379 



before it is advisable to use so expensive an article 

 in great quantities, more especially if it must be 

 conveyed from a distance. ]5ituniinous limestone 

 makes good maiuire. But tlie magnesian is the 

 species wliich requires the greatest attention. 

 Limestone sometimes contains from 20.3 to 23.5 

 of magnesia, in which case it would be injurious I 

 to weak soils, to apjily more than from 25 to 30 

 bushels per statute acre, though in rich soils, dou- 

 ble that quantity may be used, and still more with 

 peat, on which soil it would have a most powerful 

 effect in producing fertility. 



4. J\/odc of preparing it for use. — Limestone is 

 burnt in kilns of various constructions. It is a^i- 

 plied with a.lvantage to soils recently reclaimed, 

 in a caustic state ; but is generally slacked, liy throw- 

 ing water upon the lumps, until they crack and 

 swell, and fall down into a fine powder. This op- 

 eration, when it is to be done, should not be de- 

 layed, for if jtroperly burnt, calcined lime is easily 

 reduced into a fine powder, which may not be the 

 case if the slacking be postponed. If vvater can- 

 not easily be obtained, the lumps may either be di- 

 vided into small heaps, and covered with earth by 

 the moisture of which they are soon pulverized, 

 or made into large heaps, the lumps and earth six 

 inches thick, and the whole covered with earth. 

 Where it can easily be had, it is a great advan- 

 tage, to slack the calcined limestone for manure, 

 with sea-water or urine. When applied to land 

 in a powdery state, lime tends to bring any liard 

 vegetable matter that the soil contains, into a more 

 rapid state of decomposition and solution, so as to 

 render it a proper food for plants. 



5. Application. — Summer is tie proper season 

 for liming land. That experienced fanner, Mr 

 Rennie of Phantassie, is of opinion, that the most 

 profitalde ]<eriod for applying lime is, when the 

 land is under summer fallow, in tlie months of 

 Ju]iv5 and July, that it may be completely mixed 

 with the soil before the crop is sown. This is al- 

 so the general practice in other districts. For a 

 turnip crop, itfhould he laid on early in the spring 

 before the ti/ruips are drilled, in order that the 

 lime may bf thoroughly incorpoiated with the soil, 

 by the pleiighings and harrowings it will receive; 

 the land will thus have time to cool, and the lime 

 will nO"' dry up the moisture necessary for bring- 

 ing tVe turnips into leaf. For potatoes, lime is 

 not to be recommended, as it is apt to burn and 

 bl'ster their skins. When applied to old ley, it 

 S a good practice to spread i^ on the surface, 

 previously to the land being broken up, by which 

 it is fixed firndy on the sward. One year has 

 been foimd of use, but when don;; three years be- 

 fore, it had produced still greater advantages ; in 

 the former case, the increase of oats, bning only at 

 the rate of G to 1, and in the latter, tliat of 10 to 1 of 

 the seed sown. The quantity applied must vary 

 according to the soil. From 240 to 300 bushels, 

 of unslacked lime, may be applied on strong lands 

 with advantage. Even 600 bushels have been laid 

 on at once on strong clays with great success. On 

 light soi f, a nmch smaller quantity will answer, 

 say from 150 to 200 bushels, but these small doses 

 ought to be more frequently repeated. When ap- 

 plied on the surface of bogs or moors, the quan- 

 tity used is very considerable, and the more tliat 

 is laid on tlie greater improvement. The real 

 quantity, however, of calcareous matter used, de- 

 ]<cnds upon the quality of the stone. It often haj)- 

 pens, that five chaldrons do not furnish more ef- 

 fective manure than three, because they do not con- 

 taiq three fifths of calcareous matter. 



NEW ENGL AND FARMER, 



6. Effects of lime. — Many farmers have subject, 

 ed themselves to an expense, at the rate of ten 

 shillings per acre per annum, for the lime they 

 used, and have been amply renumerated. Tlie 

 benefit, derived in the cultivation of green croiis is 

 sufficient for that purpose. Such crops may be 

 raised by large quantities of dung; hut where cal- 

 careous substances are applied, it is proved by long 

 experience, that a less quantity of animal and 

 vegetable manure will answer the purpose. This 

 is making the farm-yard dung go farther, with more 

 powerfiil, and more permanent effects ; and, from 

 the weiahtier crops thus raised, the quantity of ma- 

 nure on a farm, will be most materially augmented. 

 Indeed, upon land in a jjroper state for calcareous 

 application, (as old ley), lime is much suiierior to 

 dung. lis effects continue for a longer period, 

 while the crops produced are of a superior qual- 

 ity, and less susceptible of injury, from the exces- 

 ses of drought and moisture. The ground like 

 wise, ni ore especially if it be of a strong nature 

 is much more easily wrought ; and, in some in 

 stances, the saving of labor alone, would be suffi- 

 cient to induce a farmer to lime bis land, were no 

 greater benefit derived from the applicatiou, than 

 the opportunity thereby gained, of working it in 

 a more perfect manner. 



