JS^o. 2. 



Anti-Magnesia. 



55 



may be instructed in the practical operations 

 of the art, and their theory, or the reasons on 

 which they are founded, laid down and ex- 

 plained to him as he goes along-, or he may 

 be first instructed in general principles, and 

 then in the practices which flow fi-om them. 

 The former mode is the natural and actual 

 mode in which every art is acquired by such 

 as have no recourse to books, and m.ay be 

 compared to the natural mode of acquiring a 

 language without the study of its grammar. 

 The latter mode is by much the more correct 

 and effectual, ;and is calculated to enable an 

 instructed agriculturist to proceed with the 

 same kind of confidence and satisfaction in 

 his practice, that a grammarian does in the 

 use of language. — Practical Farmer. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Anti-Magnesia. 



I HAVE taken the Farmers' Cabinet, from 

 the commencement, with a desire of receiv- 

 ing information respecting the use of lime 

 for agricultural purposes; and, by perusing 

 the pages thereol, I find there are various and 

 conflicting opinions respecting its use. There 

 are those who are of the opinion that 25 

 bushels to the acre are a sufficient quantity, 

 and others, that 50 to 150, or more, are not 

 an over-dose. In England, I understand, as 

 much as 500 bushels per acre are applied, and 

 yet I have never read of its being an over- 

 quantity. The soil and climate there may 

 possibly have some share in preventing an 

 injurious effect upon vegetation, but I consi- 

 der the principal cause is in the quality of the 

 lime, although I may be mistaken. Having 

 read an article on the value of lime as a ma- 

 nure in the third volume of the Cabinet, con- 

 tinued from page 14 to 17, where it is stated 

 that the effect of the lime in producing vege- 

 ,^ tation was as instantaneous as barn-yard ma- 

 ^ nure, and superior thereto, — it put me to 

 thinking whether the account was correct. 

 But, considering that the limestone contained 

 98 per cent, of carbonate (of lime I suppose) 

 and, of course, little or no magnesia, or other 

 poisonous qualities, it must be something su- 

 perior to the generality of lime used in this 

 country, and, from those considerations, I con- 

 cluded the account might be correct. It is a 

 question with me, whether the lime that is 

 the most profitable for making mortar is the 

 most valuable for agricultural purposes; it 

 may be that a portion of magnesia in lime is 

 of use in making a cement, and worse than 

 Useless in agriculture, for it is injurious to 

 the growth of vegetables. 



Any person having poor worn-out land, and 

 wishing to improve it, and being located 

 within 10 or 15 miles of lime, I advise liim 

 to lime, it will pay therefor ; but I do not 



mean liine contai.iing nearly half magnesia. 

 As an instance o'^ the effects of lime, I will 

 mention only one, but it is sufficient for my 

 purpose ; I, in company VvUth another person, 

 took a lease, in tlie spring of 1820, for the 

 term of 10 years, of a farm containing some- 

 thing more than IGO acres of land, 100 acres 

 cleared, and commenced liming; (we hauled 

 the stones about 11 miles and burnt them on 

 tlie spot) and, during that term, we put upon 

 the farm tldrleen thousand bushels of lime, 

 and cleared, free of all expense, thirty-five 

 hundred dollars, principally by selling grain; 

 and changed the said farm from one of the 

 poorest, to one of the best in the neighbour- 

 hood, although during the first years (as the 

 saying is) we hardly cleared our teeth, owing 

 to the unproductiveness of the soil before 

 lin)ing. It has long been a question with me, 

 how sulphate and carbonate of lime act on 

 veg'etables: It was formerly the opinion of 

 many, that the use of sulphate in agriculture 

 w^^s its attracting powers; now, since the 

 experiments of H. Davy are becoming known, 

 the opinion is changing, and its use is that of 

 entjering into the composition of the vegeta- 

 ble:; and it may be possible that it is of no 

 direct use to any vegetable, but when it com- 

 posps a part thereof; and carbonate may act 

 something similarly; by heat, the water and 

 carponic acid are burnt or driven off, and the 

 stoije is changed into an oxide, and by the 

 addition of water it becomes an hydrate, and 

 theJi it has a powerful attraction for carbonic 

 acid ; and, after having received its portion 

 of carbonic acid and water, in my opinion it 

 becomes soluble, and is taken up by the roots 

 of vegetables and enters into their composi- 

 tion^ for vegetables are composed principally 

 of carbon and water. I consider the more 

 soluble carbon there is in any soil, the more 

 food for vegetables that soil contains, 



I Ithink i should not have put pen to paper, 

 if I|had not read in the Cabinet, for April, an 

 instance recorded of the injurious effects of 

 lim^, from the testimony of my friend M. S. 

 K. of Morrisville, and having been informed 

 that! there exists limestone on the canal, or 

 nigh thereto, above Newhope, highly impreg- 

 nated with magnesia, so much so, that I con- 

 sider it unfit for agricultural purposes ; and, 

 thinking that the lime used by M. S. K, might 

 possibly come from thence. I know of nothing 

 that forms a part of what we call limestone, 

 pernicious to any soil except magnesia ; but 

 we ought to be cautious how we use lime be- 

 fore we know its qualities, 



Anti-Magnesia. 



Lancaster County, 7th mo. 14, 1840. 



Where there are no irregular desires to in- 

 terfere, what is true and just will be easily 

 discerned by the most limited understandings. 



