100 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[Jniy, 



transferring to our columns entire. It is 

 written by Alfred J. Burrows, of Pluckley, 

 Kent county, England, and discusses the sub- 

 ject analytically, scientifically and practically 

 in detail. Of course, the vse of lime is one 

 thing, and the abuse of it is quite another 

 thing, and it is this abuse that has given rise 

 the adage we quote above ; and also to its 

 equivalent, that although it may enrich tlie 

 father it may impoverish the son ; because its 

 tendency is to bring rapidly into use all tlie 

 vegetable matter in the soil, and therefore 

 the application of lime renders it necessary 

 that manure be also imsparingly applied, for 

 where the soil is primarily poor, lime alone 

 can do but little good. A few even in our 

 own county have indulged in disparaging 

 statements in regard to the effects of lime on 

 the crops, and a few others again have freely 

 indulged in extreme counter opinions. Tlie 

 mostintellisrent and advanced views, however, 

 are to the effect that lime is not absolutely in 

 itself a vianure, but that it acts an inter- 

 mediate part in assimilating the soil and other 

 species of manure ; hence, lime alone— and 

 especially where it is already in sufficient 

 quantity— without manure, might be as bar- 

 ren of the desired results as millstones and 

 hopper without corn in their relati ns to a 

 grist. When this is seen, and intelligently 

 acted upon, farmers will not "pin their faith" 

 to lime alone, neither will they discard its use 

 any more than they would the handles of their 

 hammers or their hoes, those very essential 

 intermediates between " will and way." Mr. 

 B. says : 



"The avantages of the use of lime are so 

 many and so great that it is almost impossible 

 to enumerate the- whole of them. Their 

 effects may be described as being both chemi- 

 cal and mechanical, and as being exercised 

 both upon the organic and inorganic constitu- 

 ents of the soil. The following may be taken 

 as a summary of the principal benefits : 



"1. A larger produce of cereal crops of su- 

 perior quality. Tliis is especially the case 

 with wheat, which becomes thinner skinned, 

 and yields more flour. The peas grown upon 

 limed lands are better boilers. 



"2. Upon deep alluvial and clay soils it in- 

 creases the crop of potatoes and renders them 

 less waxy. Sprinkled over potatoes in the 

 store heap it preserves them, and when rid- 

 dled over the cut sets it wonderfully increases 

 their fertility. 



"3. Lime eradicates the finger and toe dis- 

 ease in turnips, and gives greater soundness 

 and more nutritive qualities to the bulbs. 



"4. It gives, when applied to meadow lands, 

 a larger produce of nutritious grasses, and 

 checks the foot-rot in sheep depastured upon 

 them. It also exterminates bent*, as well as 

 coarse and sour grasses, destroys couch grass, 

 and acts powerfully upon the rye grasses. 



"5. Upon arable land it destroys the corn- 

 marigold, and weeds of various kinds. 



"6. It rapidly decomposes vegetable mat- 

 ter, producing a large amount of food for 

 plants in the form of carbonic acid gas. 



"7. It destroys or neutralizes the acids in 

 the soils, hence its adaptability to our soils. 



"8. It acts powerfully upon some of the in- 

 organic parts of soils, especially on the sul- 

 phate of iron found in peaty soils, and the 

 sulphates of magnesia and alumina. 



"9. It proves fatal to worms and slugs, and 

 the larvae of injurious insects, though favor- 

 able to the growth of shell-bearers. 



"10. It destroys the germ of smut upon the 

 seed of wheat, barley and oats, and is especi- 

 ally acceptable to the barley crop, which is 

 generally of good quality upon chalky soils. 



"11. Slacked lime added to vegetable mat- 

 ter causes it to give ofl' its nitrogen in the 

 form of ammonia. Upon soils in which the 

 ammonia is combined with acids it sets free 

 the ammonia, which is directly seized upon by 

 the plants. ^ 



"12. Its solubility in water causes it to sink 

 into and ameliorate the subsoil. When the 



•Bent-Grass. A species of Agrostis, very 

 pasture grouuds, the beut or creeping stems of which an 

 difficult to eradicate. 



soil contains fragments of granite or trap 

 rocks, lime hastens their decomposition and 

 liberates the silicates. 



