118 



Queries respecting Lime — Cash Book. 



Vol. III. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Queries respecting Liime. 



I am pleased to find in the pat^es of the] 

 Cabinet, many sound and practical remarks 

 relative to the judicious application of lime to 

 agricultural purposes. But notwithstanding 

 much has already been said, when we con- 

 sider the vast importance of this yei mysteri- 

 ous agent, the growing interest attached to 

 it, and the great agricultural revolution and 

 reform which it is yet destined to effect, it is 

 evident that much remains to be said. 



While the march of improvement is thus 

 onward, and \\q\v lights of wisdom and expe- 

 rience daily continue to break upon us — one 

 subject important to many and perhaps inter- 

 esting to all, seems to be partially overlooked, 

 and to this subject I would respectfully call 

 tlie attention of some of your experienced 

 correspondents. It is a question nearly con- 

 nected with the Oj9;)/ic«//o?iof lime, and one 

 equally worthy of consideration. This plain 

 question is simply how to get it ? 



Inexhaustible quantities of limestone abound 

 in this vicinity, yet so supine have the farmers 

 in this region hitherto been, tliat this invalu- 

 able mine of agricultural wealth, has as yet 

 lain comparatively dormant. But now the 

 spirit of improvementisabroad, and the ques- 

 tion so lately under discussion, whether a 

 given quantity of lime was or was not more 

 valuable to the farmer than the same bulk of 

 sand, has been dropped, with other absurdities, 

 and is now dead and buried.* The farmers 

 have at last awakened from their long sleep, 

 and wonder at their recent delusion. A spirit j 

 of rivalry is excited, and a just sense of thei 

 importance of the subject awakened, which 

 henceforth shall sleep no more. | 



Many enterprising farmers have purchased | 

 lots of limestone land, and erected limekilns j 

 on their premises. Others contemplate fol-i 

 lowing the worthy example, but are deterred 

 from want of experience in constructing kilns, 

 burning limestone, &c. 



This being the case, I would institute, 

 through the columns of the Cabinet, the tollow? 

 ing inquiries: — 



1. Is it cheaper for the farmer to quarry 

 limestone and burn it on his premises, or to 

 purchase lime at 16 cts. per bushel, taking 

 the difference of expense in hauling stone and 

 lime into consideration 1 



2d. Which is considered the best species of 

 limestone for land — the white coarse grained 

 or alum, tlie dark blue, or dark grey 1 



3d. What is the best method of construct- 

 ing a kiln 1 The proper height ? respective 



diameter of the bottom, bulge, and topi — 

 height of the benches 1 form of the eye, wing, 

 walls, &c ? 



4th. What is the most approved manner of 

 turning the arch and filling the kiln 1 



.5th. What is the quantity of fuel necessary 

 to be consumed in burning 100 bushels of lime, 

 and the most economical mode of using wood 

 and coaH 



If the above queries elicit a reply from 

 some of your able correspondents versed in 

 the subject, I shall deem myself richly re- 

 paid for my labor. E. P. 



Triadeliihia, Moiitg'y co. Md., Oct. 8, 1833. 



* Incrodible as it may appear to .somo of the roadors 

 of the Cabinet, this absurd idea has lieen but recently 

 ^eradicated from the creed of some of the old school in 

 tluB neighborhood. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Casli Book. 



A little care prevents much cost and trouble. 



It is a very easy and simple affair to keep 

 a cash book, and yet how very few farmers 

 do it. Any person who can write can keep a 

 book of this description, and many advantages 

 accrue from it. On one page of your cash 

 book set down every thing sold, and the sura 

 received for it. On the other side put down 

 all your outgoings or expenditures ; and when 

 it is begun, if the amount of cash on hand is 

 put at the top of the column of receipts, at any 

 time by adding up the two pages, and taking 

 the difference of them, will show the balance 

 of cash you should have in hand; and if there 

 is any disagreement, there must be some er- 

 ror of entry, or there must be " a hole in the 

 purse." A book of this kind accurately kept, 

 would show at the end of the year, or at any 

 other time, the amount of wheat, corn, pota- 

 toes, butter, poultry, eggs, or any other arti- 

 cles sold, and the sum received for them. It 

 would do more, it would show all your out- 

 layings for stock, seeds, implements of hus- 

 bandry, repairs, clothing, tea, coffee, sugar, 

 salt, &c. &c. and also for wages, and would pre- 

 sent a very curious and interesting document 

 for family examination at the end of a twelve- 

 month ; and if there should be found to be "a 

 hole in the purse," it would indicate the spot 

 where repairs were most necessary. 



A farmer keeping a book of entries of this 

 description, would always know his latitude 

 and longitude, as a captain of a ship does 

 when on the ocean, and he would be less 

 likely to run on to shoals, or get among the 

 breakers. As it is not very usual among far- 

 mers to take receipts when money is paid on 

 ordinary occasions, and not in very large sums, 

 and a.s tlie memories of many people are very 

 frail, such a book of entries as has been re- 

 ferred to, would be of essential service as a 

 record of payment when no other evidence of 

 it existed, and might prevent litigation and 

 trouble in case of the decease of one or both 

 of the parties. On the death of the head of 



