188 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



NOVEMBER 13, 1S34. 



From the American Farmer. 

 ON RAISING GRAIN ON LIGHT SOILS. 



A correspondent in your last "Farmer" wishes 

 to be informed whether any tiling has been done 

 at raising grain on light sandy soils manured with 

 marsh mud, plaster of Paris, or lime, and if so 

 wishes a detail, &c., with the results. I wdl give 

 him what has come under iny observation. Some 

 years since, I bought a lot of land which contained 

 14 or 15 acres of river bottom of very light san<ly 

 soil— the rest upland, which was stony. The 

 bottom being easier farmed, had been completely 

 worn out by the tenants, who, under the former 

 owner, had used it for years without any manure. 

 The first year of my owning it I tried a part with 

 50 bushels of lime to the acre, put on in the spring 

 after breaking it up for corn— it produced a good 

 crop of corn, and subsequently one of the best 

 crops of winter grain in the township— it was 

 then sown with clover and timothy, and plastered 

 (i.e. sown with ground gypsum) and produced me 

 two tons of hay to the acre ; I continued the same 

 course of treatment on the whole flat, wilh equal 

 success, adding to the lime as much stable manure 

 as we had made on the lot. It may be proper to 

 say, that perhaps previous to my owning it the lot 

 had' never had a bushel of plaster sown on it, and 

 perhaps never had been limed or manured to any 

 extent, and that when broken up after I got it, 1 

 caused it to be ploughed very deep— deep |ilough- 

 ing answers well except on stifl'clay soils. Tlie 

 crops of this i)art of the world have been greatly 

 improved within the last ten or fifieen years by the 

 use of lime as a manure. For a time after the in- 

 troduction of gypsum, many of our farmers relied 

 on it, and clover alone — other manures were ne- 

 glected, and although inucb good was done by the 

 introduction of clover, yet the process<Af cropping 

 exhausted the land, aixl gypsuin, which I believe 

 is only a stimulus, ceased to produce any beneficial 

 eflects on the lands. Recourse was then had to 



lime that has been successfully continued ever 



since, and our millers inform me that the result 

 has been an increase of at least 50 per cent, in the 

 quantity of grain produced in the same district ot 

 country. Lime, I believe, operates as a manure 

 by its caustic properties neutralizing the acids in 

 the soil. I have also observed, when several years 

 have elapsed without the application of gypsum, 

 that on renewing it its effects are again very mani- 

 fest, especially on the grass crops. In the little 

 farming I have recently done I have combined the 

 application of stable ni.inuie and lime, and when I 

 manure, I do it in earnest, and it pays well. On 

 an out lot of five acres near this borough, which 

 had been sutfered to become exhausted, because 

 the former owner said lie could not afford to buy 

 lime and manure, he was tinable to raise wheat, 

 and the grass crop was very iudiflJerent. I broke 

 it up early in the snmuier — put on it 230 bushels 

 of lime, and 44 horse loads of manure, gave it 

 three ploughings and sowed while wheat. The 

 next season I got 31 bushels of wheat to the acre 



I sowed clover and timothy among the wheat. 



1 sold the crop of gniss standing the next season 

 for $40, and got $10 for the fall pasturage; ibis 

 year I made upwarils often tons of hay off" it, and 

 have again gotten $10 for the fall |)astuiage. 



The effect of lime is visible lor a greater or less 

 length of time according to the nature of the soil, 

 I have seen it distinctly visible twelve years af- 

 ter it had been applied. 



In this country it is generally put on after the 



land is ploughed, and then harrowed and plough- 

 ed in. If the season be not too dry its beneficial 

 effects will be visible in the summer crop fullow- 

 ing its application in the spring. But if land be 

 limed for the suuimer crop and u dry siuiuner 

 succeed, it sometimes injures that crop that sea- 

 son, although its beneficial eflects will be seen the 

 next and succeeding years; lime never is fully felt 

 in its effects until a winter has passed after its ap- 

 plication. On poor or thin land 1 think an appli- 

 cation of the lime on the surface or sod in the fall 

 the most advisable; spread it and let it lie till 

 spring. I think any land will bear 40 bushels to 

 the acre thus a|)plied, and that the difti^rence of 

 the corn crop the next season will nearly if not 

 quite pay the price of the lime, if it can be pro- 

 cured at a reasonable price. J- M- P- 



or flukes. By what means they get there is at 

 present a matter of conjecture. It is certain they 

 are animalculae, as they have been seen to move 

 several hours after their removal from the sheep.- 

 It may be asked by some, how are we to knovT" 

 the rot in its first stage .' The weather, the situ- 

 ation of his land, together with his own jiulgnienl 

 as to the probability of the flock becoming diseas. 

 ed are the shepherd's best guides. The sheep, 

 themselves, in an early stage of the disease will 

 appear slolhliil, and their eyes diu^, with a tingf 

 of yellow, i. e. having a jaundiced appearance. If 

 this state, I should give a few doses of milk iner 

 curials, saline aperients, and then a mild bitter in- 

 fusion, such as infusion of chamomile or of gen- 

 tian, two or three times a day. — Loudon^s Maga 



21)16. 



