146 



Magnesian Lime. — Chicken Yard. 



Vol. VII. 



made to appear, that the small portion taken 

 from the soil, by grain and grass, will kill 

 animals ! 



B. Webb has much to say about the pitre 

 lime which he has applied; now the truth is, 

 lime is never found pure, but always in a 

 state of combination. He reasons from anal- 

 ogy, that as sheep eat laurel, so plants take 

 up magnesia with the same poisonous re- 

 sults; but the merest tyro knows, or ought 

 to know, that magnesia is one of the primi- 

 tive earths, which form all soils, as well as 

 the crust of the globe ! Magnesia is a con- 

 stituent of all the plants the farmer cultivates, 

 as well as a constituent of all his grrain. The 



For the Farmers' Cabinet 



Magnesiaa Lime. 



"Errors of opinion in Agriculture, as in 

 politics, are safely tolerated, while science 

 or truth is left free to combat them." 



Having recently had a conversation with 

 a very intelligent farmer, from another part 

 of this county, the following dialogue ensued. 



A. Do you take as much delight in agri- 

 cultural reading as formerly? 



B. Certainly. In addition to all the ap- 

 proved works on Agricultural Chemistry ami 

 Geology, Physiology, &c. in my possession, 

 I am also a subscriber to the various standard 

 Agricultural periodicals of this country and jj celebrated work on Agricultural Chemistry 

 Europe. |,and Geology, which has just gone through 



A. I am pleased to hear it. But have! the press, by James F. W. Johnston. M. A. 

 you been enabled to make any advantageous; 'F. R. S., Honorary member of the English 

 application of your book knowledge ? Agricultural Society. &c. &e. ; to quote from 



B. It is a source of much gratification to || page 5S of this work, 100 lbs. of the ash of 



Wheat, Barley and Oats contain respectively, 



Wheat. Barlev. Oats. 



Lime. 8 lbs. 41 lbs. 3 lbs. 



Magnesia, 8 lbs. 6 lbs. 2$ lbs. 



me, to understand the ichy and because of 

 various matters, involving science in our 

 worthy business. 



A. Have you received the last number of 

 the Farmers' Cabinet! if so, what Bay your , 

 neighbours of the communication on the 'sub- ^ that m the - 1 ? 1 " ° f 1 wheat 1 ' llme , and 

 ject of magnesian lime, by B. Webb? I magnesia are equal; while in the analysis 



B. I have heard various opinions; some 



of barley 



we have 31 per cent, more of 



than lime. On the subject of 



nution in the wheat crops in our neigh- 



recommend a rejoinder, while others saw we ina Z nesm 



have a discerning public, who will pas's the diminution in iwwih 



article for its worth. The assertion, that he bourhood, forms of 200 acres before magne- 



has satisfied himself, from observation and ex- . sian ,. 1,mem ? commenced, have since been 



periments, that much larger crops of wheat 



subdivided into three farms; of which each 



can be raised in Delaware and Maryland, « now made to produce as much wheat as 



than in Lancaster and Chester countieS5 the ^vhole did, betore the subdivision; and 



where magnesian lime is applied, is, to say I before magnesian hmemg commenced on the 



the " 



the 



counties lit? i*^ (Ipd o 



the product of grain 'in ^uthVaVtern Penn- f ur P lH5 ; Another consequence is. our best 



svlvama, owing to the use of magnesian lime, ^ , tarms now ^ or * 121 P.er acre, at 



in one paragraph, and in a following one, the n * k ^ magnesia, these hard times. 



says, in the same district, wonders have been' 

 produced by lime in spite of magnesia. Now! 

 this would be more excusable, if he had not' 

 added, that horses, hogs, &c. are destroyed j 

 by hundreds, merely by feeding on the grain 

 and grass growing where magnesian lime is ! 



A Lancaster County Farmer. 

 November 20ih. 1848. 



A Chicken Yard. 



We have often thought that farmers would 



applied ! On this subject, I agree with the find it to their interest, were they to enclose 

 prevailing opinion among the intelligent, and a yard, of suitable dimensions, with a high 

 echo the approved theory of many eminent fence, for the accommodation of their chick- 



Chemists and Geologists, as quoted in former 

 numbers of the Cabinet 



We mav review this notion about the de- 



ens. As managed at present, left as they are 

 to range at will about the barn and stables, 

 and lay their eggs and set where they list, a 



struction of farm-stock, and can we imagine very large proportion of their eggs are lost 

 any thing more preposterous? Magnesia of] to their owners in the first place; secondly, 

 itself being a mild aperient or cathartic, as [fewer chickens are hatched out: thirdly, 

 a medicine, of which two or three pounds,' from having free access to the dung heaps, 

 given to a horse, or cow, at a dose, could doj the young broods as well as the old hens, 

 no serious injury, and perhaps under partic-l often contract diseases, which they would 

 ular circumstances, much good; yet it is|| escape were they kept in a proper yard, be- 



