870 



1\EW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JUNE 1, issb. 



attributed to the paving of its strt^ets with shells, 

 and the filling up of] the sunken and nimshy pla- 

 ces, and covering them with the same materi- 

 als. 



The use of lime in its caustii" state for the pur- 

 pose of disitifecting cemeteri s, butcher-pens, &c. 

 has been known from time immemorial ; but that 

 these great benefits could he extended over a large 

 extent of country, seems a discoveiy that has been 

 reserved for our own limes. It is found that the 

 carbonate of lime possesses this disinfecting pow- 

 er in at least us high a degree, and is prefera- 

 ble to the caustic lime, except when it is desirable 

 to consume the noxious, putrescent matter. The 

 greater cheapness of the carbonate may render it 

 nseful with that view alone ; and may be used to 

 cover battlefields, which besides the butcheries 

 they have witnessed, freipiently produce diseases 

 in the country around. It is soii:i;uIint singular, 

 that this most interesting fact was discovered in 

 Europe, about the same time, that it was announc- 

 ed here, by Mr. Edmund R,iifiin, as we find at the 

 very moment we are writing this, in his Farmer's 

 Register for November. 



An obvious questi n here intrudes itself. Can 

 this be true ? Has lime either caustic, or as a car- 

 bonate the wonderful effect of destroying the efflu- 

 via of putrefying vegetable or animal matters, 

 which are considered as the greatest cause of bil- 

 ious iliscases ; we then ask emphatically : is it true 

 that lime is used efFectUtilly, in preventing the bad 

 smells arising from offensive places, from the re- 

 ceptacles of filth — has it not for centuries been 

 the pra<?tice of throwing lime over the corpses that 

 wor« buried in r.hurches to prevent infection .' 

 Can we doubt the fact related by Mr RufSn, in 

 his "Essay on Calretreous Manures," of an expe« 

 riment whicli he has made, of covering the car- 

 cass uf a ■cow, which had died in hot weather, 

 with calcareotta earth or tfbssil shells, by which all 

 oflcJisive smell was prevenled, and all the gases 

 producer! :by 'the pnfi-efactimi of the carcass, were 

 evidently ^absorbed by the carbonate ? Can we 

 doubt the experience oif ages on a point connected 

 w ith this subject .' Irf a'W this be true, it must ne- 

 cessarily follow, that the same means used on an 

 extended scale .rmist proiince a commensurate ef- 

 fect. Now that we have a clew to guide us in 

 our reasoning, may we not fairly attribute the 

 well known healthiness of the town of St.' Augus- 

 tine to the same cause. A considerable [lart of 

 its vicinity is covered with shells, and its streets 

 are paved with the same materials. 



Persons who have not extended their views on 

 this sidjject, (ar and near, can scarcely have an 

 idea of the vast and mu!tilarious advanlages, that 

 tan be derived from a plentiful use of calcareous 

 matters in agriculture. It is well known that ma- 

 ny valuable plants grow thriftily, only on soils 

 either naturally calcareous or artificially made so. 

 Among them we shall only notice such plants as 

 bear papilionaceous flowers. Of this class are lu- 

 cerne, clover, &c. It is frequently asked why these 

 two most valuable plants will not thrive in this 

 State The fault has been sometimes attributed 

 to the- great heat of our summers, to the long 

 droughts which frequently occur here, when those 

 plants are parched and killed. It is most proba- 

 ble that the tree answer wouW be, that our soil is 

 too deficient in calcareous matter. The tempera- 

 ture of the State of Virginia, at an equal <listancc 

 from the sea, differs very little from that of our 

 State ; and clover grows well there in suitable 



soils. It is, moreover, most ])ositively ascertain- 

 ed, that calcareous lands are much less affected by 

 droughts, or by too much rain than others. It 

 seems, then, most probable, that we have it in our 

 power to cultivate here these two grasses, and 

 have our clover fields as well as our neighbors ; 

 from which they derive almost i,ncredible benefits. 

 By means of clover, they are most undoubtedly 

 enab ed to enrich their lands, to any extent they 

 please, according to their own industry and intel- 

 ligence. After clover, cotton, corn, or any other 

 grain grows admirably -.veil. Those advantages 

 arc tridy incalculable, and they are, at least to a 

 certain, if not, to the fullest extent, most unques- 

 tionably within our reach. We need but will it, 

 and put our shoulder to the wheel, and we are in 

 the enjoyment of them. It is certainly with ex- 

 ceeding regret that we feel ourselves compelled to 

 exhibit the state of our ai^riculture in such an un- 

 favorable light ; hut the truth must be told. We 

 are njost fortunately, at present, in a state of peace, 

 and therefore, of prosperity ; but we act as if this 

 state of things coidd not possibly ever be chang- 

 ed. With an abundance of fertile soil, we are 

 dependent on others for our bread and meat, as 

 also for our riding and carriage horses and work- 

 ing mules. If our ports were now to be blockad- 

 ed by an enemy, we should be in a sad predica- 

 ment, without either bread or meat in the State 

 sufficient for its own sup])ort. It is true that 

 our neighbors would furnish us with these arti- 

 cles of first necessity ; but it could only be at 

 such prices as would make both the rich and the 

 poor suffer. This should not be. 

