56 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[April, 



between the States. How eastern and foreign 

 capital was largely expended. How a canal 

 leading to the lakes, and railroads over the 

 mountains were constrncted. How, when 

 extended and completed to all portions of the 

 west, the rival lines carried western products 

 for less than cost of transjjortation, and made 

 up the deficiency on their eastern traffic. 

 How farmer.s in the eastern section of the 

 State had to change their farming operations 

 to meet the altered circumstances under 

 which those improvements in transportation 

 bad place them. 



These are matters of history, and for us to 

 examine and see if we, as eastern farmers, 

 have been the gainers or losers by our public 

 improvements. 



Looking fi'om the standpoint of an old- 

 time farmer, when all the profits of the farm 

 ■were derived from the sale of beef and grain, 

 we would constantly be the losers. But, 

 looking from another standpoint, we may be 

 able to see some compensating features. 



The construction of lines leading to the 

 coal regions of the State ; the organization of 

 companies to develop the other mineral re- 

 sources and of our various manufacturing 

 interests— made possible by cheap coal— and 

 whose extensive works now line all our high- 

 ways of public improvements— paying into 

 our State Treasury a sufficient amount in 

 taxes to relieve our farmers from State 

 taxation. 



The increased trade brought to our cities — 

 causing a rapid increase in population and 

 making the last twenty years an era of city 

 building, east and west— creating a market 

 for perishable articles and dairy products. 



In the souiliern part of the county we 

 have fonnd our compensation in the increased 

 demand for the products of the dairy. A 

 few years ago raising grain and feeding cattle 

 were the rule with fanners, and the dairy in- 

 terest was of small importance. It has now 

 grown to be the main reliance to make both 

 ends meet at the end of the year. 



Here, in the northern part of the county, 

 growing tobacco appears to be the paying 

 business. Either dairying or raising tobacco 

 will prove more exhausting to the soil than 

 the old .system of grain raising and feeding 

 cattle ; and in making the change we should 

 be careful that we bring no discredit to the 

 reputation our county has gained of being the 

 "Garden County of the State." 



We have now entered the third century of 

 our history. In taking a review of the past, 

 we cannot claim that the agriculture of our 

 country has been a success. It is true, we 

 have always had a surplus of agricultural 

 products to export, but this has been accom- 

 plished by bringing new laud under cultiva- 

 tion, not by increasing the productive power 

 of that already occupied. Our statistics show 

 that the average yield per acre of the different 

 grains raised, has decreased in nearly all the 

 States. The reason for this decline, I think, 

 can be traced to the natural fertility of the 

 soil, and the abundance of unoccupied land 

 that could be obtained at a mere nominal cost; 

 and those causes have been operating to the 

 injury of our agriculture, all through our 

 histoi-y. The policy of the Government of 

 holding out inducements for the settlement of 

 new ten-itory, has been an injury to the older 

 States, and no advantage to the new. 



As remarked, many of the first settlers of a 

 State are nomadic in character. This class 

 make no permanent improvements and leave 

 the land less productive than they found it. 

 They rob the soil of the elements of its fertility 

 and making no return, move on, finding fresh 

 fields to repeat the same process. You can 

 trace their progress through the States like a 

 tidal wave from the east to the west — im- 

 pairing the productive power of the country 

 to an extent that will require years of careful 

 tillage to restore. They committed the wrong 

 through ignorance of the truth that the pro- 

 ducts of the soil are the basis of our national 

 wealth, and the foundations of our mutual 

 advancement. By im]iairiug its productive 

 power they were striking a blow at their 

 country's prosperity. 



HOW MUCH LIME TO THE ACRE.'- 



The practice of liming laud has been pur- 

 sued for many years in Lancaster county, and 

 the question is, did we apply it in a scientific 

 manner or not ? The question also ari.ses, 

 whether the fertility of this section of the 

 State is owing to this practice. 



Farmers are not all agreed as to the way 

 in which lime acts on the soil. Some argue 

 that it is a direct fertilizer, while others con- 

 tend that its fertilizing qualities depend on 

 its chemical action on the soil. 



If the first argument is correct, we may at- 

 tribute the present generally ricli condition of 

 our fields to the free use of lime. 



However, agricultural chemists are not 

 agreed as to the manner in which lime acts. 

 Some have claimed that as lime is found in 

 the ashes of most crops, it is one of the essen- 

 tial constituents and must therefore be found 

 in the soil naturally, or applied, in order to 

 supply the proper elements to the plants. 



But does this explain its action '} A single 

 illustration will give a conclusive argument 

 on this point. The neighborhood where we 

 were brought up, though a diluvial, or loam 

 soil on the surface, rests on limestone rocks 

 which often protrude through the surface. 

 The well and spring water is so saturated 

 with lime as to yield a thick coat of it in the 

 tea kettle in a brief time. Yet lime applied 

 in the usual way seemed to benefit that soil 

 as much, if not more, than clay or slate land. 

 On this point we also wish to add, that chem- 

 ists tell us that in analyses of samples of 

 water from different localities and qualities of 

 soils they found lime enough to supply the 

 wants of any crop, in every one of them. 



With these and other facts in view, we 

 rather favor the doctrine that the chief utility 

 of calcined lime is in its action as an alkaline 

 re-agent to neutralize the acidity of the soil 

 and to decompose organic or vegetable sub- 

 stances and fit them for food for growing 

 plants. 



Those who are familiar with chemi.stry will 

 remember the fact that a compound is more 

 readily decomposed if there is a substance 

 present which has a sti-ong affinity for one of 

 the elements liberated. Thus all vegetable 

 substances in rotting produce a considerable 

 amount of carbonic acid, and this has a strong 

 affinity for lime. Hence the presence of lime 

 in a soil hastens the destruction of dead grass, 

 roots, manure, etc., and sets the elements at 

 liberty to act in direct or indirect nourish- 

 ment to the growing crops. 



