PRACTICAL FARMER. 



21 



lilMK FOR MANURE. 



The following is extracted from a Report of 

 the Trustees of the Kennebec Agricultural Soci- 

 ety. 



To render our farms highly productive, we must 

 cease to look to barn-yard's for the only means of 

 enriching them. The application of alkalies — 

 turning in green crops, and collecting composts, 

 must be resorted to. The recent discovery of 

 lime, in different sections of the country, promi- 

 ses well for agriculture, as it is almost indispensa- 

 ble in raising certain crops, and valuable in any. 

 There has been but little experience in this coun- 

 try in the application of lime in husbandry. In 

 other countries it is used as a manure, botli in Us 

 caustic or hot state, and in a mild state. When a 

 sward or other substance is to be decomposed, it 

 is applied in its caustic state. When this is not 

 the object, it may be used in either state. If used 

 upon plants, it must be in a mild state. It has 

 been doubled whether lime oj)erates as a stimulus, 

 alterative, or food for the plant, but we think that 

 it acts as a neutralizer of all acids, and as an alter- 

 ative. Heavy liming has been tried on cold clay 

 soils, and peats, with perfect success. In some 

 cases 240 bushels to the acre have been used. It 

 will be seen that this will not answer for us, un- 

 less situated in a lime district, wliere the refuse of 

 the kilns can be obtained at low rates. But at 

 the present prices every farmer should use it or a 

 substitute ; ashes as a top dressing on all his lands 

 that do not contain calcareous matter. The sward 

 of rich places by the road side thrown up, and lime 

 mixed in, makes an excellent dressing for a wheat 

 crop ; if caustic when put in the stack, it will snon 

 be mild and fit to apply to young jilants. Lime is 

 used with most beneficial efl^ects on land abound- 

 ing in copperas rock, and when applied it renders 

 it the most productive and desirable soil. Our re- 

 marks have been confined to what is called the 

 carbonate of lime, but when quick lime is mixed 

 with sulphuric acid, even where the base was be- 

 fore, iron, it partakes of the nature of plaster of 

 paris Plaster is sulphuric acid with lime. Cop- 

 peras is sulphtu-ic acid with iron. Plaster, which 

 belongs to the family of lime, is a very good and 

 cheap dressing for most land, and is indispensable 

 to a crop of clover, which when analyzed is found to 

 be composed in part of plaster ; but we believe a 

 cheaper and better manure maybe formed of lime 

 mixed with other substances, and we would recom- 

 mend the use of it on all unjiroductive land as an 

 alterative ; on all wheat land as the food of wheat ; 

 for unless it is contained in the soil, or is supplied, 

 no wheat can be raised. We ha^'e so much and 

 so good evidence of the beneficial effects of lime 

 in husbandry, that we hope every farmer will 

 avail himself of the present low price of it to try 

 experiments for himself. It is used with the best 



effects in England, Scotland, and in some parts of 

 the United States, In Pennsylvania, they give 

 eighteen cents per bushel for an inferior kind of 

 lime, and find it profitable manure. 



Lime has been used by some of our farmers in 

 raising potatoes. They find it beneficial, not only 

 to the potato crop, but to the succeeding crops. 

 Its effects are visible for several years. The 

 manner of applying it is, to put a spoonful in a hill 

 after the potatoes are dropped and cover the 

 lime and potatoes together. Not only is the quan- 

 tity of the crop increased, but the quality is im- 

 proved by it. 



Pot(itoes have become, to a considerable extent 



jUi articlo of export, and may be reckoned one CI 



the most profitable crops on farms situated near 

 navigable waters. The South will always depend 

 on us for a supply, if we send them a good article. 

 Should the state do any thing to facilitate trans- 

 portation by canals or rail-roads, a general benefit 

 will be felt among the farmers from the sale of 

 this article. 



They may be raised at a very cheap rate on 

 stubble land. A little lime to assist in decom- 

 posing the stubble, is all the manure that is neces- 

 sary to ensure a good crop, and, by planting in 

 straight drills, most of the labor maybe performed 

 by a horse. Land may be well prepared in this 

 manner for a second cro;) of wheat. J he lime ap- 

 plied to the ■ potatoes is sufficient for the wheat, 

 without another application. 



CHOOSING SHEEP FOR BREEDING, 



One of the two species of sheep, the long and the 

 short wooled, having been chosen as most appro- 

 priate to the situation, and wool being made an 

 object, it is mosc advantageous to select such 

 flocks as are pure as possible of the species to 

 which they belong, and not a mixture of the short 

 and long wooled breeds, which must generally 

 produce an inferior fleece, disadvantageous to the 

 manufacturer. Length of staple in the long, and 

 fineness, elasticity and closeness in the short 

 wooled fleece, will be the best guides in this 

 case. 



Whether the wool be long or short, the carcass 

 of the animal ought to be amply and regularly cov- 

 ered ; it is a great defect wiien the belly is bare, 

 and still greater when the wool is thin and open 

 along the ridge of the back, admitting rain and 

 moisture to a most susceptible part, indeed, to de- 

 scend upon all parts of the body. 



It is a piece of good old advice, to buy your 

 RAMS a little before shearing time, if possible ; and 

 a very necessary modern addition to take the op- 

 portunity of purchasing at the farmer's house, 

 while you see the animal in puris naturalibus, 

 and before he has been decked out and trimmed 



