14 



Lime as a Manure. 



III. 



r(X)t8 several past seasons, being very healtliy 

 this year, aller removing some of the soil, fill- 

 ing m fine coal dirt, and covering with earth. 

 Its effect upon peas, potatoes, and corn is visi- 

 ble in our garden by comparison with alter- 

 nate rows where the coal dust was not ap- 

 plied. The dust can be had gratis. The 

 experiment will not be expensive, and far- 

 mers who know that the woody fibre of all 

 plants is composed of tlie same elements as 

 the coal dust, will be induced to make the 

 trial. Anthrax. 



Orwigsburg, Schuylkill county, July 9th, lH3c-. 



Fir tlie I'ariiiers' Cabini't. 



Vuluc of UiBie as a Manure. 



Sir, — The Proprietor of the Great Forest 

 of Brecon, South Wales, purchased the estate 

 (14,500 acres) for the purpose of introducing 

 upon it and into the adjoining counties, by 

 means of a rail road, 20 miles in extent, con- 

 structed by himself, lime for the use of agri- 

 culture, as well as anthracite coal, from his 

 collieries on the Drim, and in the vale of 

 Tawey. The small coal was taken by rail 

 road from the colliery to the lime kilns in 

 wagons, a distance of 4 1-2 miles, where the 

 wagons were filled with lime, and taken by 

 rail road about 12 miles, to the place of de- 

 livery in the vale of Usk. As it was the in- 

 terest of the Proprietor to show by experi- 

 ment the value of lime as a dressing, on a 

 variety of soils, and under different circnm- 

 stances, lands were purchased in the vicinity 

 for this purpose, and a journal was kept for 

 his information — perhaps your readers will 

 not object to a page from it now and then. — 

 Much has been said on the subject, it must 

 be confessed, but it is not yet exhausted — it 

 is as enduring as the article itself, whose ac- 

 tive principle is founded in nature ; acid and 

 alkali composing the two grand movini^ pow- 

 ers of the universe. J. P. 



(The manuscript journal from which the followin 

 Js taken has not been pubIifihed,~Eo.] 



In the Forest of Brecon, lime is burnt in 

 large quantities for agricultural purposes. 

 The kilns are 30 feet deep, G feet diameter 

 at bottom, 10 feet diameter in centre, and 8 

 feet diameter at top; egg-shaped, and lined 

 either with fire briek, or large blocks of lime 

 stone. From a kiln of these dimensions, KJO 

 barrels of lime (each 30 gallons) are drawn 

 each day; 3 1-2 barrels of lime are burnt 

 with one barrel of small coaL The rock from 



whence the lime stone is dug is of black mar- 

 ble, said to yield 96 per cent, of carbonate, 

 and showing traces of shells and coralii>e ia 

 its fracture. It is quarried by blasting. The 

 price paid for quarrying, burning, and filling 

 into wagons, is 5 cents per barrel of 30 gal- 

 lons, tlie workmen providing the necessary 

 tools. The price of small coal at the pit is 

 26 cents per ton, and the price of lime deliv- 

 ered at the wharf, in the vale of Usk, is 27 

 cents per barreL 



j\ppIicatlou of liinie In Agrlcnltnre* 



1st. Lime, as a top dressing for old, worn 

 out pastures, and also for primitive turf, of 

 which the Forest of Brecon almost entirely 

 consists, is of inestimable value ; the benefit 

 arising from it is often times equal to the 

 tee simple of the land the first year. The 

 proper season for laying it on is about Christ- 

 mas ; quantity, from 30 to 60 barrels per acre; 

 when it is properly slacked, spread evenly, 

 and brush with a bushed harrow. If the 

 soil is wet with springs, draining is necessa- 

 ry. Hurses, cattle,^ and sheep, may be p£is- 

 tured upon the land immediately after spread- 

 ing the lime; all are fond of feeding amongst 

 it. The caustic nature of the lime destroys 

 all acid, coarse fog, turning it quickly inta 

 vegetable manure, and the herbage which 

 springs after is a perfectly different species, 

 and abounding in white clover, peculiarly 

 well adapted fur the pasturage of all kinds of 

 cattle, and especially sheep. Horses feeding' 

 on limed land soon lose their large and flac- 

 cid appearance, and keep in good health and 

 condition. While land of the above descrip- 

 tion, which has not been limed, loses its ver- 

 dure in winter and becomes, what the Scotch 

 shepherds term, deaf, affording nothing but a 

 putrid, mossy kind of food, unfit for the sus- 

 tenance of animals; that which has had a 

 good top dressing of lime ceases not to vege- 

 tate amidst frost and snow, yielding a sweet 

 and nutritious herbage through the whole 

 winter. 



JOtRNAL, 



A field of 14 acres, part of the Forest of 

 Brecon, enclosed for the purpose of experi- 

 ment, was limed on the original turf in the 

 winter of 1825. Part of this field was black 

 peat bog; this was drained, pared, and burnt, 

 and the ashes were spread with the lime. 

 Seven horses and two cows were put into 

 this field on the 1st day of May, 182G, and 

 remained there during the whole of the very 

 dry summer of that year, with abundance of 

 the finest grass, which was not at all affect- 

 ed by the drought which destroyed the her- 

 bage of all the adjoining pastures. It is now 

 the 20th January, 1827; there have never 

 been fewer than seven horses and a cow in 

 this field since the first of last May, and at 



