;*42 



THE GENESEE FAR3IER 



October 29, 1831. 



vuminating, — contribute to health and vigor,; 

 bodily and mental, and incorporate habits,' 

 leading directly to manhood, and in the ve- 

 ry line of life for which your son is destined. 

 The very best feature of a good education, 

 is to incorporate good and useful habits, with 

 the necessary learning. Tlie health of the 

 body, every body knows, is often impaired, 

 by being kept too closely at school. It will 

 startle many persons, to be told, that the 

 mind is often injured in the same way, and 

 yet nothing is more certain. The appetite 

 palls with constant feeding, and a distaste is 

 often produced, a kind of unconquerable a- 

 version, which extends even through life. — 

 Few parents seem to be aware of this, espe- 

 cially those who live in large towns, and cit- 

 ies, where it is the fashion to keep children 

 constantly at school, partly in many cases, 

 to keep them ' out of the way ." They should 

 remember that food, taken to excess, is nev- 

 er well digested. We, on Farms, think of 

 lessons from nature, not despising to learn 

 wisdom from the ruminating cow, the ox, 

 and the sheep. After these animals have 

 done chewing the cud, they are again ready 

 for grazing, and of course with good appe- 

 tites. 



From the age of five to fifteen years, half 

 the time at school, is time enough, for boys 

 of good parts, to get all the learning, at 

 school, that is absolutely necessary to ena- 

 ble a boy to become a good Farmer. Not 

 that he is then a man, or that he is never to 

 get any more learning, after he leaves school. 

 This is not the practice of Farmer's sons, 

 but to consider every part of life as a school 

 for knowledge in the business of life, some 

 part of which is to be acquired by reading of 

 books, but more by observations, and the stu- 

 dy of things, in the great book of nature. — 

 He has no diploma, on which to repose, like 

 the lad coming from college, who often ceas- 

 es to learn, as soon as he comes from school. 

 Farmers.in fact, think more, and study more, 

 in their way, than the most of men are a- 

 ware of. A vacant mind, is rarely met with 

 in a Farm-house. 



I do not say, then, that at the age of fif- 

 teen, every Farmer's son is to be taken from 

 School. Two or three months each winter, 

 for two or three years longer time, may be 

 well spared to such as have an aptitude for 

 more knowledge of books, especially if in 

 the seasons of vegetation, they have acquit- 

 ted themselves we'l in the labors of the 

 Farm not only as to work, but by bringing 

 the mind into those labors. Nor do I say 

 that no Farmer's son should be sent to school 

 before five years of age: nor that, at that 

 age, he is to be tasked with constant work, 

 when out of school. Let him play, and 

 make play of work, by which, he will be 

 learning something about work, no small 

 part of his education. Before five years old 

 he will have learnd his letters, and how to 

 form simple words, by putting these letters 

 together, thus to spell many words. By the 

 aid of little picture hooks, with cuts of the 

 common animals of the farm, the form, fig- 

 ure, and name of each will be familiar to 

 him, and he will be able to spell the names, 

 even without ever having thought of such a 

 thing as a task, or lesson in learning. It 

 has been his play, like the little dams be has 

 made in the brook, in which he has actually f 

 been studying natural philosophy, by experi- 

 ment. I have raised up a large Family, each 

 of which, has, — except one — alas! — been 

 Tnndilrteci alonp eienrtlff in fhp ronv hnre ^ 



proposed, and with the most perfect success, 

 thanks to divine mercy. Good habits, Mr. 

 Editor, engrafted upon, or incorporated with, 

 the necessary learning, and habits adapted to 

 the destined business of life, should be con- 

 sidered as a chief object of Education, of 

 which 1 have had the most convincing, and 

 by negation — the most melancholy evidence. 

 Sept. 3, 1831. 



CAI.CAt EOUS MANURES. 

 This class of manures comprehends a 

 number of articles, as, Burnt or calcined 

 limestone ; — Poundedlimestone: — Lime- 

 stone gravel ; Chalk ; — Marie ; — Sea 



shells; — Soaper's waste; — and Gypsum. 



1. Advantages of Lime. — Tho' there 

 are exceptions to the rule, yet in general, 

 it may be confidently asserted, that un- 

 less where a soil has by nature enough 

 of calcareous matter in its composition, 

 for the purpose of vegetation, it can nei- 

 ther be brought into its most fertile state, 

 nor will other manures be so useful as 

 they ought, if lime, or some other calca- 

 reous earth, be not previously applied. — 

 By lime spread upon a moory soil, good 

 herbage is produced where nothing but 

 heath and unpalatable erasses grew be- 

 fore. By the same means, grass-lands, 

 instead of yielding nothing but bent, and 

 other inferior grasses, have been covered 

 with those of a more valuable description. 

