152 



Operations of Lime — Important to Farmers. Vol. IIL 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Operations of Einie. 



Vegetable and animal substances before 

 they can become food for, and enter into the 

 composition of plants, must underoro decom- 

 position and become dissolved in water. 

 Heat and moisture are tlie great agents of 

 decomposition, and in order to etTect it, they 

 must be applied in a medium degree, for too 

 high or too low a temperature, too much or 

 too little moisture, are alike inimical to the 

 progress of fermentation and decomposition. 

 The climate of this country is such during 

 the warm season, as to carry it on with 

 great rapidity ; and in the southern states 

 the almost tola! absence of frost enables it 

 to progress during tlte whole year, while in 

 the more northern parts of the country de- 

 composition is checked or suspended, at 

 least six months out of twelve. It has been 

 observed, that timber exposed to the ele- 

 ments in the south, will decay two years 

 earlier than the same kind of timber equally 

 exposed in the middle or northern states ; 

 and the same causes constantly operating, 

 must destroy the efficacy of manure in much 

 less time in southern than in more northern 

 latitudes, for the solution being produced 

 with more rapidity, must be carried away 

 by the frequent showers before it can be 

 taken up by the roots of plants. Hence it 

 is supposed that lime, which is a powerful 

 antiseptic, tending to impede or check de- 

 composition, would be found even more 

 beneficial to the south than it is to the north. 

 The dry, warm, sandy lands of New Jersey, 

 where vegetable manure is thoroughly de- 

 composed and carried away in a single sum- 

 mer, have derived the greatest advantage 

 from the application of lime, in consequence 

 of its preserving the manure from so rapid 

 a dissolution, and thereby extending the 

 fertilizing influence of it for a longer time. 

 A cold wet soil, although it may contain a 

 superabundance of vegetable matter, is 

 never found to be benefited by the applica- 

 tion of lime, and the reason of it no doubt 

 is, that it is too wet and cold to favor a suf- 

 ficient degree of decomposition to furnish the 

 requisite food for plants without it, and under 

 such circumstances to apply such a power 

 fu! antiseptic to it as lime, tends still fur 

 ther to prevent the necessary decay of the 

 vegetable materials contained in the soil, to 

 furnish the proper nutriment for the crop. 



Lime, it is believed, always produces the 

 greatest effect on dry and warm land, by 

 checking the tendency to too rapid decom- 

 position, and not by a tendency to promote 

 fermentation as some have sujiposed. 



In a recent edition of Sir Humphrey 

 Davy's Elements of Agricultural Chemis- 



try, with notes by his brother, John Davy, 

 which he slates relate chiefly to facts ascer- 

 tained since 1826, ho says, 



" The manner in which lime acts in agri- 

 culture, requires further and minute investi- 

 gation, and is a most important subject for 

 inquiry. From the experiments I havs 

 made, I have satisfied myself that it ar- 

 rests equally vinous and putrid fermenta- 

 tion, and that in close vessels it may be 

 used for preserving both animal and vegeta- 

 ble substances." 



These thoughts are presented through the 

 medium of the Cabinet, in order that those 

 who are annually engaged in applying lime 

 to their farms, may note their opinions on 

 the subject, and furnish tiiem for publication^ 

 so that a consistent, intelligible theory of the 

 operations of lime may be arrived at. X. 



For llie Farmers' Cabinet 

 Importaut to Farmers. 



The drought of last season having de- 

 stroyed or greatly injured the second crop of 

 hay, many farmers have but a short supply 

 for their stock the coming winter. Every 

 means, therefore, of using this with the 

 greatest economy should be resorted to. It 

 has been abundantly proved, both in Europe 

 and this country, that cutting all long feed' 

 for stock, is a gain of from one-third to one- 

 half of the cost of keeping on long or uncut 

 food. The great objection to this nnxfe of 

 economizing, has heretofore been the severe 

 or expensive labor attending it; and it is to 

 remove this impression that I trouble j'our 

 readers with these remarks. This difliculty 

 no longer exists, since the introduction of 

 that ne phis ulfra of agricultural machines'. 

 Green's Straw-cutter, which may almost 

 be said to be self-apting, so small is the 

 force required to work it. On this point I 

 may mention that the committee on machine- 

 ry of the Highland Agricultural Society of 

 Scotland, having carefully tried the "Yan- 

 kee notion," say in their Keport, that " it 

 will cut ihree limes more than the iies-t ma- 

 chines of the common sorts, zim\ 'X/^ with 

 less force ! that one person driving the ma- 

 chine, will cut with ease five hundredweight 

 of hay or straw per hour." To the truth of 

 this averment I am ready to bear full testi- 

 mony from my own experience. Now, with 

 the ascertained power' to convert three, tons 

 of liaij into four, by the investment of only 

 thirty or forty dollars, it is to bo Itopf^! that 

 no farmer will allow himself to be cornered 

 for want of sustenance for his kine. If the 

 hav, after being cut up, be sprinkled with 

 brine, it will be the more valuable, and bo 



