284 



Lime — IVhite Clover. 



Vol. III. 



sown witli wheat, the early crops of which 

 are esteemed the best sample, and by far the 

 freest from mildew. 



No. 7. The late sown wheat is always very 

 liable to rust or mildew. 



Now, after this testimony, who would go 

 and poke his head into Barberry and bramble 

 bushes to look for the cause of the rust or 

 mildew! Is it not more rational to suppose 

 that if a cold wind, attended with fog, nips 

 vegetation in the spring, that the young and 

 tender plants must suffer the most, especially 

 those that are placed in low and damp situ- 

 atio7is, rather than that the mischief has been 

 done by Fungi that have been sitting all win- 

 ter long on the bushes, to sally forth in the 

 first humid breezes of the spring " to be the 

 destroyers of thousands of acres of those golden 

 sheaves, which are the husbandman's hope, 

 and the staff of life." J. P. 



March 14th, 1839. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Liime. 



The use of lime, Mr. Editor, has become, 

 in the pages of your valuable work, an ab- 

 sorbing topic. I pray you keep the ball in 

 motion ; the subject is not yet exhausted, or 

 likely soon to be. Many of your friends are 

 very desirous of knowing how it acts, and this 

 is a very laudable inquiry — nothing but good 

 can come of inquiry. I can tell them what 

 its action is like — as a Methodist Preacher 

 once told his congregation in Wales, every 

 one of whom knew the correctness and ad- 

 mired the justice of the beautiful similitude; 

 the preacher also was a farmer, and every 

 farmer in Wales practises what the Minister 

 teaches, in this respect, if not in every other. 

 His subject was the grace of God and the 

 value of lime, and he exclaimed, " the use of 

 lime to a sour, stubborn, sterile soil, is like 

 the grace of God to a wicked man's heart!" 

 Now, that I call practical preaching — on a 

 subject too, which comes home to every man's 

 biaiiness and bosom. 



Your correspondent X. (p. 250) has my 

 thanks for his interesting article on the anti- 

 sceptic quality of lime, I believe he is right, 

 although his theory militates again.st -public 

 opinion and common observation; it has been 

 customary to fill the graves of traitors with 

 quick lime, in order that their bodies might 

 be more speedily decomposed, and thus be 

 put out of the reach of their adherents ; but 

 your correspondent's experience in conduct- 

 ing the process of decomposing a dead horse 

 by means of quick lime, according to the booh, 

 puts to flight many pretty stories, that have 

 been written in the study, nil about agricul- 

 ture, where much use has been made of this 

 article for that very purpose — never mind, 

 " truth will bear towzling,'^ and 1 therefore 



venture to conceit that lime by its alkaline 

 qualities, when brought into contact with ace- 

 tous qualities, induces fermentation, or if 

 you will, eflfervescency, whether in the vege- 

 table or animal world ; and thus, by neutral- 

 ization, rendering that which was before . 

 poisonous wholesome food for the support of 

 vegetable life. Will our pleasant friend X. 

 turn his mind to this theory, and say for me, 

 what I would say for myself, had I his ability. 

 Did X. ever remark a peculiar quality in 

 salt, I believe a very peculiar quality, namely, 

 that a small quantity operates as a sceptic, if ' 

 he will allow the term, w bile a large quantity 

 forms the strongest anti-sceptic which is 

 known. Can he make use of the idea the 

 next time he turns his attention to the sub- 

 ject. Cale. 



March 20th, 1839. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



"Wliitc Clover. 



And the earth brought forth grass, yielding seed after 

 his kind. 



There are few plants more widely dispersed 

 over the surface of the earth than white clo- 

 ver; but where the soil is poor or otherwise not 

 well adapted to its growth, it is often so small, 

 and grows so flat among the lower leaves of 

 the herbage, that it is not perceptible unless 

 a turf is cut and carefully examined by di- 

 viding it; hence, on breaking up and manu- 

 ring such soils, or simply manuring by top- 

 dressing, a spontaneous crop of white clover 

 appears where it was never observed before, 

 and without any supply of seed; this has led 

 to strange conclusions respecting the propa- 

 gation of this plant — many erroneously sup- 

 posing that it originated from ashes or marl 

 without the original intervention of seed. It 

 has a perennial root, and the central root pene- 

 trates to a considerable depth in the soil, and 

 the plant is thereby better prepared to resist 

 the bad effect of severe dry weather, particu- 

 larly on sandy soils. The branches that trail 

 on the surface send down fibrous roots from 

 the joints which penetrate but a, little way 

 into the ground^^ hence it is, that the white 

 clover maintains itself in soils of opposite na- 

 tures; for if the surface be too dry to afford 

 nourishment to the branches, the principal 

 root preserves it; and when the tenacity and 

 retentiveness of the soil in a wet winter is 

 great enough to rot the tap-root, the fibres of 

 the runners preserve the plant in safety. 

 From this habit of growth, top-dressings and 

 a frequent use of the roller encourage the 

 growth of this plant in an extraordinary de- 

 gree. When the soil is thin, or does not fur- 

 nish food adapted to the nourishnicnt of this 

 universally dispersed plant, it seldom rises to 

 a head, and the very small leaves hi}' close 

 on thc^round, so that its presence is not no 



