m 



Lime — Italian Spring Wheat. 



Vol. 1L 



Lime is strikingly beneficial to all lands, 

 except those we have noted ; but the greatest 

 degree of benefit is perceivable where it is 

 brought to act upon large bodies of woody 

 and vegetable matter. The received opinion 

 now is°that it is not of itself a manure, but 

 the cause of converting other substances into 

 food for plants. Whether this opinion be 

 correct it is not our purpose to inquire, as we 

 deem it would be an unprofitable expenditure 

 of time. We all know, however, that lime 

 has been found in almost every vegetable 

 body that has been submitted to analyzation, 

 with a view of ascertaining the fact; and che- 

 mists have proved that lime is soluble in 600 

 times its weight of water. If we take these 

 two facts in connexion, they would seem to ar- 

 gue that besides performing the simple office of 

 stimulating dead vegetable matter into a state 

 of profitable digestion— into a pabulum ca- 

 pable of being eaten by living plants, that it 

 is itself a condiment upon which these plants 

 themselves delight to feed. 



3d. " The quantity per acre, whether quick 



or slacked lime, on grass or ploughed landsl" 



With regard to the quantity per acre, a 



great diversity of opinion exists, and practice 



is as variant as theory upon this head. 



In England where liming has been carried on 

 to a much greater extent than in almost any 

 other country, there appears to be no settled 

 rule of apportionment, each landholder con- 

 sulting his own notions of propriety as to the 

 quantity to be applied, and these varying 

 from 150 to 600 bushels per acre. It is af- 

 firmed by European writers of approved merit, 

 that strong loams and clays require more 

 lime than light sands. Our own opinion is, 

 that it is not so much the texture of the land, 

 as the quantity of vegetable and fibrous mat- 

 ter it may contain. 



In France, where the use of lime is justly 

 popular, they are more sparing in their doses, 

 and one of the most intelligent agricultural 

 chemists who have ever written upon the sub- 

 ject, M. Puvis, maintains with great power 

 of reasoning, that as lime is a mere stimulant, 

 only intended to digest other matters into nu- 

 tritive substances, that smali doses are the 

 best : he hints that 25 bushels is enough to 

 be applied at any one time : that more good, 

 with the same means, can be effected by pe- 

 riodical applications of small quantities of 

 lime, than by putting on large quantities at 

 a time. The whole scope of this eminent 

 gentleman's reasoning goes to show, 1. That 

 lime is a mere stimulant, a promoter of diges- 

 tion ; and 2. That after it has converted the 

 matter in the soil into food, that it remains 

 dormant until other crude substances are 

 brought into contact with it, and 3. That 

 therefore all heavy applications of lime are 

 unnecessary and wasteful. 



In this country there is also a difference oi 

 opinion as to the proper quantity. Some use 

 from 150 to 300 bushels the acre, while others 

 think that from 60 to 100 is enough. For 

 ourselves we certainly would never exceed 

 100 bushels to the acre, and would not apply 

 that except the soil was new and full of ve- 

 getable matter — a clover lay or a heavy grass- 

 sward. In most cases and especially of light 

 soils, we think 50 bushels to the acre quite 

 enough at a time. 



We do not know that we should apply it 

 to ploughed land whereon there was no ve- 

 getable coating, unless we supplied that defi- 

 ciency by a full dressing of long manures. 



We are not certain that there is ir/.uch dif- 

 ference in the good ultimately resulting, whe- 

 ther the lime applied be slacked or quick-lime, 

 except so far as qantity may be concerned — 

 and it should be borne in mind, that the quan- 

 tities named in this paper, have relation to 

 unslacked lime. If quicklime be applied be- 

 fore it can be of service, it may be slacked, 

 hence the justice of our position. 



One important thing to be considered is, 

 that as lime from its great specific gravity, 

 has a tendency to sink, it is important to keep 

 it as near the surface as possible ; it cannot 

 therefore, be plougiied in too shallow. 



[We cannot agree with the editor of the 

 Baltimore I^armer in his recommendation to 

 keep the lime near the surface. It is, we be- 

 lieve, fully proved by experience, that lime 

 on the surface, is inoperative ; and it seems 

 probable that it cannot sink so deep that the 

 root fibres will not follow it. Plough deep, 

 manure deep — for where do plants seek their 

 principal nourishment— on the surface of the 

 soi!, or in its depths? — Yankee Farmer.J 



i 



From the Genesee Farmer. 



Italian iSpriiig Wlieat. 



We have great pleasure in laying before 

 the readers of the Farmer, by permission of 

 the writer, the following statements respect- 

 ing the kind, quality, and introduction of this 

 valuable grain, from the pen of Mr. Hatha- 

 way of Rome, Oneida county, the gentleman 

 who has been the means of introducing it 

 into successful culture in this country. The 

 importance of Spring wheat is yearly becom- 

 ing more apparent; and the necessity of 

 making a proper choice among the many va- 

 rieties known, has become imperious upon 

 our farmers. English agriculturists describe 

 the following kinds, all of which are supposed 

 to have originated in the south of Europe ; 

 and by some botanical writers are considered 

 as only a variety of winter wheat, the differ- 

 ence being affected by climate and cultiva- 

 tion. First, red. Spring wheat, white ears, 

 beardless; — second, red ear and grain, beard- 



