It is well known, thatthnse sections of our coun- 

 try which are the most productive tf wheat, are 

 either soils based on limestone rocks or such as 

 contain considerable quantities of carbonate of lime 

 in their composition. These facts seem to have in- 

 duced many to suppose, that, no matter what may 

 be the nature of the soil in other respects, if it only 

 contains lime, it will certainly produce wheat- 

 There can be no doubt that this earth performs a 

 most important part in the jiroduction of grain ; but 

 the almost unqualified manner in which it is some- 

 times spoken of, as the chief agent in the growth 

 of wheat, has led us to suppose there wae some 

 danger that those farmers in whose soils this earth 

 was abundant, might overlook the necessity of other 

 manures, and suppose tlieir lands of inexliaustible 

 fertiliiy, simply because they contain lime ; or that 

 those who properly u^e lime as a manure, should 

 forget that in time, this application would cease of 

 it^ 'desired effect, unless the animal and vegetable 

 matters upon which the lime acts in furnishing food 

 to plants, were also present at the same time. Some 

 of the Geological Reports, particularly those of Uie 

 eastern States, have a tendency, unintentionally, 

 doubtless, to create or perpetuate the error of which 

 we are speaking. Thus, for instance, Dr Jackson, 

 in his valuable report on Maine, says — 



"An imperfect.or blighted produce is sure to fol- 

 low the planting of this grain (wheat) upon soils 

 destitute of lime, while it is well known, that cer- 

 tain districts where the soil contains this mineral, 

 are always favored with luxuriant and heavy crops. 

 This is one of the settled points in agriculture, and 

 one which every farmer should duly appreciate, if 

 he would prosper in his art. Indian corn requires 

 but little lime, and hence we see excellent crops of 

 that grain raised Jipon sandy plains, unsuited to 

 wheat." — Report, p. 123. 



That lime, to a certain extent, is necessary to 

 the growth of wheat, appears char, but lime alone 

 is not a safficient application. In some parts of 

 England, Imie has been repeated onsoine lands till 

 it produces no beneficial effect. Tht- vegetable 

 and animal matter being exhaustedi lime lias noth- 

 ing upon which to act, and is therefore as inert as 

 so much sand. To some extent, similar results 

 have been found to ensue in this country. In a 

 letter of Col. Springer, of Delaware State, to a 

 friend at the \Vest, he says, in substance, that the 

 continual use c*^ lime on their lands, ha.s much ex- 

 hausted them; liiat wheat is mt now grown with 

 as much certaitrty as formerly ; that it blasts, or 

 does not fill, more frequently than it used to ; and 

 that iime can be no longer relied on to ensure fer- 

 tility or produce wheat. The truth is, the farmers 

 of that section have, in all probability, relied on 

 lime too much and too long, and have not aided its 

 action by animal or vegetable manures, as they 

 ought. In some of the arguments for the use of 

 lime, the fact that lime itsclffurnishes no nutriment 

 to the plant, seems to be overlooked, and renewed 

 applications oflime are expected to produce wheat 

 or other plants, when the material from which 

 alone they can be formed, is not to be found in tlie 

 soil so treated. 



We imagine it may be considered as a settled 

 point in vegetable and agricultural chemistry, that 

 lime, gypsum, or any of the phosphates, or salts, 

 used as manures, furnish nothing to the food of the 

 plant ; they only stimulate the organs of the plant 



ation of the proper food found already prepared in 

 the earth. When the relation which the wonder- 

 ful force called electro-magnetism has to the 

 circulation of the fluids in plants, is better under- 

 stood, it will probably be found, that the earths, of 

 which the principal are sand, clay and lime, when 

 properly combined, constitute a complete bat- 

 tery, in which the various salts dissolved in water, 

 excite a current, active or inert, as the battery is 

 more complete or defective. In the water taken 

 into the circulation of plants by the agency of this 

 electric current, is conveyed the materials that go 

 to their formation or perfection ; and however pow- 

 erful the battery, however active the electric cur- 

 rent, the plant can be benefited no further than the 

 materials suited to the purposes or wants of the 

 phnt, is provided. 



That a very small quantity of lime in soils oth- 

 erwise properly constituted, is sufiicient for all the 

 purposes of vegetation, or the production of the 

 best of wheat, no one can question, who has paid 

 attention to the analysis of soils or perused the ag- 

 ricultural sections of the Geological Reports that 

 have been made to the public. Of these, we con- 

 sider Professor Hitchcock's the most full and valu- 

 able ; the parts of Dr Jackson's report, and those of 

 the Survey of this State, being thus far nothing 

 more than incidental notices relating to this topic. 

 Examination, chemically, of some of the most fer- 

 tile virgin soils of the western States, shows but a 

 small portion of carbonate of lime; only from 2 to 

 4 per cent. The quantity of vegetable or soluble 

 matter suitable for the food of plants, was, however, 

 great ; and with this small quantity of lime, gave 

 exuberant crops. | 



Some of the soils analysed both by Professor 

 Hitchcock and Dr Jackson, contained not a trace, 

 or but the merest trace, of carbonate of lime. But 

 where it did not exist as a carbonate, it was found 

 as a phosphate, or in some other of its many combi- 

 nations. Thus, among the numerous instances of 

 analysis given by Dr J., we may mention the farm 

 at Wilton, of which the analysis gives oflime 1.5th : 

 and of soluble vegetable matter 12.0 ; and this 

 land produced 48 bushels of wheat to the acre. 