"13. Its combination with the acids in the 

 soil produces saline compounds, such as 

 potash, soda, &c. 



"14. It exerts a marvelous effect upon rape, 

 though it is said to injure flax, which in 

 Belgium is not grown for seven years after 

 liming. 



"15. Strewed over the young plants, it 

 destroys or drives away the turnip fly. 



"16. Worked in with grass seeds, the bene- 

 ficial effects of lime, chalk, marl and shell 

 sand have been visible for a period of thirty 

 years. 



"17. It has a powerful pulverizing efliect 

 upon the wealden clay, on the sandstone 

 formations, and on the granite and slate 

 rocks. 



"18. It is generally supposed to hasten the 

 ripening of corn crops. 



"19. It promotes the formation in the soil 

 of what are called tlie double silicates. This 

 process starts with the clay, or silicate of 

 alumina, and is afterwards continued tlirough 

 the S. of alumina and lime, the S. of A. and 

 soda, A. and potash, and A. and ammonia. 



"20. Applied to the rot-heap lime effectu- 

 ally destroys the seed of weeds. 



"To sura up its advantages— when properly 

 applied to the soil — it purifies and stimulates 

 its action, thereby promoting the growth of 

 healthy vegetation of all kinds." 



THE CURCULIO. 



Dr. Kauflman of Iowa City gives the follow- 

 ing method for extinguishing or driving off 

 the Curculio as something new. Whether old 

 or new, it is inexpensive and ought to be tried. 

 He says : 



"During the summer of 1847, I procured 

 from the gas-house several gallons of coal or 

 gas tar. 1 put about a quart in a long handled 

 stew pan, and with a few shavings and a 

 match soon had a dense black smoke. This I 

 carried under my plum tree, so that the dense 

 smoke pervaded all parts of the tree. My 

 first eflbrts were very gratifying, in seeing in- 

 sects of all sorts hurrying out of the tree. 

 Ants came running down the tree, various 

 kinds of worms and spiders let themselves 

 down by their webs, and all winged insects 

 flew out, leaving the tree deserted of all in- 

 sect life. I spent ^ibout half an hour in smok- 

 ing 42 trees, and tliis I repeated three or four 

 times a week, unless a rain had washed off the 

 smudge, when I again repeated the smoking. 

 After my first effort I tried the shaking pro- 

 cess, but invariably failed to catch or see a 

 single specimen of the curculio. I continued 

 this process until near the time of ripening, 

 and got my first crop of plums, over 30 bush- 

 els. The whole cost of coal tar for those 42 

 trees during the summer was less than $2. 1 

 began the smoking a little too late, after I 

 had tried for sometime the jarring into the 

 sheet : therefore some of the fruit had been 

 stung: and had it not been for this, my crop 

 of ripe plums would have been still greater. 

 During 1875 the plum crop was an entire fail- 

 ure, and I had no opportunity to continue 

 this experiment: but the summer of 1876 

 brought a large plum crop, and I at once re- 

 sorted to my favorite remedy. I commenced 

 smoking my trees as soon as the plums were 

 the size of a hazel nut, and continued up to 

 the time of ripening, and not a single Curculio 

 sting was to be seen on my fruit, the trees of 

 which were treated to the coal-tar smoke. I 

 purposely left trees of different varieties un- 

 smoked, and all the plums, excepting one sort, 

 were stung and dropped ofl" before ripening." 

 Moore''s Rural Life. 



[ We would begin earlier — when the plums 

 were the size of a marrow-fat pea. 



