No. 1. 



Mineral Manures. 



31 



mineral RIanurcs. 



The following remarks by Win. P. Kiiizer, of Pcqua, 

 I,ancaster Co., we copy from a late number of the 

 Cultivator. 



Although there is much to please and in- 

 .erest the mind in practical farming, yet de- 

 void and apart trom the theory, it is little else 

 than a routine, suited to the capacity and am- 

 bition of uncultivated minds. An active and 

 enlightened mind seeks to understand the 

 cause and effect — to apply the sciences ; in 

 short, it is restive, until the queries emhraced 

 in agriculture, are disposedof and determined 

 uiwn soimd piiilosophical principles. 'Tis this 

 constitutes theory ! and 'tis this theory, that 

 nnfolds a world of beauties to the scientific 

 agriculturist, of which the mere prejudiced 

 practical farmer, the mere tyro and novitiate, 

 must remain ignorant, and that too, of the 

 highest branch 5f the profession which he 

 follows. 



The improvement which has been effected 

 within the last twenty years in several of the 

 eastern counties of Pennsylvania, (and espe- 

 cially in Chester,) is almost incredible. And 

 the whole is mainly attributed to a regular 

 and judicious use of lime as a manure. To 

 me, it has been matter of astonishment, to 

 find this inestimable restorative meet with so 

 little favor in the minds of the conductor and 

 correspondents of the Cultivator. My farm 

 is situated in a district of secondary forma- 

 tion, and the soil is principally calcareous, yet 

 I have seen the most surprising beneficial ef- 

 fects attending the free use of lime and plas- 

 ter ; the latter apparently reacting on the for- 

 mer, and consequently, the greatest benefit is 

 derived by using them together. The crops, 

 not only on my farm, but on others in this vi- 

 cinity, have been doubled by a free use of 

 mineral manures. When a farm has been 

 improved so as to produce heavy crops, there 

 will be such a corresponding increase in the 

 quantity of stable manure as to insure its fu- 

 ture fertility. I look upon the immense beds 

 of limestone in this region as an inexhausti- 

 ble store, designed by the wise Governor of 

 the World to keep up the strength of the 

 land, in all time to come. I regard tlie lime- 

 stone of Pennsylvania as a mineral, which 

 will confer more real benefit upon posterity 

 than any of her other mineral treasures. — 

 The aid which it promises to contribute 

 to the support and improvement of her ag' 

 riculture cannot be easily overrated. Some 

 idea may be formed of the estimation in which 

 lime is held here as a manure, by the fact, 

 that farmers come from 25 to 30 miles, i. e. 

 from Maryland and the poor district of primi- 

 tive formation in the southern part of Chester 

 county, bordering on the Maryland line, to 

 my lime-kiln and others in the neigiiborhood 



the lime costing those farmers twenty-five 

 cents per bushel when delivered. To the 

 farmers in that quarter, lime is the "anchor 

 of hope ;" Uure it has already made the bar- 

 ren and desert place glad, and is last putting 

 a new and improved tiicc uixm the country. — 

 The farmers, even lh(:rc,\\i\.\\ this farfetched 

 means of improving their land, i)refer better- 

 ing their condition by liming near a good 

 market, rather than migrate to tlie exuberant 

 soil, and realize the etopian dreams and fairy 

 tales of the " far west." 



On part of my farm, 300 bushels of lime 

 per acre have been applied within thirty years, 

 at the rate of about 100 bushels per acre at a 

 dressing, and always put on fresh, and slacked, 

 then immediately spread. I am not inclined 

 to believe that lime should become carbonated 

 before it is applied. I adopt Sir Humphrey 

 Davy for my prototype, in every case involv- 

 ing agricultural chemistry, 1 shall be en- 

 couraged so to do, until some modern wisea- 

 cre can clearly demonstrate tliat Sir H. is 

 wrong. Doubtful points in Davy's theory 

 have become demonstrable truths with me, 

 after being aided and enlightened by the lamp 

 of experience. Lime, in its fresh caustic 

 state only, while an alkali, acts as a decom- 

 posing agent in the soil, rendering vegetable 

 substances soluble — but when a mild carbon- 

 ate, it operates only like marl, in improving 

 the texture of the soil, according to Davy, 

 whose authority is unquestionable, and the 

 theory, at all events, may fairly challenge 

 contradiction ; hence the advantage of apply- 

 ing lime, like stable manure, in its fresh 

 state. 



With regard to the theory, or the manner, 

 in which gypsum operates on vegetation, an 

 accidental circumstance which occurred in 

 my practice and under my own eye, goes fur- 

 ther to establish the truth in my mind, than 

 all the ink that has been spilled on the sub- 

 ject; even the adopted theory of Prof Low 

 and British Husbandry to the contrary not- 

 withstanding. In April, 1832, 1 sowed a half 

 bushel of plaster on a small piece of land in 

 the middle of a wheat field, for experiment, 

 in order to ascertain whether the plaster 

 would have the slightest effect, even of chang- 

 ing the color of the wheat, — the result an- 

 swered my expectations ; there was not a 

 shade of change in the color of the wheat in 

 the future stages of its growth. In autumn fol- 

 lowing, the same field was again ploughed 

 for wheat, and the plaster of course turned 

 down ; the field was deeply ploughed, say se- 

 ven or eight inches — the spring following the 

 field was sown with clover seed ; the secret 

 then was speedily developed ; when the wheat 

 was cut in harvest the growth of clover on 

 that same land which had been sown with 

 plaster was so luxuriant as to interfere with 