 The utility of lime to turnips is so great, 

 that though in the same field where no 

 lime bad been applied, the crop died a- 

 way, yet in the limed part the turnips 

 flourished with unabat 'd vigor. On the 

 Mendip lands in Somerset, by the appli- 

 cation of lime, the value of land was 

 raised from 4s. to 30 per acre: and dung, 

 which previous to liming had no sensi- 

 ble effect, operate I after its application as 

 on other lands. Macclesfield forest, in 

 Cheshire, and vast tracts in the northern 

 and more elevated parts of Derbyshire, 

 and adjacent districts, have been aston- 

 ishingly improved by the same means. — 

 The rye lands of Herefordshire, in 1(>36, 

 refused to produce wheat, peas, or vetch- 

 es; but since the introduction of lime, 

 they have been so fertilized as to be suc- 

 cessfully applied to the growth of every 

 species of corn. In maiden soils fa tol- 

 erable quality, the richest manure will 

 not enable them to bring any crops, but 

 those of oats or rye, to maturity ; where- 

 as, if they receive a sufficient quantity of 

 lime, crops of peas, barley or wheat, may 

 be raised to advantage. The benefit re- 

 sulting from the use of lime, has been in- 

 disputably proved in the same farm, for 

 the richer parts that were left unlimcd, 

 were uniformly inferior in produce, to the 

 poorer land that had been limed, during 

 a period of not less than twenty-one 

 years, under the same course of manage- 

 ment. 



2. The principles on ivhich lime oper- 

 ates as a manure. — Quick lime, in powder, 

 or dissolved in water, isinjurioustoplants; 

 hence grass, watered with lime water, is 

 desnrnvpd. Rut lime fresblv hnrnt. Or 



slaked, forms a compost with vegetable 

 matter, which is soluble in water, and nu- 

 tritive to plants. Mild lime, (as chalk, or 

 quick lime again impregnated with carbo- 

 nic acid,) chiefly operates by improving 

 the texture of the soil, and its relation to 

 absorption. 



3. The various sorts of limestone. — 

 Sometimes lime-stone is almost perfectly 

 puie, as is the case with marble, whicli 

 frequently contains scarcely any other 

 substance but calcareous matter. Sever- 

 al sorts of limestone, however, have 

 mixtures of clay and sand, in various 

 proportions, by which the efficacy of the 

 manure in proportion to the quantity of 

 these substances, is considerably dimin- 

 ished. It is necessary, therefore, to an- 

 alyze limestone, to ascertain the propor- 

 tion of poor lime, before it is advisable 

 to use so expensive an article in great 

 quantities, more especially if it must be 

 conveyed from a distance. Bituminous 

 limestone makes good manure. But the 

 magnesian is the species which requires 

 the greatest attention. Limestone some- 

 times contains from 20.3 to 23.4 of mag- 

 nesia, in which case it would be injurious 

 to weak soils, to apply more than from 

 25 to 30 bushels per statute acre, though 

 in rich soils, double that quantity may be 

 used, and still more with peat, on which 

 soil, it would have a most powerful effect 

 in producing fertility. 



4. .Mode of preparing it for use. — 

 ! imestone is burnt in kilns of various 

 constructions. It is applied with advan- 

 tage to soils recently lerlaimed, in a caus- 

 tic state; but is generally slaked, by 

 throwing water upon the lumps, until 

 they crack and swell, and fall down into a 

 fine powder. This operation, when it is 

 to be done, should not be delayed, for if 

 properly burnt, calcined lime is easily 

 reduced into a fine powder, which may 

 not be the case if the slaking be postpo- 

 ned. If water cannot e isily be obtained, 

 the lumps may either be divided into small 

 heaps, and covered with earth, by the 

 moisture of which they are soon pulveri- 

 zed, or made into large heaps, the lumps 

 and eart six inches thick, and the whole 

 covered with < arth. Where it can easily 

 be had, it is a great advantage to sla"ke 

 the calcined limestone for manure, with 

 sea-water or urine. When applied to 

 land in a powdery state, lime tends to 

 bring any hard vegetable matter that the 

 soil contains, into a more rapid state of 

 decomposition and solution, so as to ren- 

 der it a proper food for plants. 



5. Application. — Summer is the prop* 

 er season for liming land. That experi- 

 enced farmer, Mr. Kennie, of Phantassie, 

 is of opinion, that the most profitable pe- 

 riod for applying lime is, when the land is 

 under summer fallow, in the months of 

 June and July, that it may be completely 

 mixed with the soil before the crop is 

 sown. This is also the general practice 

 in other districts. For a turnip crop, if 

 shnnld he laid on earlv in the sorin? be» 



