WALNUT GROVE. THE USE OF LIME. 157 



New-York and Nevz-Orleans. in (it may be) a more lucrative, though I should 

 think far less captivating pursuit, Mr. 0. Beirne was early imbued and has grown 

 up with a thorough practical knowledge of the economy and business of breeding 

 and fatting cattle ; and still, as is quite evident, though extensively embarked in 

 the more exciting and gainful business of commerce, clings with the partiality 

 which its own amusing nature and early associations beget, to this most attractive 

 department in all the wide field of Agricultural Industry. It is easy to see that 

 he unites the amateur with the connaisseur, in his judgment and admiration of 

 his yearlings and two-year-olds, his lots of spayed heifers and his fat bullocks. 

 As well in knowledge of this business as in the spirit that prompts him to leave 

 it for more active pursuits, he displays an example, but too rare, of those who 

 are not to be enervated by the certainty of a large inheritance. 



This magnificent property, as possessed and improved in its entirety, by its late 

 owner. Col. Beirne, consisted of 5,000 acres, laid off' into fields of irregular shape 

 and size, of from 50 to 200 and 300 acres, by exterior and cross-fences, of not 

 much (if any,) short of 100 miles in their entire length. How much of the fore- 

 cast that distinguishes the good from the bad farmer has been evinced in thus 

 keepuig property so extensive, in a state of constant activity, and yet not only 

 maintaining, but increasing its productiveness, and that, too, beyond the reach 

 of the artificial fertilizers which some localities present ! This is indeed to " act 

 well your part." 



"Walnut Grove is situate Avithin a mile of Union, the county town of Monroe, 

 which lies on the road from the White to the Salt Sulphur, and within four 

 miles of the latter, in a limestone and blue-grass district. I observe, in near 

 proximity to the mansion, a superb park of Sugar-Maple, with here and there a 

 Walnut and a Buckeye shading a soft, deep green, grass carpet, all as beautiful 

 and perfect in their way as in that splendid region around Lexington, in Ken- 

 tucky — ^justly admitted to be the garden spot of the Union, and once part and 

 parcel of this good Old Dominion. 



Thus confined within doors by rain for the moment, I send you for preserva- 

 tion a letter received too late for my last, from a gentleman who enjoys among 

 his neighbors the high distinction of being considered an exemplary practical far- 

 mer, and yet, in the estimation of wise and considerate Members of Congress, 

 elected by farmers, and therefore, as we have a right to infer, considered by far- 

 mers themselves as not worthy to be mentioned or thought of the same day 

 with any man who can prove that, wiili his own good Andrew ferrara, he has, iii 

 some field of blood, caused some half-dozen fellow-creatures, formed, as we are 

 told, in the very image of iheir Maker, to " bite the dust !" Such is the boasted 

 wisdom and humanity of Man, — the " Lord of the Creation," — such his boasted 

 progress toward infinite perfectibility and goodness ! 



To Mr : Newmarket, Shenandoah County, July 23, 1847. 



Dear Sir : Your letter of 7tli insl., directed to Samuel Moflfett, Esq., and myself, was 

 handed to me by Mr. M. with a request that I should try to answer your several inquiries. 

 You ask the favor of myself to state on my own observation and knowledge, and that of my 

 judicious neighbors — 1st. At what price, generally, could unslaked lime be burned or 

 bought in this neighborhood ? 



Answer. Lime cannot be burned so cheap here as in many other parts of this couiitrj- — 

 first, because wood is too valuable ; secondly, because no one makes a business of burnino- 

 lime in this vicinity, therefore the business is but imperfectly understood. I have liad four 

 kilns burned — principally to spread on my lands — by as many different persons, (two of 

 the kilns large,) but have been fortunate enough to get but little more tlian one-half the 

 stone made into lime. Some of those persons boasted much of their knowledge in tlie busi- 

 ness. I cannot speak positively what my lime cost, but suppose it did not cost me less than 

 10 to 12^ cents, calculating the quarrying, the wood, liauliiig, board, and charge for settin™- 

 up and burning. I have several times bouglit of my neighbors fi-om 2 to 400 bushels at a 

 time, delivered in one or other of my fields, for which I paid, in the unslaked slate, IG? 

 cents per bushel [equal, we suppose, to 8 cents slaked]. 



2d Q,ucdion. Is it used in — {could not read your v:ords)^ — and if not wfiy ? 



3d Qurfi.lon. Ihw it been tried, and with what effect? 



Answer. Lime h.i^ aot been used much in this vicinity. Some few of my nei^hljors havr> 

 tried in a small way, but unfortunately they used wliat we call iho gray limestone, w-ithout 



* The illegibility hero mentioned has caused many errors to appeal- in these communications from oiu" 

 correspondent, which the reader will please rectify as he goes along. [£(/. parm Lib 