Some writers seem to suppose that a soil cannot 

 be exhausted of its calcareous matter by cultiva- 

 tion. As vegetables contain considerable quanti- 

 ties of phosphate and sulphate of lime, it appears 

 reasonable to us to suppose, unless all the vegeta- 

 ble matter taken from the soil is returned to it 

 again, that exhaustion will eventually ensue ; and 

 e think experience proves that such is the case 



wheat, with much less lime, provided other- manures 

 are equally present, than soils with an impermeable 

 substratum, and, consequently, wet and cold. Lime- 

 stone soils are dry, because the fissures of the rock 

 allow all superfluous water to pass off"; they are 

 warm, because the heat is not carried off by evapo- 

 ration; and they are fertile, because lime is always 

 present to originate and keep up the active powers 

 of vet etable life. We have come to the conclu- 

 sion that no soil can be good for farming in wliicb 

 lime, in some one of its form.s, does not exist. We 

 consider it indispensable; as, without it, we have 

 no proof that those electric currents on which veg- 

 etable growth and nutrition so much depend, would 

 exist without it To suppose that the application 

 of lime alone will keep up or ensure fertility, is as 

 absurd as to suppose that sand or clay alone could 

 do it. Even pure vegetable manure cannot suppoH 

 a plant; the proper mixture and combination of the 

 earths and the food of plants, is necessary ; and the 

 o-reat end of agricultural chemistry, and the aim of 

 the scientific and practical farmer is, to ascertain Y^^ 

 the nature of these combinations, and the power of 

 adapting them with certainty. — Genesee Farmer. 



{01' 



W1I 



APPLE MOLASSES. 

 There is many a good housewife who has more 

 faith in her own experience, than in the science of 

 chemistry, that knows not the value of apple molas- 

 ses ; but still believes it to be the same kind of 

 tart, smoky, worthless stuff that has from time im- 

 memorial been made by boiling down cider. It is 

 not within my province at this time, to attempt to, 

 convince such that there is a chemical diflTerence, 

 though it might easily he shown, that they are al- 

 most as different as sugar and vinegar. I would,; 

 however, invite them to lay aside their eider this- 

 year, and try the plan of boiling down the juice of 

 the apjde that has not been exposed to the air by 

 grinding and pressing. 



Last autumn I placed a number of bushels of 

 Wetherill's sweeting apples in two large brass ket- 

 tles, with water justsuflScient to steam them ; when 

 they boiled soft, I turned them into a new splinter 

 basket, containing some straw, and placed on them 

 a barrel head and a heavy weight. The juice was 

 caught in a tub. This was repeated until I had 

 juice enough to fill the kettles, when 1 commenced 

 boiling it down, and attended to it strictly, frequent- 

 ly skimming it, till it became of the consistency of 

 cane molasses. The native acids of the fruit im- 



kt 



la 



parted a peculiar flavor, otherwise it could hardly 



.. I be distinguished from the syrup of the cane. It 



with lime as well as with the vegetable matters of [ ^^_^^ ^^^^ .^ ^^ ^^^^^^ j.^^. ^^^^^^-^^^ sweetmeats, for; 



the soil. Soils based on limestone do not always 

 contain the greatest quantity of lime in their com- 

 position ; but such are rarely exhausted of their 

 lime, the gradual decomposition furnishing the ade- 

 quate supply ; while soils not so based, though con- 

 taining at first more of the carbonate, become more 

 speedily exhausted, and require applications of this 

 manure much earlier. In several instances we 

 have found soils formed from the decomposition of 

 the shale lying immediately above the great lime- 

 stone formations of western New York, to contain 

 as much lime as those based on the limestone it- 

 self. 'I"he experience of every farmer in that dis- 

 trict, however, is conclusive of the fact, that the 

 first is the soil that soonest requires the applicatii n 

 oflime to render it fertile. 



We are convinced that a soil that is called dry. 



sweetening pies, for dressing on puddings and grid-! 

 die cakes, and a variety of other purposes. The,, 

 cost of makinp, it is very trifling, and the means are,, 

 within the reach of every farmer. — Ohio Farmer, i 



Weeds cannot grow near our common cultivated 

 paints without materially injuring them. This is 

 doubtless in part owing to their consuming the nu- 

 tritive matter contained by the soil, and in part, al 

 so to their overshadowing the cultivated plant, and 

 thus depriving it of the direct action of the sun ;— 

 but it is also in part owing to the nature of the 

 matter which they deposite in the soil. The com- 

 mon opinion that weeds poison the plants near 

 which they grow, is not mere imagination — it is 

 founded in fact. — Farmer's Reg. 



i 