May not lime also extract ammonia from 

 the atmosphere ? We think it does, for its 

 sulphate (gypsum) does so in a remarkable 

 degree. 



With the above theory of the action as an 

 alkaline reagent we may conclude, viz.: 



That on new soils where there is an abun- 

 dance of vegetable matter, and some sourness, 

 an application of lime will hasten the pre- 

 paration of the natural manure, and should 

 not be applied in greater quantities than 1.5 

 to .30 bushels per acre, but every year. 



On dry, sandy soils lime is beneficial in re- 

 taining the moisture by compacting the soil. 

 In this case lime acts mechanically by cemen- 

 ting the soil. 



On heavy clay soils lime is often beneficial 

 in the same way, but care is necessary not to 

 apply it largely, as it sometimes cements the 

 clay and is deleterious. 



The best form of application is in a freshly 

 slaked state, in the^»jfst condition possible, and 

 immediately stir it with the soil. The farmers 

 in our section of the county (Manor township) 

 have a practice of hauling their lime on large 

 heaps of from .50 to 200 bushels, during the 

 winter. This we do not favor as a general 

 thing for the following reason: 



If the spring is wet it will be apt to drown 

 and in this condition it benefits the land very 

 little as it can not be mixed as intimately with 

 the soil, as it is lumjiy ; covering the heaps after 

 they are slaked with straw or boards will be 

 better. 



■Read before the LancaBier County Agricultural and Hor- 

 ticultural Society, March 2d, 1877, by E. K. Herebey. 



We have always marked out land after it is 

 plowed in the spring, in squares of six steps 

 and put one-half bushel on the intersection, 

 and as soon as slacked, spread and mixed with 

 the soil immediately, with good results. 



As per quantity per acre soil must be taken 

 into consideration, some soils taking more 

 than others, but we are inclined to believe too 

 much is applied at a time and not often enough. 

 One hundred busliels applied on a light soil 

 may deconipo.se all the vegetable matter in it, 

 and be used the first year and render it sterile, 

 while a less quantity might just decompose 

 enough to benefit the first cro'p and the roots, 

 leaves,&c.,of this crop may benefit a succeeding 

 crop. We do not fitvor plowing it down, as 

 lime, as every observant man knows, has a 

 tendency to sink. It should always, in our 

 opinion, be applied as a top dressing. 



And now a word to the fiirmers of Lan- 

 caster county : There is large room for ex- 

 periment in regard to this lime question, and 

 I hope you will not let the matter rest, but 

 try it on your land in every possible way — 

 twenty-five, fifty, seventy-five, one hundred, 

 and even one hundred and twenty-five bushels 

 to the acre, and determine which is best; also, 

 befoj'e and after planting a crop, plowed 

 down or top dressed, and let each one make a 

 record and bring it before the society, and 

 theu we may arrive at more definite conclu- 

 sions. 



[The same inadvertence wliich delayed the 

 publication of the President's annual address, 

 has been instrumental in withholding this 

 paper from our March number, namely, it was 

 closed up between the lids of the Secretary's 

 records. We would suggest that hereafter Es- 

 sayists keep their papers in their own posses- 

 sion, afterthey have been read, and hand them 

 directly over to the editor of The Farmer. 

 If it is desired to publish a synopsis of them 

 in the body of the proceedings, Eeporters 

 can obtain that privilege from him. We have 

 lao desire to enjoy a monopoly of these things, 

 but we do desire to obviate uuneccessary in- 

 advertence, indifference, delay or neglect, 

 wherever and whenever we can. — Ed. 



SAP.ETC- 



For The Lancastek Faemeb. 

 -PLANT LIFEAND MOLECU- 

 LAR FORCE. 

 What a wonderful labyrinth we find in seek- 

 ing knowledge tlirough what is termed scien- 

 tific investigations. The things we learned at 

 one time or period of our lives we have to un- 

 learn ; as subsequent enquiries have brought 

 new facts to light, tlie old theories would no 

 longer explain the phenomena, and new ones 

 had to be devi.sed, onlj' to give place to modi- 

 fication and changes as other investigators 

 made new discoveries. The trouble is, men 

 see in part, as through a glass, darkly, then 

 jump at conclusions, and advance their theo- 

 ries, and being an F. R. S. or M. D., or the 

 like, of course minor lights must reflect the 

 brilliancy of these luminaries, and laud them 

 for their effulgence. It is nevertheless true 

 the varied experiments lead to new discovery 

 and new truths are brought to light and made 

 available, although the theories founded are 

 often delusive and too hastily arrived at. 



I am led to those reflections on reading an 

 abstract of a paper read by Mr. Andrew Mur- 

 ray at the last meeting of the Scientific Com- 

 mittee of the Royal Horticultural Society, in 

 which he combats the theory of a descending 

 current of sap at any period or under any cir- 

 cumstances. He maintained that absolutely 

 no proof whatever has hitherto been adduced 

 of a descent of sap, nor would he admit of an 

 assimilating process in the leaves and a trans- 

 ference of food thus prepared to where growth 

 is taking place, or where under certain condi- 

 tions growth would take place. His views 

 are based upon the experiments of Herbert 

 Spencer (Linna'an Society's Transactions, vol. 

 XXV. ) and since repeated and extended by 

 Prof. W. R. McNab. It is essentially declar- 

 ed that the ascending sap deposits the wood 

 as it rises, and the surplus water is evaporat- 

 ed through the leaves into the air. Now re- 

 fer to "Gray's school and field book of Bot- 