 Respectfully submitted by 



H. HERBEMONT, 

 Chhi of the Committee on Agriculture. 



Britain since 1755 have suffice.' w PI'ov-ide an am- 

 ple supply of food for this additional m.'.'"^ millions 

 of inhabitants ; and if we suppose, which is cer . 

 tainly a moderate estimate, that they consume one 

 with another, to the value of L.8 a year of raw 

 produce, it will follow that the jirogress made in 

 agricidtiire, since the middle of last century has 

 added the enormous sum of £72,000,000 a yiinr 

 or mere than twice the total value of the cotton 

 manufacture, and nearly three times the interest 

 of the national debt, to the free disposable income 

 of the coimtry. It will not be difficult to show 

 that such is undoubtedly the fact. 



BRITISH AORICUIiTURE, &c. 



An article has appeared in the Edinburgh Re- 

 view for October and January, 1835-6, which con- 

 tains many important details, relative to the pro- 

 gress of improvement in agriculture, together with 

 information relative to the increase of manufac- 

 tures, commerce, population, &c. &c., in Great 

 Britain since 1760. This is interesting and con- 

 tains a mass of information, which inust make 

 it very valuable to our trans-Atlantic brethren ; 

 and we would with pleasure publish it entire, 

 were we not precluded by its great length, and 

 the want of applicability of a large part of it to 

 the circumstances of this country. VVe will how- 

 ever give abridged statements of some of the most 

 important facts, and copy some of its notices of 

 agricultural improvements, which we think may 

 be useful to American agriculturists. 



I.NCREASK CF POPULATION IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



Taking the population of England and Wales 

 in 1755 at 6,250,707 (the mean between that of 

 1750 and 1760,) tmd adding to it the then pojnila 

 tion of Scotland, we get 7,525,180 for the popula- 

 tion of Great Britain in 1765. But the population 

 in 1831 was 16,539,318, showing that in the inter- 

 val there had been added to it tl e prodigious num- 

 ber of 9,014,139 individuals, or that it had increas- 

 ed in the ratio of nearly 220 jier cent! An in- 

 t^aseofthis sort is unparalleled in any other 

 European country, and is to he matched only by 

 the increase that has taken place in the United 

 St ites. 



IMPROVED QUALITY OF FOOD. 



Great as has been the change in the rpiality of 

 food made use of in England during the last thir- 

 ty or forty years, it is inconsiderable ct mpared 

 with the change that has taken jdace, dining the 

 same period in Scotland. At the end of the 

 American war, no wheaten bread was to be seen 

 in the firm-houses, country villages, aud minor 

 towns of Scotland, and but little even in tl e larg- 

 est towns. Oat cakes and barley bannocks were 

 then universally made use of, but at present, the 

 case is widely different. The upper, and <dso the 

 iTiiddle and lower classes in towns and villages 

 use only wheaten bread ; and even in farm-hous" s, 

 it is very extensively consumed. It is stated in 

 the first of the works mentioned at the h<,ad of 

 this article, that a field of eight acres sown with 

 wheat, in the vicinity of Edinburgh, in 1727, was 

 reckoned so great a curiosity, thet it excited the 

 attention of the whole neighborhood, and that 

 numbers of jiersons came from a great distaii to 

 see it! Even so late as the American Wal , the 

 wheat raised in the Lothians and Berwickshire 

 did not amount to a third part of what is now 

 grown in them ; and we shall certainly be within 

 the mark, if we affirm that the wheat cnlture has 

 increased in Scotland, generally, in a tenfold i ro- 

 portion since 1780. 



But the change that has taken place during the 

 last half century, in the consumption of butchers' 

 meat, is still more extraordinary than that which 

 has taken place in the consumption of corn. The 

 quantity made use of has been wonderfully in- 

 creased, and its quality signally improved. Fro n 

 1740 to about 1750, the population of the metroi.. 

 olis fluctuated very little ; amounting, during the 

 whole of that period, to about 670,00o' or 675,0( ('. 

 Now, during the ten years ending 1750, there we. c, 

 an average.abeut 74,000 head ol cattle, and 570.0C0 

 head of sheep sold annually in Smithfield market. 

 In 1836, the jiopulation had increased to 1,472,000, 

 or in the ratio of about 218 per cent ; and at an 

 average of the three years ending with 1831, 156,- 

 000 head of cattle, and 1.238,000 head of sheep, 

 were annually sold in Smithfield; being an in- 

 crease of 212 per cent on the cattle, and of 217 per 

 cent on the sheep, as compared with the numbers 

 sold in 1740-50 it consequently appears that the 

 number of cattle and sheep consumed in Lonilon 

 has increased, since 1740, about in the same pro- 

 portion as the Jiopulation. The weight of the an- 

 imals has, however, a good deal more than doubled 

 in the interval. In the earlier part of last century, 

 the gross weight of the cattle sold at Smithfield' 

 did not, at an average, exceed 370 lbs., and that 

 of the sheep did not exceed 28 lbs.; whereas, at 

 present, the average weight of the cattle is esti 



Now, if we affirm that the improvements that mated at about 800 lbs., and that of the sheep at 

 have been made in the agriculture of Great | 80 lbs. Hence, on the most moderate computa- 



