322 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



For the New England Farmer. 



[COBHBSPONDENCE No. 2.] 



APPLICATION OF LIME AND ASHES 



iOll TIIK IMl>]lOVKMENT Of LAND. 



Shorcham, Vt.,Fth. '11, 1854. 



Mr. Holbrook : — Dear Sir, — Althougliyou are 

 a stranger to me, personally, you arc uot through 

 the press, and as you frequently give your views 

 on different sulijects relating to agriculture, 1 

 should be pleased to receive a conununication 

 from you on the application of unslacked ashes 

 and slacked lime. 



My soil ismostlyof a deep, rich, dry loam, some 

 of it heavy, some light, and plaster of paris has 

 had a good effect, and I am told has been applied 

 for 30 years past. My crops have not been as 

 large and good as the cultivation would indicate. 



Generally, I have raised winter wheat after 

 corn, and the most I ever raised was 28 bush. per| 

 acre — average 14 bush. Since I liave been on the 

 farm (15 years) I have not raised a first rate crop 

 of winter or spring wheat ; there has been some 

 defect, either it would lodge ; be too thin ; the fly 

 would injure it ; or the rust would strike it and 

 spoil the berry. 



Now can I not apply ashes or lime to advantage 

 and have a larger and more equal yield ? 



Refuse lime can l)e had for three cents per bush- 

 el within three miles, and I think ashes can be 

 bought in town for G or 8 cents, as there is no 

 ashery, and most of the faraiers prefer to selj 

 them. I have thouglits of applying ashes and 

 lime to grass lands when they are dry, but have 

 no experience, and do not wish to use many with- 

 out more knowledge than I have on this subject. 



I have previously paid more attention to raising 

 grain than grass, but am convinced with the pres- 

 ent high price of labor that the jirofits of the farm 

 would be larger should I reverse it and give tb.e 

 grass crop the preference. 



I tliink since 1839, the average crop of hay has 

 not l)een over | of a ton per acre, and pasture in 

 proportion. 



Should you be pleased to answer this communi- 

 cation, it would be received as coming from high 

 authority, and I shouldgovcrn myself accordingly. 

 An early I'eply will much oblige 



Your liumble servant, . 



Dear Sir : — Your letter of Fob. 27th, was duly 

 received, and I take the first convenient opportu- 

 nity to answer it. Omitting your name and resi- 

 dence, I reply to your inquiries through the me- 

 dium of the New England Farmer, hoping that 

 thus I may be anticipating inquiries kindred to 

 yours froai other persons and saving some writing, 

 and trusting that under the circumstanses you 

 will not seriously object to this mode of communi- 

 cation. 



The exhaustion of land by long-continued ap- 

 plications of }ilaster, without suitable applications 

 of stable manure, has been often illustrated. Plas- 

 ter stimulates the soil to give up its fertility freely 

 to growing crops, but does not enrich it like or- 

 ganic or stable manures. Perhaps to a greater or 

 less extent this is your case. 



Probably your land needs rest from wheat, as 

 generally it is a crop which will not, to an equal de- 

 gree with several other crops, bear repetition at short 

 intervals on the same land. Throw wheat out ofi 



your rotation for a few years, or at least cultivate 

 a loss Im'adth of it for a while than heretofore, 

 and makt; the intervals longer between groiving it 

 on a given field ; as thus your land will be gaining 

 what it has been robbed of by the wheat, while at 

 tlie same time it will be yielding well in other 

 crops, and ultimately, will give you good crops of 

 wheat again. 



As your land is mostly a deep substantial loam, 

 l)y giving it large doses of lime you might for a 

 time realize a considerable increase in your crops 

 of wlieat, and indeed in most other crops; but 

 such application, without corresponding dressings 

 of organic or stable manure, would ultimately ex- 

 haust your soil. On this mode of using lime is 

 founded the proverb — "lime enriches the fiithers 

 but impoverishes the sons ;" — the reason of which 

 is, that its principal or more powerful action up- 

 on the soil is chemical and mechanical, rather 

 than as manure in the strict sense : chemical, as 

 an alterative and stimulant, rendering wdiatcver of 

 fertility the soil contains, whether free, or locked 

 up in noxous compounds, readily available to the 

 growing crops ; mechanical, in modifying the tex- 

 ture of the soil, such as by opening and loosening 

 stiff loams and clay, making them more permeable 

 to air, heat and moisture, and easier to work. 

 But it is not my province to deal very minutely in 

 theoretical considerations, and I shall therefore 

 reply to you mostly in the practical view. I 

 would commend to your attentive perusal, "Lec- 

 tures on Agricultural Chemistry," by Prof. John- 

 ston, wherein 3-ou will find the whole subject of 

 lime as used in agriculture, as well as many other 

 important matters, very fully, clearly and a))ly 

 discussed, l^ou would also do well to read "The 

 Field Book of ]\Ianures," by Browne. 



If you can buy lime and ashes at anything like 

 the prices you name, you had certainly better em- 

 ploy them, in connection with organic substances, 

 in the improvement of your land. Mix the lime 

 or ashes with muck from swamps and bogs, rich 

 turf',the rich soil washed into hollows and ditclies, 

 pond mud, &c., making up the compost heap in a 

 similar mode to that indicated in my correspond- 

 ence with another gentleman, recently published 

 in the Fanner, and marked No. 1. But as he 

 proposed using fresh lime, which increases in bulk 

 three or four fold by slaking, and as you design 

 using refuse lime already slaked, you had better 

 mix from three to five bushels with a half-cord of 

 the muck, &c., with or without salt, as you may 

 deem expedient. By applying lime or ashes in 

 compost as a1>ove stated, you can use a larger 

 quantity to the acre than would l)e advisable if 

 tliey were applied alone, and will realize all the 

 good effects they can naturally produce, without 

 the disadvantage of ultimately exhausting your 

 soil, as the vegetable organic matter of the com- 

 post Avill maintain and increase the staple of the 

 soil . It will ^JC well to spread as much as twenty- 

 five or thirty loads of the compost to the acre, — 

 liarrowing it in on the surface rather than plow- 

 ing it in deep, as the tendency of tlie lime and 

 aslies is downwards in the soil. If convenient, 

 make up tlie compost several months before it is 

 wanted for use, as age improves its quality ; but 

 a few weeks before will do. 



If instead of raising grain so exclusively as you 

 say you have heretofore done, you turn your at- 

 tention moro to the production of grass and the 



