FARMERS' REGISTER— USE OF LIME. 



15 



rangement of the various crops. Tlie nature of their 

 vegetation, and the various cultures which tliey 

 require, alternately rest and prepare the soil, of 

 which the fertility is preserved by this variety, for 

 the production of every thing which the earth can 

 render to human industry." 



On tlie use of Linic in Agriciiltiire. 



(From Proceedings of the New-York State Agricultural Society.) 



West Chester, Pa. Dec. 17, 1832. 



Dear Sir — Your letter, containing a numher 

 of queries relative to the operation and utility of 

 Ihiie, in the process of agriculture, was received in 

 the early part of June last; but as I have been 

 much engaged, during the past summer, with 

 duties which required all my attention, — and, as 

 your letter intimated that answers furnished "any 

 time during the present year" would be in season 

 for your purposes, I have taken the liberty to post- 

 pone my reply until now. 



I proceed, then, with great pleasure, to furnish 

 you with such facts and remarks as my opportuni- 

 ties for observation have enabled me to otfer. — 

 With a view to render the answers more explicit 

 and satisfactory, I will annex them, seriatim, to 

 your several inquiries. 



Query I. " Upon what lands does lime operate 

 most beneficially .'" 



1. In regard to geological formation, as primi- 

 tive, transition, secondary, and alluvial. 



2. In reference to the soil, as sand, clay, lime 

 ajid vegetable matter. 



3. As indicated by natural growth of timber and 

 plants. 



Answer. My residence has always been in a 

 primitive region, and my observations very much 

 limited to agricultural processes in soils upon tliat 

 formation. The prevailing rock here is gneiss, — 

 with occasional beds, or veins, of hornblende, — 

 greenstone and sceinite. About five miles to the 

 north of us, is the great valley of transition lime- 

 stone, stretching from north-east to south-west, 

 and immediately on the southern side of this val- 

 ley, running parallel with it, is a broken ridge of 

 hills, formed of mica slate, with beds of serpentine 

 rock and hornblende, on the side next to the gneiss 

 rock, on the south-east. Over the gneiss rock, and 

 among the hornblende, the soil is generally a stiff 

 loam ; and there, I think, the best effects are per- 

 ceptible from a given quantity of lime. On the 

 soil overlaying the schistose rocks, the good effects 

 of lime are sufficientlyobvious, imder the manage- 

 ment of skilful farmers ; but the benefits seem to 

 be less permanent. On the serpentine rock the 

 soil is extremely sterile, and neither lime nor barn- 

 yard manure can be used with much advantage. 

 In the limestone soil of the great valley, where one 

 would suppose it was already redundant, lime is 

 used with advantage, and much heavier dressings 

 are put on, than in the adjacent districts. I cannot 

 furnish the rationale of this practice, but I believe 

 the fact is established, that more lime is required 

 to produce the same beneficial effect upon soils 

 resting on limestone rock, than upon those over- 

 laying gneiss, and perhaps some other primitive 

 rocks. 



I have had no opportunity to witness the effect 

 of lime upon secondary, and strictly alluvial for- 

 mations; but the above circumstance has led me 

 to suspect that the same quantity of lime would not 



be so signally beneficial in secondary, as it is in 

 certain primitive formations. 



Lime, undoubtedly, has a good effect in soils 

 which are sandy, — even where sand predomi)iates ; 

 but I believe its meliorating properties are most 

 conspicuous in a clay soil, or rather in a stiff" loam. 

 A good proportion of decomposed vegetable matter 

 adds greatly to the beneficial effects of lime; and 

 hence our farmers are desirous to mingle as much 

 barnyard manure as possible with their lime dres- 

 sings, and to get their fields into what is called a 

 good sod, or turf, full of grass roots. Then a dres- 

 sing of lime has an admirable eirect.* The soils 

 indicated by a natural growth of black oak, — 

 (quercus tinctoria) Avalnut, (juglans 7tigra) and 

 poplar, (liriodendron) and tliose in which such 

 grasses as thepoas anA festucas best flourish, are 

 generally most signally benefitted by the use of 

 lime. In short, I may observe, that lime has been 

 found more or less beneficial in every description 

 of soil, in this district. It is most so, on hilly, or 

 rolling lands, where clay predominates ; less per- 

 manently so, among the mica slate; and least of 

 all, on the magnesian rocks. The soil on these 

 last is rarely worth cultivating. 



Query II. " What quantity of lime is applied to 

 the acre, upon different soils, at a single dressing, 

 and during a period of years .^" 



Jlnswer. The quantity of lime, per acre, which 

 can be used advantageously, varies with the con- 

 dition and original character of the soil. Highly 

 improved land will bear a heavier dressing than 

 poor land. On a soil of medium condition, the 

 usual dressing is forty to fifty bushels per acre. A 

 deep, rich soil, or limestone land in the great val- 

 ley, will receive seventy to eighty, (and I am told 

 even one hundred) bushels to the acre, with ad- 

 vantage. On very poor land, twenty to thirty 

 bushels per acre, is deemed most adviuitageous to 

 commence with. It is usually repeated every five 

 or six years— i. e. every time the field comes in 

 turn to be broken up with the plough; and as the 

 land improves, the quantity of lime is increased. 

 The prevailing practice here is, to plough doAvn 

 the sod, or lay, in the fall or early in the spring, — 

 harrow it once, and then spread the lime (pre- 

 viously slaked to a powder) preparatory to plant- 

 ing the field with Indian corn. Every field, in 

 rotation, receives this kind of dressing; and as 

 our farms are mostly divided into about half a 

 dozen fields, the dressing, of course, comes once 

 in six years, more or less, according to the num- 

 ber of the fields. Some enterprising farmers, how- 

 ever, give their fields an intermediate dressing, on 

 the sod, after they come into grass, which I con- 

 sider an excellent practice, tending rapidly to im- 

 prove the condition of the land. 



Query III. " Is it applied in a caustic or an 

 effete state.?" 



Answer. It is usually obtained in a caustic state 

 from the kiln, deposited in heaps in the fields 

 where it is to be spread, and water sufficient to 



* Tlie yard manure is not usually mingled widi the 

 lime, when tlie latter is first applied. The practice is, 

 to lime the Indian corn ground, prior to planting that 

 grain on the inverted sod, — and, the ensuing spring, to 

 manure the same field for a hmie^j crop; — or, to reserve 

 the manure until the succeeding autumn, and apply it 

 to the ivheat crop. It is not well settled which of these 

 is tlie better practice. Each has its advocates, but it is 

 most usual to reserve the manure for tlie Avheat. 



