248 



Effects of Lime. 



Vol. III. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Effects of l.ime. 



The fertilizing influence of lime seems now 

 very generally understood and appreciated by 

 the farmers of our country. Long doubted 

 and viewed with distrust and incredulity — the 

 evidence of well attested facts, numerous 

 and conclusive, has at length forced the con- 

 viction of its utility upon the most sceptical 

 and the most ignorant. With its mode of op- 

 eration we are still unacquainted, and shall 

 remain so, until scientific analysi-s and exper- 

 iment shall have discovered its chymical ac- 

 tion upon the soil, the atmosphere, and upon 

 plants. The time may come when science 

 shall regard agriculture as not unworthy her 

 attention, and farmers be able to pursue their 

 operations, guided by well established princi- 

 ples, instead of, as at present, by the uncertain 

 light of isolated facts. In the meanwhile we 

 must be content to use to the best advantage 

 such knowledge as we possess. 



We know that lime does increase the pro- 

 ductiveness of the soil, though how or why it 

 does so — whether by altering its texture — or 

 by stimulating to activity the animal and vege- 

 table matter contained in it — or by attracting 

 moisture from the atmosphere — or by itself fur- 

 nishing the food of plants — or by all these, are 

 matters of doubt. Questions, they are, certain- 

 ly, of great interest and importance, and until 

 they and others of a similar nature be decided, 

 there can be no regularity in the processes of 

 agriculture, or certainty in its results. Leav- 

 ing them however to the discussions and inves- 

 tigations of the learned, it is the business of 

 the practical farmer to inquire into the effects 

 of lime upon crops — the best mode and time 

 of applying it — the quantity to be applied — 

 and the expense and subsequent profit. His 

 own experience and that of others are the only 

 means of acquiring this kind of knowledge, 

 and every fact, therefore, the truth of which 

 may be depended on, and which is stated with 

 a sufficiently minute detail of circumstances, 

 is of importance. 



Agricultural journals — which have in- 

 creased of late years so greatly in number, 

 excellence and circulation, are the most con- 

 venient means for the diffusion of this kind 

 of information ; their cheapness puts them 

 within the reach of every one, and their col- 

 umns are open to all, to record the observations 

 and results, suggested and produced by prac- 

 tice and experience. A mass of facts will 

 thus in time be accumuliited, and the know- 

 ledge of them circulated through the commu- 

 nity, — which will inform the ignorant, — guide 

 the inexperienced, — convince the prejudiced, 

 — suggest experiments to the curious, — stim- 

 ulate enterprise to new undertakings, — give 

 definite objects and increased power to Indus 



try, — and by introducing into every portion 

 of the country the most improved modes of 

 cultivation, — increase the productiveness of 

 the soil, and with it, the wealth and import- 

 ance of its owners. 



It is the duty of every one to contribute his 

 share of exertion to the promotion of these 

 worthy objects. We should all feel interested 

 in the advancement and improvement of the 

 calling to which we belong, and should be 

 unwilling to receive benefits from others, and 

 render none in return. I have myself derived 

 much instruction and advantage from the 

 pages of the different agricultural journals, ia 

 this and other states — which have done and 

 are doing such extensive good to the country, 

 and feel that I am only discharging an obli- 

 gation, incumbent on every one, when I offer 

 to the readers of the Cabinet, a statement of 

 the results of an experiment of my own in the 

 use of lime. 



I must begin by saying, that in the year 

 L835, I commenced the improvement of 400 

 acres of worn out land on the river Sassafras, 

 Cecil CO., Maryland. The place had been 

 farmed for many years afler the (happily noiE) 

 old fashioned Alaryland system of three fields 

 — two of grain — (wheat and corn) and one of 

 weeds, without grass, lime, or other manure, 

 than such as was furnished by a scanty stock 

 of half-fed cattle. The land, though naturally 

 of the finest quality, had became so much 

 exhausted, that five bushels of wheat and 

 twenty of corn per acre, was considered a fair 

 average crop. Confident of the superiority 

 of the soil, and of the eflicacy of those means 

 which have produced such happy results in 

 other less favored regions, I commenced by 

 dividing the farm into a greater number of 

 fields — by introducing a rotation of crops, and 

 by the employment of clover, plaster and 

 lime, according to the mode pursued in Penn- 

 sylvania. Aided as I have been by the intel- 

 ligence, energy and zeal of an excellent ten- 

 ant, my success has greatly exceeded my 

 expectations, proving beyond question the 

 fertility of the soil, and the rich resources of 

 a district hitherto neglected and abused, but 

 which nature formed for a garden and a gran- 

 ary. My object now however is to state a 

 single instance, and not the general result— 

 for which I shall, perhaps, find time, if the 

 courteous editor will find space, on some othey 

 occasion. 



The operation to which I allude was per-, 

 formed upon a field of forty acres lying on 

 the river. It had been much exhausted, and 

 eight bushels of wheat per acre would have 

 been considered a good crop. 



In the spring of 1835 it was srtwed with 

 I oats and clover, and plaster was applied at the 

 'rate of two bushels per acre. It produced 