From lite Genesee Farmer. 

 ON ROLLING WHEAT. 



Some farmers in this neighborhood, have given 

 the finish to putting in iheir wheat by rolling the 

 fields smooth ; but my experience is opposed to 

 this practice. For mowing indeed, the ground 

 cannot be too smooth ; and wheat that is well 

 matted above and well rooted below, will doubt- 

 less be less affected ; but late sown wheat that 

 comes up through a smooth uniform surfiice, is 

 much more exposed and injured by the sweeping 

 winds than wheat that grows on ground left rough 

 by the tracks of the harrow. The difference is 

 very great; and if there should he any of your 

 readers who doubt it let them run the harrow in 

 a few places across the rolled field, and observe 

 the result next spring. 



The best time for rolling wheat and preparing 

 the ground for the scythe is in the spring. 



A 1'loughman. 



WORMS AND SLUGS 



Are very destructive to crops of |)otatoes, es 



pecially if it happens to be a wet season for plant 

 ing ; and many persons suppose that the bad cro) 

 is owing to the wet having rotted the sets, when 

 upon examination, it has been found that the; 

 have been destroyed by worms and slugs. T 

 prevent this, as soon as the potatoes are cut 

 spread the sets thinly on the ground, and throw 

 small quantity of quicklime over them ; then tur i 

 them up together, when the moisture of the potsi 

 toes will cause the lime to slake, and form a thi i 

 coat over the sets, which will save them. If thi 

 sets (or whole potatoes, where these are used) ail 

 too dry to slake the lin:e, they may be sprinklti 

 lightly with water previously to putting the lin 

 on. — Gardener's Magadne. 



MASS. HORTICULTURAL SOCIET-Jl 



THE ROT IN SHEEP. 



Many of your readers are aware that by the fre- 

 quent and repeated moistening of land the grass 

 grows in abundance, much more quickly, and has 

 a much more luxuriant appearance, particularly 

 when the weather is close and warm. It is this 

 quickness of its growth which I think is the great 

 cause of the mischief. When grown slowly, time 

 is allowed for that bitter luinciple to be more fully 

 elaborated, on which depends the good quality ot 

 our grasses, which is the case in a moderately dry 

 season, and when also the disease does not make 

 its appearance. But when, couiraiy to this, the 

 Trass grows too quickly to allow that change tak- 

 ing place, and it does not contain that bitterness, 

 hut has a more delicate appearance, or what is 

 termeil squashy, the sheep become diseased from 

 the want of that usual stimulus to the bowels, the 

 bitter principle of well grown grass. In conse- 

 quence of this they become torpid, the food not 

 well digested, the secretion of the bile sluggish ; 

 and here is the foundation of that mass of disease 

 in the liver. How far this opinion may be correct 

 I leave to the judgment of others; but should it 

 prove so, the remedy will be simple when taken 

 in the first place, that is, before the matter isfiirm- 

 ed in the liver. I presume that for the want of 

 that stimulus to the bowels, the liver does not per- 

 form its functions, and becomes overloaded with 

 bile, part of which is again circulated with the 

 blood ; but in time, from its stagnation it becomes 

 putrid, and matter is formed upon the liver, in 

 small tubercles, wliich bursting into each other 

 become abscesses, in which are found the hydatids 



FRUITS EXHIBITED. 



Saturday, JVuv. 8. 



Pears. By Mr. Ward of Roxbury, from an in( 

 ported French tree, an unripe fruit, below the mn 

 dium size, round, of a green color — evidently 

 breaking fruit, of a remarkably musky and spi( 

 flavor ; its name unknown. 



By Mr. B. V. French, sent by M. H. Ruggle 

 Esq. of Fall River, a small round wild liuitofadai 

 yellow russet color, breaking and sweet. It w, 

 very lately found growing wild within a pasture ( 

 the same farm where the Wilbur Pear originate 

 It has been suggested that this fiuit may be fbui 

 worthy of cnliivalion from its late keeping ; at 

 that it be named Wilbur's Late. Another h 

 keeping fruit which was sent by Mr. Ruggles 

 Mr. French, will be noted on some future day. 



Jlpples. By L. P. Grosvenor, Esq. a variety 

 Greening, of a large size, rounder oblong, of g6 

 fl,ivor,— another variety, a winter fruit, believed 

 be the Marygold ; a large handsome flat fruit, 

 a reddish orange color and good flavor ; ali 

 Kaighn's Spitzenberg, and the Black Gillyflow. 

 and another variety, nanie unknown, a haudsoi 

 red fruit, of excellent flavor. 



By Mr. Cheever Newhall — Chataignier of I 

 French, rather iiust its prime, but of cxcelli 

 flavor. 



Peaches. By Mr. Samuel Walker of Roxhu 

 a seedling variety of Clingstone, a handsome in 

 its flavor destroyed by the frost. 



For the Committee, William Kenric 



