312 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



for seed. This subject is unsettled, and we need 

 more exact experiments on it. 



SOILS ON WHICH LIME IS USEFUL. 



By James Ilijatt, Chrmist of the Mount Airij Agricul- 

 tural Institute, Germantoivn, Pa. 



Lime may be advantageously applied, in proper 

 quantities, and under proper circumstances, to all 

 Boils, except to marly and calcareous ones ; that is, 

 except to those which already contain upwards of 

 five or six per cent, of carbonate of lime, and in cer- 

 tain cases, even, to some of these. 



The lands which lime benefits in the greatest 

 degree arc the following : Peaty soils, and those 

 which contain large quantities of vegetable matter ; 

 clayey soils, which are needed to be rendered more 

 light, open, and active ; lands that are worn out by 

 long and exhausting culture ; soils sterile from the 

 existence of green copperas (proto-sulphate of iron) 

 in considerable quantities ; soils wanting potash ; 

 and those which are found to be deficient in the 

 quantity of lime necessary for its supply to the 

 growing crops. On other soils, lime may often be 

 profitably employed according to their mechanical 

 eondition and chemical composition, and to the 

 expense of liming ; as will be hereafter explained. 

 Those soils which contain a proper proportion of the 

 ©ther different mineral ingredients necessary to fer- 

 tilit}', together with sufficient organic matter, and 

 which are of the right mechanical structure as to 

 mellowness, being neither too compact nor too open, 

 may need no application of lime for a long series of 

 years, although the percentage of lime in them is 

 very small. Chemical analyses have shown, that 

 soils known to be fertile without manures, may con- 

 tain no more than one five hundredth part of lime ; 

 for then, though the proportion of lime is inconsid- 

 erable, yet we learn by calculation that an acre of 

 soil, six inches in depth, will contain about a ton 

 and a half of lime — undoubtedly more than sufficient 

 for the supply of rotations of crops for a quarter of a 

 century. 



These fertile soils, however, which contain such 

 small, and even somewhat larger proportions of lime, 

 may doubtless be made to yield larger and surer 

 crops, by its addition in considerable quantities. The 

 effects of lime on such soils arc, with proper man- 

 agement, altogether beneficial, notwithstanding that 

 they then require, besides the expense of liming, a 

 more costly sj'stcm of manuring. The increased 

 production that follows the liming tends to exhaust 

 the soil of its necessary ingredients, and to destroy 

 its fertile properties, so that, while lime is continued 

 to be applied, instead of supplying the place of other 

 manures, it becomes necessary to be more liberal in 

 their application. The farmer who increases his 

 crops, Avithout increasing his manures, will soon 

 render his soil barren. All this extra labor and ex- 

 pense, however, will be amply repaid by the gain in 

 production ; for if there is any profit in raising a 

 light or a medium crop on a piece of land, this profit 

 rapidly swells, as the same land is made to yield its 

 heavier products. It would not be advisable that 

 time and money should be lavished in the injudicious 

 and extravagant ajjplication of manures. That which 

 a farm is capable of yielding in the shape of animal 

 and vegetable manures, should be carefully lius- 

 banded, as well as that which can be economicallj' 

 purchased and applied. And foreign substances, in 

 the shape of ashes, plaster, bone-dust, or salt, of 

 which the land may stand in absolute want, must be 

 procured. With care and good judgment in these 

 matters, such a soil as is referred to may be limed 

 "with great advantage. — Transactious N. Y. Ag. Soc. 



Remarks by Editor N. E. Farmer. — In Eng- 

 land, and some parts of this country, great improve- 

 ment has been made in lands by the liberal appli- 

 cation of lime alone. In some cases, several hundred 

 bushels have been applied to the acre, and the abun- 

 dant crops from soil that was previously sterile, have 

 amply repaid the outlay. 



But in New England, farmers have not generally 

 found sufficient advantage from the use of lime to 

 pay the expense. In many sections, there is suffi- 

 cient lime in the soil ; and in some cases, the failures 

 from the application of lime may have been owing to 

 the improper application. Caustic lime is often ap- 

 plied directly to the growing crop, which would 

 probably be injurious the first season, even if it 

 would prove beneficial in future ; and the cultivator 

 often judges hastily, and condemns lime ■\'i'ithout 

 waiting to give it a fair test. The result should b© 

 carefully noted for several years. Some experiments 

 in England have shown a favorable result for twenty 

 years after the application of lime. 



FUEL IN PARIS. 



There are wood and coal shops in every street, 

 and at almost every corner, where you can buy any 

 sort of fuel you choose to order ; and as it is always 

 sold by the pound, there is no dispute or uncertainty 

 as to the quantity, and the price appears to be imi- 

 form throughout the city. The most rigid economy 

 prevails as to the use of fuel. I never saw any thing 

 like it, and I myself have learnt many a useful lesson. 

 The French often submit patientlj' to a degree of 

 cold, which, with our habits, we should think scarcely 

 endurable. In this respect, I think they show their 

 wisdom, and I believe have fewer colds and catarrhs, 

 than prevail with us. They never make a fire, un- 

 less absolutely necessary. Their fuel, in the next 

 place, is always perfectly dry, and is presented in 

 the most convenient forms. They use much char- 

 coal for cooking, in which there is great economy. 

 They have none of the detestable cooking stoves 

 which are used with us, filling the house with odors 

 of the most disagreeable kind ; but they have ranges 

 of little furnaces, where they cook entirely with 

 charcoal, and so placed that all the odor of the food 

 is carried off. They have every contrivance for 

 making a fire instantly, and are never at a loss for 

 heat, so numerous and complete are their appli- 

 ances. — Selected, 



ONE THING AT A TIME. 



Step among your neighbors, reader, and see whether 

 those of them who have got along smoothly, and ac- 

 cumulated property, and gained a good name, have 

 not been men who bent themselves to one single 

 branch of business ; — who brought all their powers 

 to bear upon one point, and built on one foundation. 

 It must be so. 



Go out in spring, when the stin is yet far distant, 

 and you can scarcely feel the influence of his beams, 

 scattered as they are over the wide face of creation ; 

 but collect those beams to a focus, and they kindle 

 up a flame in an instant. So the man that squan- 

 ders his talents and his strength on many things, 

 will fail to make an impression with either ; but let 

 him draw them to a point — let him strike at a single 

 object, and it will yield before him. — Selected. 



The bones of birds are hollow, and filled with air 

 instead of marrow. 



