22 



Butter — Roots. 



Vol. III. 



V. hicli it imparts its fertilizing principles. — 

 Ueintf a mineral it lias a tendency to sink in 

 Ml the soil. By the action ot"the atmoHphere 

 cr air, and rain especially, it is carried down 

 gradually, impartintj nourishment, eitlier di- 

 rectly, or by its neutralizing qualities, or per- 

 haps both, to the plants in the soil. We find 

 lime entering into the composition of some 

 plants, and in others, not. It is very impor- 

 tant to understand the nature and constitution 

 of the soil to which lime is to be applied, and 

 great judgment is re(iuired in its application. 

 The more perlectly powdered the better. In 

 its caustic state it is thought to act simply as 

 a decomposing agent on animal and vegeta- 

 ble matter, and on this ground it has been re- 

 commended where soils possess some dormant 

 principles of fertility, as it will cause these 

 principles to develope. Mild, or slacked lime, 

 improves the texture of .soils that are deficient 

 in loose or sandy matter. It also produces 

 good effects in soils in which sulphuric or other 

 acids exist that are prejudicial to vegetation, 

 by the power which it possesses of neutrali- 

 zing them. To all soils stored with a quan- 

 tity of inert vegetable matter, caustic lime 

 is applied with great advantage, but in these 

 cases it should be well incorporated with the 

 soil, so as to bring it into immediate and close 

 contact with the fibrous roots, and other sub- 

 stances on which it is to act. "All sour, cold, 

 stiff, or clayey soils derive the greatest bene- 

 fit from a generous application of lime. Its 

 tendency is to render them more warm, &c., 

 while it destroys or neutralizes' all principles 

 contained in them noxious to vegetation." — 

 These are briefly, I believe, the views enter- 

 tained by many gentlemen who have investi- 

 gated the subject. We have learned much ; 

 but we still have much more to learn. I 

 v.ould be much pleased if some of your intel- 

 ligent farmers, for Pennsylvania farmers are 

 in high repute among us — who have used lime 

 for a succession of years, would furnish through 

 tlie cojuinns of your useful paper, the results 

 of their experience. We are seeking for infor- 

 mation ; we want light ; let us have it. With 

 my best wishes for the prosperity of your 

 Cabinet, I remain. 



Yours, respectfully, 



J. L. Seymour. 



West Chester Co., N. Y., July 18, 1638. 



To the Fditol-of the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Butter. 



Sir, — I was pleased with the article of 

 your correspondent S. in the last number 

 of the Cabinet on the subject of butter. The 

 following fact will siiow the importance of 

 attending to his suggestions. An elderly la- 

 Jy, residing in the vicinity of this city, was 

 •celebrated for making good butter. She had 

 customer* wlio took all she made at 37] cents 



per pound thrtAighout the year. I have fre- 

 quently partaken of it, and it was truly deli- 

 cious. Not long since the old lady's son took 

 a helpmate. The daughter-in-law became 

 manager of the dairy, as well as of the house- 

 hold affairs. The butter degenerated ; the 

 customers one afler another declined taking 

 it, and now the poor old woman may be seen 

 at a late hour on market days sitting beside a 

 tub of inferior butter, which she finds it diffi- 

 cult to dispose of at a low price. One of her 

 former customers now obtains his supply from 

 a man well known to me, who pays as much 

 attention to his cows as to his horses ; ciinving' 

 and bedding them with clean straw, and serv- 

 ing their tijod with the nicest attention to 

 cleanliness. Roots composed a liberal portion 

 of their provender during thela.st winter, and 

 the butter was of a quality scarcely surpassed 

 by the best that our market affords in sum- 

 mer. M. 



I''or the Farmers' Caliiiiet. 



Roots. 



Sir, — Before I read the sensible remarks 

 of your correspondent, at pa^e 373, " On 

 Roots," I was thinking how fortunate those 

 persons were (see page 348) who had such 

 abundance of sugar beet roots the last winter 

 as to be able to give them in such quantities 

 to their cattle as to surfeit them, (" cattle do 

 not generally like them.'") and cause them 

 to scour ! I should have been glad to have 

 given them a handsome price for their svper- 

 mimeraries, for my poor cows were so re~ 

 stricted, both in their food and bowels, in con- 

 sequence of having but little beside pine tops 

 mid corn bottoms to eat, that the little milk 

 which the)' gave was scarcely wholesome. I 

 was amused to find " in mnvfrel tcvrtzel there 

 is no mistake" — I will answer for it — none ! 

 The only mistake was, in those who gave their 

 cattle such a superabundance of a root vvJiich 

 is so much less liable to cause them to.ccour, 

 as to bring on that disease. Give me but the 

 power to cause my cattle to scour hy such 

 means, and I shall be quite content. 



But do you know, Mr. Cabinet, that I be- 

 lieve I shall have that happiness the next 

 winter, for the first time in my life. The fact 

 is, our crops of siif'-ar beet, in consequence of 

 being compelled to give ,"^'2 iiO per lb. for 

 tlie seed, are so cienn and v.ell cultivated, 

 that I expect the yield will be prodigious, 

 and the "entrenchments" of roots enormous I 

 Already have I seen mots much larirer than 

 some of last yeir at tneir full growth — but 

 then, we had the seeds given to us, and cared 

 nothing for their success. A new sera has 

 arrived; every fnrmer, who has any pretence 

 to character in his profession, must now crow 

 roots f()r winter food — the sucrar beet and the 

 ruta baga, will assuredly take the plr.ce of all 



