'92 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



it may be answered that, pprliaps, the soil oria:i- 

 nally contained small quantilics of lim?, which 

 became cxhau'^teil by tillage, ami per]ia[)« the 

 ashe?, which wore left on the land m liurning 

 the timhcr. for clearinsr it, might t'urnish a sub- 

 stitute tor lime, by yielding potash, a sub-tance 

 in many respects analogous to the alkaline 

 earths. 



I do not, however, mean to assert positively 

 that MassachiFsetts can be made a wheat coun- 

 try merely by the use of lime as manure for 

 wheat. Perhaps rust, or mildew, (for which 

 by the way it is believed salt is an eliicient re- 

 medy,) may prevent its being cultivated to ad- 

 vantage. It is possible likewise tliat the Hessian 

 fly may destroy it, though, 1 am told that there 

 are remedies a;.rainst the ravages of that insect. 

 and that some kinds of wheat are not liable to 

 be iniurcd by it. Rut I am very confident that 

 wheal cannot be raised to advantage on most ol 

 " the old lands of New England ■without the appli- 

 cation of lime to the soil. \Vhether it can be 

 profitably raised ii:il!i such application can only 

 be ascertained by actual and repeated ex[)eri- 

 mcnts. 



It is not in wheat crops alone that lime is 

 founil eminently useful. It is observed b} Sir 

 .lohn .'Sinclair that " By lime spread upon a 

 moorv "ud, <^ood herbajo is produced where no- 

 thibe; but heath and unpalatable grasses were 

 before. By the same means grass-land, instead 

 of yielding nothing but bent, and other inferior 

 gra.sses, have been covered with those of a moi'e 

 valuable description. The utility of lima to 

 tuniips is so great, that though in the same field 

 where no lime had been ai>plied the crop died 

 away ; yet in the limed part, the turni|)s flourish- 

 ed with unabated vigour. The same writer 

 mentions lands, in which manure previous to 

 liming had no sensible effect ; but after liming 

 operated as on other lands. 



A very great advantage in the use of lime 

 consists in its tendency to pulverize, and make 

 mellow strong clayey lands. That quality alone, 

 by the saving of labour, and the more perfect 

 division of the particles of the soil renders lime 

 of very great value for hard lands. Quicklime, 

 in powder, and probably lime water, applied 

 by an apparatus similar to that made use of lor 

 watering dry and dusty streets woubl, undoubt- 

 edly he an elTectual aiilidote against worms and 

 other insects, which of late years appear to gain 

 gronnd upon us in New England. And even 

 when perfectly slack and efTete, if laid about 

 the roots of the apple trees it is said to preserve 

 them against the canker worm. Lime should 

 be laid on the surface and intimately mixed w itli 

 the soil, ior this purpose it is best slacked, and 

 brought to a very fine dust, and the land should 

 be made very mellow. It sliould be hot from 

 the kiln when it is wished to dissolve peaty or 

 woody substances. But in most other cases it 

 is not material whether it is used as quick lime, 

 air slacked, or pounded lime stone. Quick lime 

 should not be applied to growing plants, as it 

 will cause iliem to turn yellow, and if dissojved 

 in water will kill grass if poured upon it. But 

 quick lime applied to the naked ground soon 

 becomes mild, and of course will not injure 

 seeds sown some little time alter its application, 

 nor the young plants which such seeds may 

 produce.* Too much lime is, in all cases, per- 



* The application of lime is matter neither of myste- 

 ry nor of deep philosopliical research. If the necessary 



nicious, and any quantity, great or small, is use- 

 less in exhausted land, unless it is accompanied 

 or succeeded by other substances which will 

 furnish food for vegetation. 



If lime be so eminently useful and even in- 

 disi)onsable in certain soils, and for the produc- 

 tion of some of our most valuable cro|)s, and 

 more especially if its want ainne prevents New 

 England from being a wheat country, its value 

 I believe has not. generally, been properly ap- 

 preciated by New England Farmers. No .Ame- 

 rican writer on agriculture, so far as I can 

 learn, considers lime as a necessary constituent 

 of every productive soil. It is mentioned as 

 useful, but not as absolutely necessary for the 

 production of any particular kinds of vegetables. 

 And they do not appear to have known or re- 

 flected that •■ all soils are improved by mild 

 lime, and ultimately by quick lime, which do 

 not eflervescc with acids ;""* that is. that have 

 not lime already as one of their constituent 

 parts. 



What 1 have said of lime, will, in most in- 

 stances, apply to sea sand, shells, either of fresh 

 or salt water origin, or marl ; likewise in a de- 

 gree to leached ashes, or any other substance, 

 composed in part of calcareous matter. All 

 these ha\e more or less the properties of mild 

 lime, and therefore may well be made its sub- 

 stitute. 