7. Rules for the management of lime. — 1. It 

 is necessary to ascertain the quality of the soil 

 to which lime is proposed to be ajiplied ; and 

 whether it has formerly been limed ; and to what 

 extent. In genera! it may be observe^l, that 

 strong loams and stubborn clays, require a full 

 <losc to bring them into action, as such soiis are 

 capable of absorbing a great quantity of calcare- 

 ous matter. Lighter soils, however, require less 

 lime to stimulate them ; and may be injured, by 

 administering a quantity of lime, recently calcin- 

 ed, that would prove moderately beneficial to 

 those of a heavy nature. 2. As the effects of 

 lime greatly depend on its intimate admixture 

 with the surface soils, it is expedent to have it in 

 a powdered state before it is applied, and the 

 drier and the more perfectly powdered, the better. 

 3. Lime having a tendency to sink in tlie soil, it 

 cannot be ploughed in with too shallow a furrow 

 or kept too near the surface. 4. Lime ought not 

 to be applied, asecond«lime,to weak or poor soils, 

 unless mixed with a compost ; after which the 

 land should be immediately laid down to grass. 



June 8, 1S.31. 



to state the result of another experiment which 

 has had the experience of my neighbors for thi 

 last three or four years, and I believe without 

 single instance of failure so far as I have ascer* 

 tallied the fact ; it is as follows : to a half bushel^ 

 of seed corn take one pint of tar, more or less ; let5, 

 h be warmed over a moderate fire until it will/ 

 r in freely ; then |)ut it into the corn, at the samel llii 

 time stirring it up until it be all coated over vvitf ' 

 the tarj you may then add ground jilaster of pari; 

 or wood ashes (as is most convenient, either wil 

 answer,) and stir it until the kernels will scparate/l 

 aad will not adiiere to your fingers ; you may'^ 

 handle it when cooled without the least inconven- 

 ie ice, when planting. The first impression from 

 th3 appearance of tlie seed after it has gone through 

 tli3 foregoing process is, that it will not vegetate, 

 btt three or fouryeais of actual ex[ieriKnce among: 

 farmers who raise from two to fivi! hundred bush* 

 els of Indian corn each, annually, has settled that 

 qiestion beyond a doubt, — and the crows never 

 lijve pulled up more than two or three bills in 

 aiy one field, and have never carried even that 

 avay, hut have left the field instantly, without ever 

 reuirning to renew the experiment, — and in ad- 

 diiion to this, the corn has never been infested by 

 the wire worm, which has been many times very 

 desnuctive to the crop, nor has any other animal 

 or leptile been yet found who was fond of mak- 

 ing a meal of tarred corn. 



1 confess when this mode was first proposed I 

 was very faithless; I doubted whether seed would' 

 vegetate, and if it did 1 had my doubts whether 

 the ta; would not be detrimental to the crop : but 

 lam convinced that tar is .so far from being inju- 

 rious to the crop, that I now believe that it not 

 only guards the crop against birds and insects, but' 

 is salutary to the growth of the corn. — If you see' 

 fit to insert the foregoing in your useful paper, (al- 

 though jiast seed time) it may at least give time' 

 for sorii growers to inquire into the truth of the 

 facts herein stated, and 1 ho[ie may re suit in some' -'' 

 beneat to the community ; and you will gratify 

 one ai least who inhabits the 



Valley of Connecticut. 



FOH THE NEW ENGLAND PARMER. 



PREPARATION OF SEED CORN. 

 Mr Fessenden — I have noticed sundry com- 

 munications, upon the best method of preparing 

 seed corn for planting, with a view to prevent 

 crows from pulling up the corn, &c. Much has I 

 been sairl about soaking the seed in copperas wa- 

 ter and it would seem that the question was now 

 settled liy general consent, that this mode is the 

 only safe preventive in the car, but my own and 

 my neighbors experience has brought us to a dif- 

 ferent conclusion. We were in the habit of using 

 the copperas water for several years, and at fir.^t 

 (as is the case many times with new experiments) 

 we were disposed to believe that it had the desired 

 efi'ect, but upon further experiment we found that 

 the crows made the same depredations upon the 

 seed soaked with copperas, as with that which 

 had no preparation before planting. I could if 

 necessary cite sundry careful experiments which 

 brought us to this conclusion, hut I take the liberty 



HOW '10 INCREASE THE PRODnCTI VENESS OF TREES 

 AND PLANTS. 



Mr Knight, in his treatise on the culture of 

 the ajjile and pear, p. 83, has this passage: 

 ' In the garden culture of the apple, where trees- 

 are retained as dwarfs or espaliers the more vigor- 

 ously growing kinds are often rendered unproduc- 

 tive by the excessive though necessary use of the- 

 pruning knife. I have always succeeded in mak-. 

 ing trees of this kind fruitful by digging them up,» 

 and replacing them with fesli mould in the same 

 situation. The too great luxuriance of growth is' 

 checked, and a disjiosition lo bear is brought on.'' 

 The sair.e observation was made by Mr Lawrence, 

 So if beans, which are but a few inches high, bo 

 transplanted, they do not become so tall, but 

 thiy flower and ripen sooner. The same occur* 

 infrequenlly transplanting broccoli ; the plant doe» 

 n(t grow so tall, but has earlier flowers, and ilJi. 

 gicater numbers. It is probable says Dr Darwin^ 

 lint confining the roots of cucumbers and melons,,! 

 in small garden jiots would stop the too luxurianl? 

 giovvtii of the vines, and make them more fruitful,^ 

 if care was taken to siqiply them with water morat 

 ii-equently, and with sufficient nutriment, by mix~ 

 ii)^ with the water some of the carbonic black, 

 f.iid wliicb lias drained from a manure heap. 



