32 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



by being carefully and systematically turned in by 

 the plow, and imbedded in the soil, the vegetable 

 organism is immediately broken up, and converted 

 into humus on vegetable food : the fermentation 

 or putrefactive process, requisite to this result be- 

 ing completed with greater or less rapidity, accord- 

 ing to the state of the weather, and the character 

 and con dition of the crop at the time of turning 

 it down. The gaseous products of the fermenting 

 mass are imbibed readily, and with great facility I 

 by the soil, while the other products— viz : those! 

 of a solid or fluid character, if permitted to remain 

 undisturbed, are speedily incorporated and mixed 

 with it. But should the soil be again plowed be- 

 fore the process of decomposition has been thor- 

 oughly perfected, as is too often the case, especially 

 when a dry crop is to succeed a green one, much 



unproductive. We are of course speaking of soils 

 characterized by a vastly preponderating amount 

 of aluminous matter, and not of that more com- 

 mon and valuable description of lands, known as 

 clayey loams. These are so constituted as rarely 

 to demand any effort whatever on the part of the 

 cultivator, to change their constitutional charac- 

 ter, and are generally capaciEed for productiveness,, 

 if but a slight quantity of manure is applied, an- 

 nually, to the crops they are required to produce. 

 But in all tenacious, viscid and retentive clays, 

 which require loosening, the fermentation of a 

 green crop, produces highly beneficial results. It 

 also communicates to the soil many principles of 

 which it was before deficient : such, for instance, 

 as the inorganic elements of vegetation, and assists 

 powerfully, in rendering soluble, and therefore ap- 



the larger portion of the gaseous, and not a small propriable, the insoluble substances it previously 



per centu ■>. of the fluid products,will be dissipated, 

 and of course lost to the soil. It is therefore a good 

 plan to turn in the green crop with a deep furrow, 

 and prepare the surface for the reception of the 

 seed to be sown, by harrowing, as the plow goes 

 too deep for profit, and prevents thereby, to a cer 

 tain extent, the very results it is intended to pro 

 duce. A writer in one of our most popular agri- 

 cultural publications, discussing the importance 

 to the fanner, of this systeni of amelioration on 

 light arenaceous soils, says : — 



"In order to obviate wastage, .and to render the 

 mass more speedily and effectually available to the 

 growing -plants, it is recommended before turning 

 the amehorating mass, from twenty to twenty-five 

 bushels of lime to the acre be applied. This, by 

 its powerful action upon the buried fibres and fo- 

 liage, will induce a vigorous and rapid fermenta- 

 tion, and as the lime will immediately absorb and 

 fix the carbonic acid, one of the most important 

 products of vegetable decomposition, as well as form 

 a ready combination with the vegetable matter of 

 the mass, its application is highly essential in or- 

 der to obviate unnecessary waste, and to flicilitate 

 both the decomposition of the haulm, and the ap- 

 propriation of its fructifying products, by the in- 

 tended crop. Lands of a light, arenaceous texture 

 are often indebted for their supposed incorrigible 

 sterility and unproductiveness to the predomi 

 nance of noxious acids or salts. These are some- 

 times innate to the soil, though more commonly 

 produced by the application of matters intended 

 as manures. But whatever their origin or char- 

 acter, they are speedily neutralized and rendered 

 perfectly inoxious by lime. Should there be ex- 

 tant any original or insoluble humus in the soil, 

 it will also, by the efiicacious action of this miner- 

 al, be converted into a salutary and highly nutri- 

 tious pabulum, or food for the succeeding crop." 



On clayey lands, the turning in of green crops 

 has a tendency to break the cohesiveness which is 

 one of the principal causes which render them 



contained. On this account, unfermented manure 

 is always beneficial to such soils, and productive 

 of the most obvious effects, both on the soil and 

 crops. 



For the New England Fariner, 

 RAIN IN A YEAR— SLACKING LIMB. 



Mr. Editor : — Will you or some of your corres- 

 pondents who have a rain guage, please inform 

 me through the Farmer, the quantity that usually 

 falls in a year? {a.) 



How much water should be applied to lime 

 when slacked, for agricultural purposes, and how 

 much salt should be added to the water? (i.) 



How much of the slacked lime ought to be add- 

 ed to a cord of muck to be used as a dressing for 

 potatoes in the hills, (c) Please answer and 

 oblige. S. Tenny. 



E. Raymond, Me. 



Remarks, ia.) — The amount of rain falling in 

 the course of a year varies in different places. Iq 

 an English work, we find the statement to be, 



Under the tropics of the New WorlJ 115 inches. 



" " '' Old Wot kl 76 



Within the tropics generally 95i " 



In the temperate zone of the New World, 



(United States,)... 37 " 



Of the Old World ZH " 



Generally Zi'i " 



We have no reliable tables at hand to show the 

 amount of rain falling annually in the New Eng- 

 land States, but have supposed it to be not quite 

 so much, (including snow) as stated above. 



ip.) Add salt to water so long as the vrater will 

 dissolve it, then wet the lime with it until the mass 

 falls in a fine powder. 



(c.) Add equal to a cask, at least, of unsLscked 

 lime to each cord'of meadow muck ; and m(ne, if 

 lime comes to you at a cheap rate. The whole 

 should then be worked over most thoroughl v , so 

 that all the muck may be impregnated with the 

 lime. 



I^In Buffalo.one firm alone have sold and shipped 

 over four thoii?and barrels of apples this fall. 