But I fear that my respected audience are, 

 by this time, convinced that quick lime is a drti 

 subject ; and tliough I hope its di.scussion may 

 prove profitable to many, yet as there can be 

 no particular pleasure in handling it, I will no 

 longer detain my hearers from the avocations 

 of the daj', and the amusements of the Farmers' 

 Festival and the Mamifacturers' Holidaj'. 



quantily be given to land, and properly mixed with the 

 -soil, it is a things of much loss moment than we are apt 

 to imHg:ine wlicther it be applied in its canstic or mild 

 state, and for this reason that there is a natural pro- 

 gression from one to the other, and in the end it is sure 

 to be saturated with its full measure of carbonic acid. 



Letters of ^igrkula. 

 * Sir Humphrey Davy's Agricultural Chemi^fiy- 



©AtiTiiii wmmwB^ 



We should be glad to give parlicular, minute and 

 ollicial accounts of the " Husbandman's Holidays," 

 throughout the United States, if our limits would per- 

 mit. But, to publish them at length, as they arc given 

 in the newspapers of the district in which they have 

 taken place, would be to devote the whole of our pa- 

 per for several weeks to details which are already in 

 possession of many of our readers. We shall, there- 

 fore, give an abridged notice of each exhibition of 

 wliich an account has reached as, and should we omit 

 any thing of much importance, either as alfording pre- 

 cepts or examples to our agricultural readers, we 

 should be happy, hereafter, to give such supplementary 

 notices as any of our correspondents may suggest asi 

 expedient. 



CHESHIRE, {\. H.) CATTLE SHOW. 

 At Acworth, on the 2d day of O^obcr inst. 

 in pursuance of previous notice, was held the 

 annual meeting of the Cheshire Agricultural So- 

 ciety, and tinder its superintendence, the annual 

 Exhibition of Stock and Domestic Manufactures, 

 for the County of Cheshire. — The day was fa- 

 vorable. The occasion called together a nu- 

 merous collection of the substuutial citizens of 



'he County. At an early hour the '^tock enter- 

 ed lor premiums was arranged in the pons, and 

 the .Manufactures deposited in a room provided 

 for their reception. 



The Society convened at 9. — The examin- 

 ing committees attended to their duties from 10 

 to 12. The drawing match under the- direc- 

 ion of the committee for awarding premiums on 

 working oxen, was attended at eleven. The 

 dis|ilay of the poiver of the ox which this trial 

 of strength elicited was witnessed with much sat- 

 isfaction. The pairs to which the first and sec- 

 ond premiums were awarded, their age and size 

 considered, were decidedly superior to any on 

 the ground. 



At 12 o'clock a procession was formed at the 

 house of Mr. Keyes which under the direction 

 of the marshals of the day, Mr. Warner and Mr. 

 Gove, moved to the meeting-house. The servi- 

 ces were commenced by a prayer from the Rev 

 Mr. Cooke. An instructive and highly interest- 

 ing Address ad.tpted to the occasion, was deliv- 

 ered by the Hon. S. Hale. This address will 

 probably be given to the public ; an analj'sis of 

 it will not therefore be attempted. The pro- 

 minent subjects were the prejudices, existing 

 against Agricultural Societies — a refutation of 

 the objections w hich have been urged — remarks 

 upon the policy of draining lands — upon the 

 mode of increasing and applying manures, &c. — 

 The reports of the committees on manufactures 

 and on working oxen were then read by H. Hub- 

 bard, Esq, and the remaining reports of the com- 

 mittees at the house of .Air. Keyes, alter the re- 

 turn of the procession. The services of the 

 day were very pleasantly concluded by a liberal 

 and well provided dinner. 



The following reports were received from 

 the Awarding Committees. 



On Working Oxen. 

 The committee consisting of Col. David Par- 

 ker of Charlestown, Chairman, Samuel Russell, 

 ofSwanzey and BIr. Joel Goss, of Claremount, 

 awarded — 



To Ijemucl Towne of Stoddard for the best pair of 

 working oxen, the first premium on oxen be- 

 tween 4 and 8 years old (TG 

 To Bemzla Cram of L'nity for the 2d do. the 2d pre- 



juiiim, A 



To Samuel Clark of Acworth, for the next best do. 2 

 The committee noticed a number of other 

 pairs presented as being very fine cattle, partic- 

 ularly a pair exhibited by John Kobbins of .\ls- 

 tead, which were brought on to the ground too 

 late to be entered. They expressed their be- 

 lief, that but for this omission Mr. Bobbins would 

 have been entitled to one of the premiums of- 

 fered by the Society, and recommended that he 

 receive a premium of one dollar out of the fund 

 reserved to be approi)riated at the discretion of 

 the Executive committee. The recommenda- 

 tion was complied with. 



On Steers and Heij'crs. 

 The Committee consisting of Isaac Hubbard 

 of Claremont, Chairman, Aaron Hodskins, Esq. 

 of Walpole, and Mr. Thos. Whipple of Charles- 

 town, adjudged — 

 To Royal ilounceval, of Unity, for the best pair of 



steers the Ist premium on steers 4 



To James Dickey of Acworth, for the next best do. 



the 2d preminm 2 



To Samuel Tutherly of Unity for the best heifer, 



the first premium on heifers 4 



To Aaron Dean, of Charlestown, for the next best 

 do. the 2d premium 2 



In addition to those above to which premiums 



