180 



How much Lime should he applied to an Acre ? Vol. VIII. 



what she spun, and no other clothing has 

 ever come into our house f(}r any of us. 

 Sally must be fitted out a little ; she ought 

 to fare as well as neighbour N.'s Betty." 

 " Well, wife, it shall be as you think best. 

 I have never been stingy, but it seems to 

 me that what we spin at home would do." 

 However, wife goes to town in a few days, 

 and returns with a calico gown, a calimanco 

 petticoat, a set of stone tea-cups, half a do- 

 zen pewter tea-spoons — things that were 

 never seen in my house before. They cost 

 but little — I did not feel it — and I confess I 

 was pleased to see them. Sally was as well 

 fitted out as any girl in the parish. In three 

 years more, my third daughter had a spark, 

 and wedding being conchided upon, wife 

 again comes for the purse ; but when she 

 returned, what did I seel a silken gown, 

 silk for a hat, a looking glass, china tea- 

 geer, &c., and a hundred other things, with 

 the empty purse. Then followed family 

 jealousies and quarrels — Molly ought to be 

 fitted out as well as Betsy. Good homespim 

 and cotton fi^-ens were ruled as vulgar, and 

 white feathers and silks must take their 

 place; Sally's husband must speculate in 

 stocks, backed by my endorsement ; but he 

 had all the fun of speculating, and I, all the 

 miseries of paying. Then children came 

 tumbling into the world, and Grand Pa must 

 bo their treasury department for all things 

 needful. Nothing was heard but arrange- 

 ments for journeys, balls, parties, and such 

 like. 



In about a year, Betty's husband made a 

 mistake, and signed somebody else's name 

 to a check, instead of his own — he was ar- 

 rested and sent to jail, and I had to spend 

 half of my hard earnings to get him out. 

 Sally'.s husband died, after leaving a legacy 

 of nine children, which, with the mother, 

 I've got to support. Betty's eldest boy was 

 trained for a doctor — took his degree, and 

 sent his first six patients out of the world 

 by improper treatment. For this he had to 

 fly the land, leaving encumbrances to drain 

 my purse. I could fill your paper with fur- 

 ther particulars, but that might not be so 

 agreeable to your readers. I will only say, 

 in regard to hard times, let every man exer- 

 cise the ability nature has given, in his pro- 

 per and prescribed sphere — let contentment 

 reign within his breast, nor envy reach its 

 threshold. Regard not the apparent glitter 

 of your neighbour, nor aim at an equality 

 beyond your comprehension; live more to 

 please yourselves, and less to please other 

 people — be frugal, industrious, and just. 

 Bring your ideas down to a proper level, 

 nor let them be disturbed by bad example. 

 So shall you avoid the mishaps I have expe- 



rienced in family matters, and rejoice in old 

 age over a life well applied. — Boston Culti- 

 vator. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



IIoAV mnch Lime should be applied to 

 an acre? 



The use of lime and plaster on our lands, 

 and the introduction of clover to our fields, 

 have, I apprehend, been to the full as pro- 

 ductive of benefit to Pennsylvania, as the 

 root culture has been to England, and per- 

 haps almost as much so, as the steam engine 

 has been to the manufacturer. When forty 

 or fifty years ago, Judge Peters, of this vi- 

 cinity, and Cheyney Jefteries, and Philip 

 Price, and Nathan Sharpless, and Isaac 

 Coates, of Chester county, commenced the 

 sowing of clover and the use of plaster, and 

 were thus b}'^ example as well as precept, 

 encouraging their neighbours and the farm- 

 ers generally, to do the same, and were fur- 

 ther urging them to avail themselves of the 

 liberal provision made by nature for enrich- 

 ing then- worn-out lands, in the exhaustless 

 limestone quarries spread over our State, 

 they little thought what an important ball 

 they were putting in motion, and what an 

 astonishing revolution they were aiding to 

 bring about in the whole system of Pennsyl- 

 vania farming. They lived however, long 

 enough to see a great deal of this change, 

 and of this improvement; and to observe 

 the great amount of benefit derived from 

 tlie enterprise and good judgment of tliree 

 or four public spirited individuals. Without 

 her lime, her plaster, and her clover, what 

 would Pennsylvania farming now have beenl 

 would she have shown a population of a 

 million and three-quarters? would she have 

 held twenty millions of bushels of wlieat 

 and rye in her granaries — besides thirteen 

 or fourteen millions of Indian corn in her 

 cribs, and two and a half millions of tons of 

 hay in her barns'? We are often told that 

 agriculture, like other things, is progressive;* 

 and so it is: but we may recollect — or those 

 of us who are too young to remember, may 

 have learned that previously to the use of 

 iirne, agriculture in this State, was barely 

 stationary — it was almost retrograde. Here 

 was a new starting point — here was a means 

 of agricultural improvement, which, like the 

 descending stone, gained every moment, an 

 accelerating force; for every one knows, 

 the more we avail ourselves of means for 

 tlie improvement of our land, the more those 

 means are multiplied, and they become the 

 more available. Having made one field 

 rich, it is much easier to make the second 

 like it — and having made all your farm rich, 



