No. 10. 



Hereford Cattle. 



309 



Of the effects of Lime upon the substances 

 composing the soil. 



Lime and the alkalies act energetically 

 upon oraranic textures living or dead; the 

 action of the alkalies potash and soda, is but 

 slightly lessened, even when they are in 

 combination with carbonic acid. The action 

 of carbonate of lime, however, is far more 

 feeble than quick lime. In hastening vege- 

 table decomposition, the alkalies and lime 

 also accelerate the liberation of the inor- 

 ganic matters contained therein, and at the 

 same time produce a more ready supply of 

 humus, useful to the plant in all stages of its 

 growth, but more particularly so, when 

 young, and before it has many leaves to get 

 sufficient supplies of carbonic acid, ammonia 

 and water from the atmosphere. Lime and 

 tlie alkalies decompose many stony bodies, 

 and liberate matters useful to vegetation. 



Most of the rocks of Maryland contain 

 lime, potash and soda, and sometimes all 

 three exist in the same rock. Soils which 

 have not been produced by matter deposited 

 by water, (called transported soils,) are the 

 result of the slow disintegration of rocks, 

 and when suificient of such finely disinte- 

 grated matter accumulates upon the rock, 

 plants begin to giovv in tlic soil so formed. 

 The soils of our territory above tide-water 

 have been thus ibrmed, while the soil of the 

 lower country has been for the most part 

 transported by water. We should expect 

 therefore, such matters as existed in tlie 

 rocks would be in the soil, and such is the 

 fact, although portions of some of the con- 

 stituents are carried off in solution. An 

 important use, then, of lime, is further to 

 promote the decomposition of the mineral 

 constituents of the soil, in order to eliminate 

 such as plants require. We cannot conceive 

 an arable soil to exist, in which lime will not, 

 in this manner do good service. The me- 

 chanical texture of soils is improved by the 

 use of lime. All farmers know how neces- 

 sary it is, that a soil should neither be so 

 stiff as to prevent sufficient access of air and 

 water, nor so light as too readily to permit 

 water to escape by percolation, or evapora 

 lion. When a soil is loose or friable, it is 

 owing to the presence of sand and other 

 small grains of rocks not sufficiently disin- 

 tegrated. Lime continues the process of 

 decomposition or disintegration, and ol" course 

 profluces a finer texture to the soil, at tlie 

 same time that it liberates a further supply 

 of the alkalies, and other useful matters they 

 may contain. So much then for the action 

 of Imie upon the mineral constituents of the 

 soil. We incline to the belief, tiiat a more 

 important use to us is in its action upon tne 



decaying vegetable and animal matter in 

 the soil. It has long been known that the 

 beneficial eftects of lime are more striking 

 when applied to soils which abound in or- 

 ganic matter, such for instance, as grass or 

 clover fields. This is due to its hastening 

 the decay of the vegetable matter. 



VVe should bear in mind that this occa- 

 sions a more rapid exhaustion of these mat- 

 ters in the soil, in the regular course of 

 cropping, unless supplied by manures con- 

 taining the same elementray principles which 

 have been abstracted. 



To be continued. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Hereford Cattle. 



Mr. Editor, — Since you were so kind as 

 to publish in your February No., the few 

 questions put to Mr. Sotham, touching the 

 ciiaracteristics and qualifications of the cat- 

 tle to be exhibited under his challenge, I 

 beg you to extend to me a further courtesy, 

 by permitting me a few remarks by way of 

 explanation, — for that I should explain seems 

 necessary, by reason of Mr. Sotham refusing 

 to answer, as may be perceived by your al- 

 lusion to this subject in the last No. of the 

 Cabinet. 



1st. Were my interrogatives obtrusive or 

 impertinent ] 1 hope they were not suscep- 

 tible of that construction, or so adjudged by 

 any of your readers — I am quite sure, no- 

 thing was further from my thoughts than to 

 give cause of offence to any — my interfer- 

 ence was directed solely by a sense of duty 

 to the cause of a leading feature of our na- 

 tional agriculture, and the desire to place 

 the trial proposed by Mr. Sotham, on a fair, 

 plain, and definite basis, in justice to Mr. 

 Sotham, as well as to his competitor. 



Was it not apparent to the readers of the 

 "Cabinet," the "American .Agriculturist," 

 and the " Cultivator," that Mr. Sotham had 

 thrown himself broadly before the public, as 

 to the merits of his cattle, and in his chal- 

 lenge to tlie whole United States'! Under 

 these circumstances then, has he a right to 

 complain, or to withhold the inlbrmation 

 souoht by me, because I thought proper to 

 be anonymous on the occasion I Certainly 

 not, since nothing ofiensive or improper 

 was asked of him ; especially as the ques- 

 jtions put were not for my own gratification, 

 but for the benefit of all. 



Again, suppose I had not a single animal 

 suitable to exhibit against Mr. Sotham's 

 cattle, and yet leeling a lively interest in 

 the production of fine stock, should this de- 

 bar me from seeking to place the trial on 



