, contains potash. This readily 

 accounts for the activity of our lime as an alkali, 

 when applied to a soil where the alkaline salts have 

 been exhausted by cropping. The action of lime on 

 the soil is two-fold, mechanical and chemical. Take 

 a field of clay loam, so worn and heavy that four 

 German horses can hardly plow it with a steel-laid 

 plow-share ; put on 60 bushels of lime to the acre, 

 well broken, in the hydrate or unslacked state; after 

 this lime is mixed with the soil by plowing and drag- 

 ging, put six four-horse wagon loads of unfermented 

 manure to the acre ; sow the land with wheat, 

 and plow it in after many harrowings ; in the spring 

 sow it with clover. The wheat may be I'ghL for the 

 present year, but the clover will be thrifty. The 

 texture and complexion of the soil will be changed 

 from hard dead pale clay .to a dark friable loam. The 

 mechanical change produced by this lime is apparent 

 the first year ; but the chemical effect of the lime in 

 dissolving the vegetable matter in the soil, and as 

 the inorganic food of plants, will be of nuich longer 

 duiation. 



Dr. Lee, of Buffalo, a practical farmer and chem- 

 ist, asserts, that when lime parts with its carbonic 

 acid, it becomes dissolved by water, and sinks too 

 deep in the soil to be of farther \ise to vegetation. 

 Hence tlie importance of a yearly application of a 

 little lime, so that it may be always present near the 

 surface, to absorb the carbonic acid from the air, and 

 to retain it for the use of the growing plants 



TO BREEDERS OF SHORT HORN CATTLE 

 LN THE UNITED STATES. 

 In the month of May last, I proposed, through the 

 columns of the Cultivator and American Agricultur- 

 ist, in N. Y,, to publish an Amciican Herd Book, 

 provided a sufficient demand for a woik of that kind 

 should be made in the manner there indicated. At 

 the time I wn-ote the proposition, I had little confi- 

 dence that it would be met with any general zeal, or 

 approbation even, by the breeders of short horns 

 throughout the country; and in this I have not been 

 disappomted. It is apparent that a lethargy pervades 

 too many of our once spirited cattle breeders, on the 

 vitally important subject of preserving, in an endur- 

 ing form, the genealogies of their individual herds; 

 a course, which, if persisted in, will ultimately lead, 

 not only to their destruction, but to a large pecuni- 

 ary loss to themselves, and awaken, when too late, 

 deep and lasting regrets. 



But the zeal of our American breeders is not alto- 

 gether lost. A considerable number of enterprising 

 and spirited gentlemen have manifested strongly their 

 desire that the work shall proceed; and, with char- 

 acteristic liberality, proposed such a patronage as 

 shall procure its publication. 



I propose, therefore, to commence the compilation 

 of the Herd Book as soon as sufficient material shall 

 be transmitted to me for a commencement; and I 

 now request all those gentlemen, who with their an- 

 imals registered, to make out plain and distinct ped- 

 igrees of their stock, with all necessary references 

 and particulars that may be important touching their 

 lineage; and if foreign animals, the date of their im- 

 portation, and by whom made, together witli such 

 other facts as will best illustrate their history, &,c. 

 It is to be observed that the object of this work is 

 not to fs/cr.i//s/i pedigrees, but to perpetuate them; — 

 and it may at once be remarked, that any animal 

 whose purity of blood is not properly sustained, can- 

 not be admitted within its pages. The English 

 Herd Book was first published in 1822. Previous to 

 that time, and for a few years immediately following, 

 many valuable animals, from among the best families 

 of well descended short horns in England, were im- 

 ported into America, whose names and pedigrees are 

 not to be found in its columns. Many breeders in 

 England, not then appreciating the value of such a 

 work, neglected to register their cattle; and these 

 remained thus unnoticed, in many instances, alto- 

 gether, and in others, until the supplementary vol- 

 umes were published. The descendants of those 

 importations, preserved in their purity, and their 

 history proporly authenticated, will be admitted. 



A large quantity of lime applied to the soil at one But in all cases where references cannot be made 



time can only be useful in altering the mechanical 

 structure of the soil ; as but very little can be assim- 

 ilated by the growing crop, and its alkaline ])roper- 

 ties arc only needed to make the humus in the soil 

 soluble food, ready for the assimilation of plants. 



Many farmers erroneously suppose, that when 

 limestone is present in the soil, the hydrate of lime 

 need not be applied to it ; but chemistry teaches 

 that limestone, and even limestone pebbles, are held 

 together so firmly in their natural state by carbonic 

 acid, that but little disintegration can take place 

 until the car bon is expelled by the fire of the limekiln. 



SHAKER GARDfiN SEFPS^ 



THR Siil>«cribKr havine boon appoJKtpd A:rrnt for tlic " Unitoil 

 SociRtv," at New Lplinnon, is i.ow oprniiiff a larpc assortimuit 

 of these (lecervcdlv popuhir ami pxrellcnt Seeds, which are confi- 

 dently recommended for purity and accordance with the label. 

 April 1, L. B. SWAN, 18 Buffalo-M. 



directly to the ErigUah Herd Book, sucli facts and 

 references as will "place the lineage of the animals 

 named beyond dispute, will be necessary to accom- 

 pany the registry. 



In one particular this will differ from the English 

 registry. That work has neither note nor comment. 

 To all but the initiated in short horn lore, the pages 

 of the Herd Book are as a sealed volame in all that 

 relates to their origin, history, and present condition. 

 Names of animals are often inserted without any 

 reference whatever, apparently for no other purpose 

 than to establish them as ''Herd Book Cattle." It 

 will be otherwise in this. Interesting facts and illus- 

 trations will accompany pedigrees as they may oc- 

 cur, throwing light and information, such as to place 

 every thing relating to this noble breed of cattle, in 

 the most attractive form, and develop in the best 



