1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



501 



vered wilh a fine rich sward. I have used lime 

 for several years, and my confidence in its benefits 

 have not at all been diminished. 



Third. — [ am satisfied that lime is a preventive 

 of smut in wheat, rye, oats and barley, il the 

 seed, previous to sowinjx, is steei'cd in brine or 

 lime water, and rolled in fresli-siacked lime. And 

 I am equally satisfied it \v\\\ de.stroy the insect, or 

 Hessian Fly, in the yountj <Train, ii' sown in the 

 morning when there is a iieavy dew on the crop. 

 Some years ago 1 sovvetl some spring wlieat, and 

 as I had no salt at my farm to make brine, 1 

 took stone lime, and slacked it in a tub of water ; 

 and v/hen tha water was as warm as I could hear 

 my hand in, 1 put in the seed, skimmed ofl' the 

 light matters which floated, and continued stirring 

 the grain for half an hour or more. The grain 

 was then sown; and wlien it came into its third 

 or fourth leaf, althoufrh it looked well, I sowed 

 fresh-slacked lime over the field while the dew was 

 upon it. The crop was very good — while all my 

 neighbors, except one, lost almost their entire 

 crop of spring wheat. This one happened to be 

 passing while I u'as sowing the lime on my young 

 grain, and at my suggestion, went home and 

 sowed it upon his own also, and, I understand, 

 had a uood crop. 



In the spring of 1823, I had about three acres 

 of winter wheat, a portion of which looked very 

 yellow when the snow went off. i directed this to 

 be sown with lime; baton visiting my farm two 

 weeks afterwards, I found it had not been done, 

 and that the whole field assumed a like yellow ap- 

 pearance. I hiid the whole immediately sown 

 with lime ; the grain immediately improved in aj)- 

 pearance, and I had a tolerable crop, though not 

 so good, I tliink, as I sliould have had if the lime 

 had been sown two weeks earlier. 



Mr. Ebsnezer Cady, of Duanesburgh, at my 

 suggestion, adopted my method last spring, of 

 steeping his seed, rolling it in lime, and sowing 

 fresh-slacked lime upon his young grain. The 

 experiment v/as so successful, that this wheat was 

 considered the best in the country. 



Fifth. — I have applied lime successfully upon 

 cucumbers, and other garden vines, to protect them 

 from the yellow bug ; takina; care to repeat it as 

 often as the wind or rain blew or washed off that 

 which had been before applied. Half a bushel ol' 

 lime, mixed with the earth of an ant-hill, will ef- 

 fectually destroy a colony of these insects. 

 Your friend, 



WILLIAIM CHAPJIAN. 



Albany, January 6, 1823. 



From the Encyclopedia of A^riculturp. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF FLTIMISH HUSBAND- 

 RY. 



To make a farm resemble a garden as nearly as 

 possible, was their principal idea of husbandry. — 

 Such an excellent principle, at first setting out, led 

 them, of course to undertake the culture of small 

 estates only, which they kept free from v/eeds, 

 continually turninip the ground and manuring it 

 plentifully and judiciously. Having thus brought 

 the soil to a just degree ol' cleanliness, health and 

 sweetness, they ventured chiefly upon the culture 

 of the more delicate grasses, as the surest means 

 of acquiring wealth in husbandry, upon a small 



scale, without the expense of keeping many 

 draught horses or servants. After a l(?.w years 

 experien(;e, they soon found that ten acres of the 

 best vegetables for feeding cattle, properly cultiva- 

 ted, would maintain a larger stock of grazing an- 

 imals, than fbrly acres of common fiirm grass: 

 and the vegetables they chiefly cultivated for this 

 purpose were lucerne, sainlbin, trefoils of most de- 

 nominations, sweet fi?nu-greek, (Trifconella,) 

 buc!{ and cow wheat, (Melampyrwni pratense,) 

 field turnips and spurry, (Spergula,) by them 

 called ijiarian-grass. 



The political secret of Flemish husbandry was, 

 the letting farms on improvement. Add to this, 

 they discovered eiiiht or ten new sorts of manures. 

 I'hey were the first among the moderns who 

 ploughed in living crops, lor the sake of fertilizing 

 the earth, and confined their sheep at night in 

 large sheds built on purpose, whose floor was co- 

 vered with sand, or earth, &:c. which the shepherd 

 carted away every morning to the compost dung 

 hill. Such was the chief mystery of the Flemish 

 husbandry. 



Urine cisterns are formed in the fields, to re- 

 ceive purchased liquid manure; butibr that made 

 in the farm-yard, generally in the yard, or un- 

 i dcr the stables. In the latter case, the urine is 

 1 conducted from each stall to a conmion grating, 

 j through which it descends into the vault; fi'om 

 I thence it is taken up by a pump, in the best reg- 

 j ulated farmeries there is a partition in the cistern, 

 I with a valve to a^imit the contents of the first 

 space into the second, to be preserved there fi-ee, 

 from the more recent acquisition, age adding con- 

 siderably to its efficacy. This species of manure 

 is relied on beyond any other, upon all the light 

 soils throughout Flanders, hnd ^3ven upon the 

 strong lands, (originally so rich as to preclude the 

 necessity of manure,) is now coming into great 

 esteem, being considered applicable to most crops 

 and to all the varieties of soils. 



FaUoics, according to Sir John Sinclair, are in 

 a ffreat measure abolished, even on strong land ; 

 by means of which, produce is increased, and the 

 expense of cultivation on the crops raised in the 

 course of a rotation, necessarily diminished: and 

 by the great profit they derive from ther flax and 

 rape, or coleseed, they can afibrd to sell all their 

 crops of grain at a lower rate. Notwithstanding 

 this assertion of Sir John, it vA\l be found that a 

 fi\!low enters into the rotation on all the clayey 

 soils of Flanders. 



Flax is cultivated with the utmost care. The 

 field intended for this crop, after two or three 

 ploughings and hiifowings, is again ploughed, 

 commencing in the centre and ploughed round 

 and round to the circumference, so as to leave it 

 Avithout any furrow. The heavy roller is drawn 

 across the ploughing by three horses; the liquid 

 manure is then spread equally over the entire sur- 

 face, and v.-hen well harrowed in, by eight or nine 

 strokes of the harrow^, the seed is sown, which is 

 also harrowed in b}^ a light harrow with wooden 

 pins, of less than three inches; and the surfjice, 

 to conclude the oneration, is again carefijUv roll- 

 ed. 



Nothing can exceed the smoothness and culti- 

 vated appearance of fields thus accurately pre- 

 pared. 



The manure ir.iiversally lised for the flax crop, 

 demands particular notice. It is termed liquid 



