1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



99 



wheat-growing counties of Pennsylvania and Ma- 

 ryland, great quantities of lime were used, and it 

 was considered indispensable. They formerly 

 raised large crops of wheat without any manure ;j 

 but their lands gave out, and geologists advised 

 the farmers to replenish their lands with lime. 

 They did so, and the result was that they ob- 

 tained as good crops as they ever did. In some 

 of these counties there is plenty of limestone, 

 from which the farmers supplied themselves, 

 while in others there was not ; and the good effect 

 of the lime was so obvious, that the farmers in 

 the non-limestone counties transported limestone 

 from the others to manure their lands. In some 

 parts of Pennsylvania and Maryland, the roads 

 are macadamized with limestone, which, becom- 

 ing finely pulverized, is blown by the wind upon 

 the adjoining fields, and it is found that the 

 land along these roads is fertilized exceedingly by 

 the lime thus thrown upon it. It is the practice 

 among farmers in Cumberland, Dauphin and 

 Franklin counties in Pennsylvania, and in Mary- 

 land, to apply 80 bushels of unslacked lime per 

 acre once in about seven years, plowing it in after 

 it becomes pulverized by the action of the sun 

 and rain. They do not expect much from it the 

 first or second year, but during the third and 

 fourth they reap the benefit. 



Mr. Howard said he did not deny that lime 

 was an essential element of the soil, and con- 

 stituted a part of the food of plants, which should 

 be supplied with the proper quantity ; but he did 

 not think that the state of things in Pennsylvania 

 was a just criterion for the granite soils of New 

 England. 



Col. Newell, of Essex, said that wheat did 

 not grow so Avell in his county now as formerly. 

 He had known 40 bushels to the acre to be raised, 

 but that quantity gradually fell off to 5 or G 

 bushels. What the reason was he could not tell. 

 Latterly they had succeeded better ; but of this, 

 also, he did not know the cause. He had raised 

 wheat for thirty years, getting all the way from 

 40 down to 5 bushels to the acre. Had never 

 used lime but once, applying then ten casks to 

 the acre, and harvesting 20 bushels of wheat per 

 acre. The land was laid down with grain to 

 grass, and he got two large crops from it ; but 

 whether it was owing to the lime or not, he could 

 not say. There is something in the land which 

 will not produce wheat, while it will yield larger 

 crops of grass than ever before. 



Mr. Jenkins inquired in regard to planting 

 wheat in drills, and was answered by Mr. How- 

 ard, who said that this method was pursued to 

 some extent in New York and Pennsylvania. By 

 it the land could be kept free from weeds, and 

 thus promote tlie growth of the grain. 



Hon. Seth Sprague, of Duxbury, said that 



Mr. Webster, when he first commenced farming 

 at Marshfield, purchased seven cargoes of lime 

 and applied it to his land ; but of its specific ef- 

 fect, he could not speak, although its use was 

 discontinued subsequently, and it was thought by 

 farmers in that vicinity that it was of no benefit 

 to the land. In his opinion, it exhausts the 

 land. 



Mr. Jenkins related an instance in which a 

 friend of his purchased a large quantity of lime, 

 and applied it to his land for various crops, but 

 he could not raise a thing. 



Mr. Bradbury remarked that this last case veri- 

 fied his statement in regard to the use of lime in 

 Pennsylvania, where they do not expect much 

 profit until the third and fourth years, 1)y which 

 time the land is restored to its natural strength. 

 Besides, farmers there put on vast quantities, 

 much more than farmers here would think of do- 

 ing. 



Mr. BucKMiNSTER, of tlic Plou(/hman, inquired 

 what use was made of the land for the first two 

 years, to which Mr. Bradbury responded, that 

 once in four or five years, they put in clover. The 

 farmers there do not calculate on getting grain 

 from the land more than half of the time. The 

 lime does not tell till the third and fourth years, 

 after which, the land again declines. 



Mr. BucKMiNSTER thought that at this rate far- 

 mers could hardly afford to put on 80 bushels to 

 the acre. 



Mr. Bradbury said that the lime was manu- 

 factured very cheaply there, owing to the abund- 

 ance of a poor quality of wood which was not 

 profitable for marketing, and they were not so 

 particular in burning the lime as if it were to be 

 used for building purposes. He had made it him- 

 self at a cost of only Scents per bushel, and it 

 could be bought for 8. He would not recom- 

 mend its use here. He simply made a statement 

 of what he had seen and known ; but thought 

 the matter should be considered bj- farmers. 



Col. Newell thought that lime would lie a 

 cheap manure at the cost here, if it would pro- 

 duce similar effects on our soils, and last seven 

 years. Farmers here cannot manure their land 

 so cheap, under the present system. 



Mr. Proctor, of Danvers, said two purposes 

 were to be regarded — first, to raise gi-ain, and 

 second, to fit the land for grass. In his early 

 days, barley was an excellent grain to lay down 

 land with ; it paid well, and ho had known 40 

 ])ushels per acre to be raised with common man- 

 uring. It had to be abandoned, however, for 

 awhile, owing to a T>light caur-ed by an insect ; but 

 latterly it is oumiiig forward again, and is a very 

 fair crop for seed and grass. Rye, in Essex coun- 

 ty, is the most profitable crop the farmer can 

 raise, and for eight or ten years he liad kni)wn it 



