1S36.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



103 



years in succession, and afterwards every second year. 

 The intermediate year between the crops of corn, 

 the field was "rested" under a crop of wheat, if it 

 would produce four or five bushels to the acre. If tlie 

 sandiness, or exhausted condition of the soil, denied 

 even this small product of wiieat, that crop was pro- 

 bably not attempted; and instead of it, the field was ex- 

 posed to close grazin;;, from the time of o-athcririg one 



This formation, or one analogous in its fertili- 

 zing character, is however of no frequent occur- 

 rence; it thereibre remains lor lis to incjuire wheth- 

 er other Ibrms of calcareous matter'" may not an- 

 swer the same purpose. Such is the extensive dif- 

 fusion of lime in nature, that there are iew or no 

 regions where it cannot be procured. Kvenin prim- 



crop of corn, tS that of preparing to plant another, j itivc regions, beds or veins of granular carbonate 

 No manure was applied, except on the tobacco lots; lot lime, are ot occa.^ional occurrence, and in those 

 and this rotation of a grain crop every year, and 1 which are alluvial, the remains of recent shell fish 

 afterwards every second year was kept up asj are not wholly wanting. Much, however, will de- 

 long as the field would produce five bushels of pend, in the success of its application, upon the 

 corn to the acre. When reduced below that product, miantity which is re(|uired, as it may hapfien that 



and to less than the necessary expense of cultivation, 

 the land was turned out to recover under a new growth 

 of pines. After twenty or thirty years, according to 

 the convenience of the owner, the same land would be 

 again cleared and put under similar scourging tillage. 



when this is considerable, the expense ol' transpor- 

 tation may equal, or more than counterbalance 

 the benefit it is calculated to produce. This ques- 

 tion can be solved only by reference to the practice 

 wli\'"h"would thTn mucTrsooncTcnd aVbeTbre, in ex- i of those countries, in which lime has been applied 



haustion. Such a general system is not yet every 

 where abandoned, and many years have not passed 

 since such was the usual course on every farm. How 



with success. 



In the north of England, and in Scotland, the 

 use of lime as a manure may almost appear to be 



much our country ha? been impoverished during the I excessive. Two hundred bushels per acre are of- 

 last fifty years, cannot be determined by any satisfac- | tg,j applied to sandy soils, and from three to four 

 Jory testimony. But, however, we may ditfei- on this i j-jy^^jj^g^} oj^ (;].-^^,_ 'Dressings of this amount are- 

 head, there are few who wdl not concur m the opinion, 1 1,^^^^^^^^ Qj^pg ij^ ^ jg,,^ qC t^yenty one, 

 that our systenri ot cultivahon has been every year les- j ^.^j^ j^; ;^ ^^^^, ^^ ^ ijc^tio„ c^t^ild not 

 scning the produchve power of our lands m general, and I •■ , ^. , '' » i, u-* , i 

 that no one country, no neighborhood, and blit few par- ( however be practised upon land not yet habituated 

 ticular farms have been at all enriched, since their first ! to its use, and would in most parts of the Lniied 



States, be too costly to yield any profit. 

 In England the lime is usually laid in small heaps 



on the fields, in its caustic state, and spread as soon 



as it becomes air-slaked. 

 In the department of I'Ain in France, the dress- 



settlement and cultivation. Yet many of our farming 

 operations have been much improved within the last 

 fifteen or twenty years. Driven by necessity, propri- 

 etors direct more personal attention to their farms — 



better implements of husbandry are used, every pro- 



cess is more perfectly performed— and, whether well j j^^ ^,.g .^^}^^^^^ eighty bushels to the acre, and are 

 or ill directed, a spirit of inquiry and enterprise has j ^^^^,1^^ ^^ ^ preparation for every grain crop. 



been awakened, " which be'fore had no existence 

 Tiiroughout the country below the tails, and perhaps 

 thirty miles above, if the best land be excluded, say, 

 one-tenth, the remaining nine-tenths, will not yield an 

 average product of ten bushels of corn to the acre; al- 

 though that grain is best suited to our soils in gene- 

 ral, and far exceeds in quantity, all other kinds raised. 

 Of course the product of a large proportion of the land 

 would fall below this average." 



"Such crops cannot in many cases remunerate the 

 cultivator. If our remaining woodland should be at 

 once brought into cultivation, the gross product of the 

 country would be greatly increased, but the net pro- 

 duct, very probably diminished — as the general pover- 

 ty of these lands would cajise more expense than pro- 

 fit, to accompany their cultivation under the usual sys- 

 tem. Yet every year we are using all our exertions 

 to clear woodland, and in fact, seldom increase cither 

 gross or net product — because nearly as much old ex- 

 hausted land is turned out of cultivation, as is substi- 

 tuted by the newly cleared. Sound calculations of 

 profit and loss would induce us to reduce the extent 

 of our present cultivation, by turning out every acre 

 that yields less than the total cost of its tillage." (p. 12.) 



The lime here, is also laid in heaps in its caustic 

 state, but these are immediately covered v,'ith earth, 

 which rem-ains until the lime is slaked, when the 

 earth and it are intimately mixed, and after hav- 

 ing rested for a fortnight, are again thoroughly in- 

 corporated. In this state they remain for another 

 fortnight, when the whole is uniformly distributed 

 over the ground. 

 In Flanders the quantity of lime applied, is from 

 forty to fifty bushels to the acre, and the dressing 

 is not repeated oftener than once in ten or twelve 

 years. The lime is usually mixed with the ashes 

 of bituminous coal, or of turf j or formed into a com- 

 post with other manures. 



In the department of La Sarthe, the lime is ap- 

 plied once in three years, and in the form of com- 

 post. 



" For. that, there is first made a bed of earth, mould 

 or tirrf, of a foot, or thereabout, in thickness. The 

 clods are chopped down and then a layer of unslaked 

 lime is spread over them, at the rate of a hectolitre for 

 twenty cubic feet, or a ton to forty five cubic fett of 

 ^ earth.* Upon this a second layer of earth, of the same 



marl ofTMr. Rutfin, are to be found also in Ma- j thickness as the first, is placed; on this is laid a second 

 ryland and in Jersey. In the latter state, its use layer of lime; and the whole covered by a layer of 

 was commenced as early as 1805, by the Rev. farth- It; the earth is moist, and, the hme recently 



The green sand formations which yield the 



John Singleton of Talbot county, and has been 

 continued to the present lime with great success. 

 His example has been followed by his neighbors 



burnt, eight or ten days will suffice to slake it complete- 

 ly. Then the heap Is cut down and well mixed — and 

 this operation is repeated afterwards before using the 



la.-, uccuiuHuwcu uy 1.:= x.o.^.i..u,^ .manure, which is delayed as long as possible, because 

 in the same comity, and the practice has expended ^ ^,^3 power of the efl^ect on the soil is increased with the 

 into Queen Ann s; but it does not appear that it 

 has yet been introduced on the western shore of 

 the Chesapeake. In Jersey, the county of JMon 



pov 



age of the compost, and especially if it has been made 

 with earth containing much vegetable mould." — Puvis. 



mouth, at one time considered almost irretrievably 

 barren, has been raised to great productiveness by 

 the use of this manure. 



* These two quantities do not correspond, but as we 

 have not the original to refer to, we are compelled to 

 take the translation as we find it. 



