316 



Compost. 



Vol. VI. 



sheep are adapted to the soil and climate of 

 Illinois, and that they may be kept without 

 any fear of degeneracy in wool or carcase. 



" Of the large-framed, long-wooled sheep 

 of England, we have less decided experience ; 

 yet some may be gathered (imperfect as it 

 is) useful and important. I brought from 

 England, with the merinoes, two Lincoln- 

 shire rams and four ewes; but all died but 

 one ewe of the Bakewell breed. From this 

 one ewe, with my fine-wooled bucks, a strain 

 of sheep are yet observable, with deep chests, 

 short legs, and broad backs, with great apti- 

 tude to fatten. From the same cross, upon 

 common sheep, many of the progeny are de- 

 fective in shape, though with a fleece of equal 

 fineness." 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Compost. 



Sir, — I have been much instructed, inte- 

 rested and amused, by the many excellent 

 articles which have of late appeared in the 

 pages of the Cabinet, both for and against the 

 use of magnesian lime, and consider it only 

 a duty to acknowledge that to you, Mr. Editor, 

 are we indebted for all; for had you not intro- 

 duced the short article, an extract from the 

 " General Report of Scotland," at page 276 

 of the 5th volume, concerning Mr. Tenant's 

 set of experiments on the magnesian lime- 

 stone, in the neighbourhood of Doncaster, 

 England, we should have been deprived of a 

 series of the most valuable essays that have 

 yet appeared in your very useful miscellany. 

 And althoutrh the question has not been 

 decided to the satisfaction of all, still I am 

 convinced that every one feels himself more 

 competent to form an opinion on the subject 

 than he could have done had the question 

 never been agitated ; and this is the main 

 object which the conductors of the agricul- 

 tural perifKlical press ought always to keep 

 in view, namely, to set people thinking — then 

 they might be left to their own guidance with 

 safety, for it is natural to a man, when awake, 

 to be "aye making the experiment;" and as 

 has been said, nothing but good can come of 

 it, if our differences be confined to our opin- 

 ions. Continue, therefore, to foster such dif- 

 ferences, and depend upon the support and 

 countenance of your subscribers, of whom I 

 believe I may rank myself nearly, if not quite 

 the first, acknowledging at the same time that 

 I read your pages with increased interest. 



But my present object is not to notice far- 

 ther the well-written essays on this important 

 subject which have enriched your pages, but 

 to turn them to practical account. Now, the 

 friends of magnesian lime advise that it shall 

 first be rendered " mild," as it has very pro- 

 perly been termed, by slaking and exposure 

 to the atmosphere, by which it becomes per- 



fectly carbonized, and is no longer of that 

 caustic nature to do injury to the crops in 

 any stage of their growth. I therefore meet 

 them on this ground, and propose, that the 

 operation of slaking shall be performed by 

 mixing it, in the state that it comes from the 

 kiln, with fresh-dug muck or earth, peat, turf, 

 &c., layer by layer, finishing the heap by a 

 covering of the earth to keep in the heat that 

 will be engendered; by which the very na- 

 ture of the ingredients will be changed ; the 

 earth from a state of acidity and sterility, and 

 the lime from a pernicious state of corrosive- 

 ness, to the nature of leached ashes ; the al- 

 kali of the lime operating upon what were 

 once termed the " fatty substances" of the 

 muck, &c., producing a saponaceous com- 

 pound, far superior to much that is brought 

 at great expense from the cities, under the 

 very appropriate name of dirl — which consists 

 in a great measure of what is worthless, and 

 injurious to the land on which it is applied. 

 Now, I scarcely know a farm where a mine 

 of this description might not be worked to 

 much more profit than the best gold mine in 

 Virginia, and all above ground, too: indeed, 

 the time ought soon to arrive, when our chief 

 attention shall be turned to the formation of 

 compost ; an art hitherto quite unknown in 

 this country, but which is found indispensable 

 in every country where taxation abounds; 

 affording a fair criterion by which to form a 

 just estimate of our own resources, and giv- 

 ing ample employment to all our " help" dur- 

 ing winter, a time, of all others, most suitable 

 for the preparation of large quantities of com- 

 posted manures, for the purpose of top-dress- 

 ing our mowing lands in the spring — by far 

 the best mode of increasing the dung-hill the 

 next winter. I have, then, the greatest con- 

 fidence in recommending the above-men- 

 tioned mode of managing lime, whether it be 

 magnesian or otherwise, but particularly if it 

 be the former, as 1 feel satisfied that its union 

 with fresh earth, muck, &c., would have a 

 tendency to correct the evil so much com- 

 plained of, from whatever cause that might 

 arise. I had once an opportunity to test the 

 value of the course recommended, and should 

 be glad of the chance to repeat it. Near my 

 house was a large bank of earth of very tena- 

 cious quality, covered by a thick turf, the 

 growth of ages ; I commenced ploughing very 

 deep a portion of it, say 40 feet long and 12 

 feet wide, and upon this I spread a coat of 

 lime, fresh from the kiln, four inches in thick- 

 ness, throwing upon it thick spits of earth, 

 taking up the whole substance of the soil; 

 upon this again was spread another coat of 

 lime, and then a covering of furfs; then more 

 lime, and the heap was finished by a close 

 covering of earth and sods carefully beaten 

 down. In a short time the whole heap waa 



