No. 10. 



Lancaster County Lime, <^*c. 



305 



Lancaster County Lime, &c. 



We have at length experienced in reality, 

 the enjoyment which had been anticipated 

 in a visit to our agricultural friends in Lan- 

 caster county, to its fullest extent; but it 

 would be difficult to describe the magnifi- 

 cent establishments in that English county, 

 as it has been termed, or the hospitality of 

 their noble possessors. With a soil teeming 

 with fruitfulness, and a general appearance 

 of ease and competency amongst its culti- 

 vators, the valley of the Pequea may be con- 

 sidered the garden of that highly favoured 

 district of country, "beautiful to look upon." 

 A sojourn at "Prospect Hill" and "Spring 

 Lawn," has abundantly testified to the truth 

 of this position, and many will be the occa- 

 sions of turning to it for reflection and com- 

 ment, in our future labours. 



But all other observations have been ab- 

 sorbed, as it were, for the moment, in the 

 striking fact, that the present unexampled 

 fertility, in reality as well as in appearance, 

 is to be attributed in a great measure, to the 

 free use of lime; and of lime too, that is 

 highly charged with magnesia! without a 

 single instance of its having produced the 

 slightest deleterious effect, even when ap- 

 plied to an unlimited extent; its operations 

 being only good, and that continually. We 

 say to an unlimited extent, and we speak- 

 advisedly; for on part of an old meadow, 

 divided only by a rail fence, the owner, W. 

 P. Kinser, Esq., applied lime on the sod at 

 the rate of 500 bushels per acre ; and the 

 result has been, a far superior growth of 

 grass, both in quantity and quality, com- 

 pared with the other part of the field ; al- 

 though that has been heavily dressed with 

 stable-yard manure ; while on several large 

 heaps of effete lime that have been de- 

 posited near the kilns, green grass and clo- 

 ver are vigorously forcing their way through 

 a covering of lime, two and three inches in 

 thickness; which quantity may be safely 

 calculated at about "2(100 bushels per acre. 

 This lime is burnt by Mr. Kinser, from a 

 rock immediately adjoining his house; and 

 he showed us a fence-row, where he had 

 spread lime at the rate of 600 to 1000 

 bushels per acre, to destroy the Canada this- 

 tle ; with what probable success may be cal- 

 culated upon, from the fact that the grass 

 and clover on that spot are far more luxuri- 

 ant than on the land adjoining, although the 

 lime lies in many parts more than an inch 

 in thickness. 



We were once largely engaged in Wales, 

 England, in burning lime for agricultural 

 purposes, from a black marble rock, which 

 exhibited, on analysis, 98 per cent, of car- 



bonate of lime, and were accustomed to 

 spread it on primitive grass sod, to the 

 amount of 500 to 1000 bushels per acre ; 

 from which, however, vegetation would 

 spring up as from a dressing of dung 

 — this effect always being attributed to the 

 purity of the lime. Thus the face of that 

 part of the country has been completely 

 changed; yielding at the present time, 

 white clover and the fine grasses indige- 

 nous to a limestone soil, in the greatest lux- 

 uriance; but we are prepared to say and to 

 show, that never did we witness more bene- 

 ficial results, with a more perfect absence of 

 all deleterious quality in the Welsh lime, 

 than in that which is furnished from the in- 

 exhaustible bed of stone, immediately ad- 

 joining the house at Spring Lawn, where 

 three large kilns are now in full operation: 

 and from all inquiry and observation, it 

 would appear, that in every instance the 

 most beneficial results have followed its ap- 

 plication; no one ever entertaining an idea 

 that any, even the most partial evil, can 

 possibly arise from its use, to any extent ; 

 although, as has been said, it is known to 

 contain magnesia in considerable propor- 

 tion — how large, perhaps Mr. Kinser will 

 be pleased to inform our readers. 



Here then, is fresh ground broken for our 

 friends, magnesian as well as anti-magne- 

 sian! It is no longer necessary for the 

 former to urge restraint in its use, with the 

 view to prevent injury; and to endeavour 

 to show, that " a small quantity of magne- 

 sian lime is equal in its fertilizing effects to 

 a larger proportion of that which is pure," 

 and "presuming that the injury complained 

 of, might arise from the poverty of the soil," 

 &c. ; they may now send the "question beg- 

 ging," and point to the Pequea lime, with 

 all its magnesian impurity, as a fertilizer, 

 when applied to all soils, and to the most 

 unlimited extent. But since it is quite as 

 certain, that other lime, containing, perhaps 

 a less proportion of magnesia, has been pro- 

 ductive of the most seriously evil effects in 

 other parts of the country — of which too, 

 we ourself have been witness — there will 

 still be ample space for examination of the 

 subject in our pages, with the view to dis- 

 cover, if possible, whether, after all that has 

 been said, the evil is not inherent in the 

 soil on which the lime has been applied, and 

 not in the lime itself, magnesian although it 

 might be. In short, whether ihere may not 

 be a substance, or a circumstance if you will, 

 contained in the soil, which the application 

 of magnesia may render deleterious. The 

 most satisfactory experiment would be, to 

 dress one half a field with other lime, known 

 to possess injurious qualities, noting its quan- 



