258 



Lime. 



Vol. VI. i 



that is wished to be propagated, having a por- 

 tion of the wood attached- to it, so that the 

 whole may be an inch and a half lono^ as at G. 

 The bit of wood is then gently withdrawn, 

 care being taken that the bud adhtTe wholly 

 to the bark or shield, as it is called, as at H, 

 which is the reverse of G. The bark on each 

 side of the perpendicular slit being cautiously 

 opened with the handle of the knife, the butt 

 and shield are inserted, as at I ; the upper tip 

 of the shield being cut off horizontally, and 

 brought neatly to fit the bark of the stock at 

 the transverse incision. Slight ties of moist- 

 ened bass matting or candle-wick are then 

 applied, and in about a month or six weeks 

 these ligatures may be taken away, when, if 

 the operation has been successful, the bud 

 will be fresh and full, and the shield firmly 

 united to the wood; the next spring a strong 

 shoot is thrown out from this bud, and to this 

 the stock is headed down in the course of the 



To the Editor of the Fanners' Cabinet. 



Lime. 



In the last number of the Cabinet, Samuel 

 Lewis has endeavoured to show that the opin- 

 ion " that magnesian lime is deleterious to 

 vegetation, has no foundation in fact, and is, 

 in short, all a humbug, both as it relates to 

 this country and to Europe." Now I have 

 turned over the pages of the Cabinet, and 

 some publications that have treated the sub- 

 ject more in detail, and on comparing the 

 views of others with my own experience;, I 

 have arrived at a different conclusion. That 

 the application of magnesian lime in south- 

 eastern Pennsylvania has had the effect de- 

 scribed by S. Lewis, I freely admit, but I 

 do not admit that the lime applied without 

 the magnesia would not have had a much bet- 

 ter effect. The fact stated by S. Lewis does 

 not prove this point, nor does it prove that 

 magnesia is not deleterious to vegetation, 

 which is the main question. From what is 

 known on this subject, at least as far as my 

 knowledge extends, lime is congenial to the 

 growth of plants, but magnesia is not; if, 

 then, a favourable result follows their applica- 

 tion to land in a mixed state, it only shows 

 that the good effects of the lime have not 

 been counteracted by the bad efl^ects of the 

 magnesia. All lime is mixed, more or less, 

 with foreign substances; some are injurious, 

 some are harmless, and others again exert a 

 favourable effect upon vegetation; but in no 

 case can we expect the mixture to be equal 

 in value to the lime, and consequently it must 

 be a drawback upon the profits of the business. 

 Pure lime is the article to buy, and if you 

 cannot get it pure, get it as pure as you can. 



If mixing is wanted, you can do it to your own ' 

 liking, and at less expense. Lime is an arti- i 

 cle of prime necessity, and in most situations ' 

 very costly ; it behooves the farmer then to ' 

 inquire and examine closely into the kinds j 

 and qualities before he makes purchases. The I 

 geologist of Maryland found as much as forty , 

 per cent, of foreign mixtures in some of the ; 

 lime around Baltimore, while in the purest 

 kinds he found but ten — there is a difference i 

 of thirty per cent. ; yet it is very probable • 

 the farmers have been in the practice of buy- i 

 ing it all at somewhere near the same prices. ! 

 Lime, thus indiscriminately bought, has im- ! 

 proved the soil and enriched the owners, but : 

 the knowledge how to avoid those extraneous 

 substances would have added still more to ; 

 their success, and is certainly no humbug. { 

 Just so in Chester county ; I have no data at 1 

 hand from which I can state facts, in relation 

 to the foreign matter in their lime, but there i 

 can be no doubt that some of it that comes to ' 

 our market for sale, contains thirty per cent , 

 of sand, besides other mixtures.* Now we 

 ail know that the farmers in Chester county, 

 who use sandy lime, make their land rich, ! 

 and increase their profits; but the operation ] 

 would be as quickly and more profitably per- i 

 formed, to buy 70 bushels of pure lime and ' 

 mix it with 30 bushels of sand out of the road, ( 

 and apply it to the land in the same way they I 

 do their lime. Those facts in relation to the ' 

 qualities of lime were little known or thought 

 of by the farmers 30 years ago; they found 

 that lime improved the soil, but as to the 

 quality, or manner of its application, they 

 knew but little. They generally adopted the 

 Dutchman's rule in its simplicity, without 

 asking unnecessary questions, "be sure get 

 lime, and put it on your land." The farmers 

 too in Chester county cherished, for a long 

 time, an inveterate prejudice against book- 

 learning; they looked with pride and self- 

 satisfaction on the hardy yeoman who sue- • ( 

 ceedcd better by the dint of physical power, ' ' 

 than his neighbour who combined moderate 

 labour with ingenious mental operations; 

 but the present generation in every section 

 of our country, are more inclined to inquire 

 and adopt speculation in their practice where ■ 

 they see probable reason for success. This , 

 medium course between the ultraisms of phy- 

 sical and mental power will, if they retain 

 the plain economical habits of their forefa- 

 thers, produce results in agriculture and in j 

 every department of productive industry, that 

 will go flir ahead of any thing that has pre- 

 ceded them. 



I should not have noticed S. Lewis's arti- 

 cle, but I thought it calculated to lead the 



* For a most minute and accurate analysis of seve» 

 ral kinds of lime, see Cabinet, vol. 4, p. 308. — E». 



i 



