THE FARMERS' CABINET, 



AMERICAN HERD-BOOK, 



DEVOTED TO 

 AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, AND RURAL AND DOMESTIC AFFAIRS. 



" The Productions of the Earth will always be in proportion to the cuUuro bestowed upon it." 



Vol. V — No. 11.] 



6th nio. (June,) 15th, 1841. 



[Whole No. 77. 



KIMBER & SHARPLESS, 



PROPRIETORS AND PUBLISHERS, 



No. 50 North Fourth Street, 



PHrLADELPIIIA. 

 Price one dollar per year. — For conditions see last page. 



For Ihu Fanners'' Cabinet. 



Application of Lime to Soils, 



Read before the Philadelphia Sociefj/ for 

 Promoting Agriculture, April 7, 1841. 



Lime has long been regarded by farmers 

 in certain sections of our country, and culti- 

 vating certain districts, as a most valuable 

 agent. Stiff and tenacious soils are greatly 

 benefited by its application, as is admitted by 

 all who cultivate them. Whether the va- 

 rious chemical influences which have been 

 assigned to its presence, are really those 

 which constitute its virtue, I shall not inquire 

 in tl'.is es3ay : ! propose merely to submit 

 som? views that have occurred to me, which 

 the plain practical farmer can fully appreci- 

 ate, without the aid of chemistry or science, 

 or t!ioir technicalities. 



Clays and red shell soils are compact and 

 tenacious', and are therefore greatly benefited 

 by an admixture of lime, as they are ren- 

 dered more mellow or friable by its applica- 

 tion ; the colour of the soil is also changed 

 to a dark brown, and has a rich oily appear- 

 ance. These combined influences give it a 

 greater capacity for imbibing heat from the 

 action of the sun, and this additional heat 

 communicates an increased vegetative power; 

 besides, the improved friability or mellowness 

 of the soil gives greater facilities to the fibrous 

 roots of plants to shoot further into it, and 

 hence they obtain a larger supply of nourish- 

 ment or food. Its capacity for absorbing 

 moisture is also greatly increased, because, 

 for the reasons above stated, the plastic pro- 

 perties of a stiff soil are removed, and mois- 

 ture, either from rain or dew, is more freely 

 admitted and absorbed ; and having pene- 

 trated deeper into the soil, is retained, as if 

 by a sponge, for a longer period. Farmers 

 who are femiliar with stiff soils, know full 

 well that they will not admit heat nor absorb 

 moisture so readily as those which are light- 

 er, and that the latter do not bake and be- 



Cab.— Vol. V.— No. 11. 



come so hard and dry as the former — besides, 

 a purely clay-soil is always cold at a short 

 distance below the surface. 



Such soils, so improved, have increased 

 capacity for imbibing heat from the action of 

 the sun by day, and this heat is maintained 

 for a longer period at night; and hence, a 

 protracted evaporation or emission of heat is 

 secured, which, acting upon the cool atmo- 

 sphere of night, produces a greater amount 

 of dew. Ttie soil is therefore rendered capa- 

 ble of creating a larger supply of moisture — 

 of imbibing more heat, and of receiving and 

 retaining those agents of vegetation alter- 

 nately, for a more protracted period. Dews 

 are occasioned by a cool atmosphere coming 

 in contact with the exhalations from the 

 heated earth, or vice versa, and hence a con- 

 densation of the aqueous particles: the dew- 

 drop of evening is first seen upon a blade of 

 grass at its highest point. 



Heat and moisture are necessary to vege- 

 tation, and the more you can obtain of these 

 agents for your plants, the more vigorously 

 will vegetation be sustained. Lime, when 

 applied to a stiff soil, renders it more friable, 

 porous or mellow, and it becomes more easy 

 to cultivate : the plough does not meet with 

 the same resistance ; the roots of the grass 

 and weeds are more easily separated from the 

 soil, and may therefore be more readily de- 

 stroyed, and a thorough tillage or pulveriza- 

 tion of the land is thereby greatly facilitated. 

 Besides, we find that vegetation is most vi- 

 gorous where the soil is adapted to secure 

 the largest amount of these supplies; and 

 consequently that soil which by nature or cul- 

 tivation is capable of imbibing and retaining 

 the largest amount of these indispensable 

 elements, has the greatest capacity for pro- 

 ducing vegetation. A sandy soil appears too 

 porous to retain heat at night, to promote to 

 any important extent a condensation of the 

 atmosphere, and thus to supply itself with 

 sufBcient moisture from dew — besides, it is 

 too readily drained ; while a clay or compact 

 soil becomes indurated upon its surface, and 

 heat from the sun cannot sufficiently pene- 

 trate it to be available for a like purpose : but 

 when these are properly mixed and combined 

 with other earths, such as lime, marl, or with 

 manure, the soil opens its pores to receive the 

 invigorating influence of the sun during the 



