16 How THE FARM PAYS. 



mer kind is much improved by the addition of sand or gravel ; the 

 latter kind is benefited by a mixture of clay. 



Q. Would you consider lime indispensable if sand, or gravel, or 

 clay could be had ? 



A. Yes, I should say by all means to put on lime, no matter how 

 little of it ; the clay or loam can be better dispensed with. 



(Mr. H.) I have had only one experience in my life with a swamp 

 of that kind, and, probably for want of using the means you now ad- 

 vise, I failed completely the first year. I had turned up the swamp 

 land in the fall, thoroughly drained it, and thought it was in perfect 

 condition for a crop. I planted the first crop with cabbages, but 

 failed completely ; I turned it up again and planted it with celery, 

 which was equally a failure, although I had used nearly twenty-five 

 tons per acre of manure for each crop. To all appearances there 

 was nothing in the handling or condition of the soil that would in- 

 dicate any element injurious to vegetation. 



Q. What depth of soil was it ? 



A. It was probably three feet deep, overlying a fine white sand. 

 The next season, and for some years after, by heavy manuring, but 

 still without lime, we had good crops, although from my past ex- 

 perience on other lands, and from what you say about the effect of 

 lime when first used for swamp land, I have no doubt it would have 

 greatly helped such a soil. I had an opportunity of examining the 

 soil of Florida last winter, which I believe is very nearly identical 

 with that of Yineland, N. J., and was astonished to see the 

 fertility which land apparently little else but sand contained. This 

 goes to confirm the opinion that I have long held about soils, that 

 their mechanical condition that is, the ease with which roots can 

 push deeply into them has much to do in producing good crops 

 when great depth of that soil exists. 



In your opinion, Mr. Crozier, which is best fitted to retain barn- 

 yard manure an adhesive soil with a clayey bottom, a loam with a 

 sandy or gravelly bottom, or well drained swamp land with a sandy 

 bottom? 



A. A heavy land with a clay subsoil will retain manure twice as 

 long as any other soil. But it would depend altogether on what pur- 

 pose the land was used for. If for permanent grass, there is no land 

 will retain manure so long as stiff soils with clayey subsoils. I have 

 known it to be kept forty years without being plowed, by applying 

 an occasional top dressing of either barn-yard manure or a compost 

 made of loam and lime. The best loam for such purposes is that 

 taken from fence rows, because it contains rich fibrous sod. 