It would be worth knowing also, what the 

 "excepted" variety was: even if it were only 

 of medium or inferior quality. There might 

 be some compensation in quantity for the lack 

 of quality, or no plums at all] 



Send in your back subscriptions, 



HOW TO RAISE A BULL. 



The following poem is from a work called 

 the " Farmer's Friend," written by C. Mac- 

 .pherson, Dundee, Scotland, and published by 

 the author. Without intending to criticise 

 its literary quality we content ourselves with 

 considering it from a practical standpoint; 

 and viewing it tlius, there probably would be 

 a great waste of time saved if all poems (of 

 which there are now so many published) were 

 imbued with some practical and useful theme. 

 Who would have thought, however, that 

 there was so much poetry in a bull ? (We do 

 not mean an Irish bull, for some of them are 

 brim full of poetry, but an Alderney, a Jer- 

 sey, or a Durham, if you please. ) But listea 

 to Mac. and be instructed and edified : 



" He of who's fame I would eine; 



Must early calved be in the epi-ine:, 



And who should nurse the calf?— Its mother — 



Its mother only, and no other. 



By no means mar their tranquil joy 



By yelping dog or heedless boy ; 



Affright them not, or make them run, 



Nor strike them with a club or stone ("stun.") 



When young, ne'er let him touch your quoys, 



Nor sonn excite his sexual joys; 



But keep him chaste in field or fold 



Until he's fully three years old. 



Then let him woo the chasteful kine, 



Yet in each season seme but nine. 



Among your cows then he may stray, 



And freely let their passions play, 



And woo each other while they may; 



Tet rigid keep this virtuous rule : 



In one year, nine cows to one bull ; 



No more, if high breeds be your aim. 



Unless you would your herds defame. 



From four years unto five, six, seven, 



He's in his prime ; old at eleven, 



And useless as a worthy sire, 



As then declines his vital fire. 



Work makes him docile, kind and strong, 



Yet do not task his strength too long, 



Tho' well he can endure the toil, 



And make for man, to till the soil ; 



Then when you choose to make him fat, 



He'll feed the better all for that. 



Surfeit him not, nor feed him mean. 



But just these two extremes between; 



For food let his appetite be keen, 



This keeps his blood and system clean." 



— Live atock Journal. 

 [That's the way he tells the story; and our 

 readers can draw their own conclusions as to 

 how far the story is a practical one.] 



PACKING EGGS— WHICH END DOWN? 



How doctors do disagree ; and if it were 

 not that there are opinions differing from 

 both the following, we might be induced to 

 conclude that both were right. 



In the "Kitchen" department of the cur- 

 rent number of The Housekeeper, we find the 

 annexed items on "packing eggs." 



" In whatever position an egg lies the yolk 

 will always be gradually settling to the lower 

 side, and the moment it rests on the shell it 

 begins to spoil. In fresh eggs the yolk is 

 nearer to the large end ; moreover, the white 

 in the small end is firmer, more solid, conse- 

 quently the yolk has farther to go, and meets 

 with more resistance before reaching the 

 shell when set on the small end." 



In the adjoining column a diflerent writer 

 speaks in this wise : 



"There has always existed a great difler- 

 ence of opinion as to which end down eggs 

 should be packed for winter use. W. H. 

 Todd, the well-known Ohio breeder of poultry, 

 writes us as follows, giving, as it seems to us, 

 sound reasons for packing them larger end 

 down. He says: 'The air chamber is in the 

 larger end, and if that is placed down the 

 yolk will not break through and touch the 

 shell, and thereby spoil. Anottier thing, if 

 the air chamber is down the egg is not as 

 liable to shrink away." 



Both these plans insist on preventing the 

 yolk from touching the shell, in order to pre- 

 vent "spoiling." In that they agree, but 

 seem to disagree as to the manner in which 

 that result can best be secured. 



Mr. W. J. Fyle, of W-est Chester, says : 

 Eggs will keep for one month, and hatch well 

 if they are laid on their sides, instead of 

 standing on either end, but not air-tight. 



