178 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



this success with our garden. It was not owing 

 to our knowledge of gardening, for we made many 

 blunders not here recorded, and lost crops of two 

 or three different things in consequence. Neither 

 was it owing to excessive richness of the ground. 

 But 1 lay it to the unsparing warfare kept up upon 

 the weeds, which thus prevented their running 

 away with the nourishment intended for the 

 plants, and kept the ground constantly stirred up 

 and thorougly pulverized. I have sometimes 

 thought one good stirring up, whether with the 

 hoe, the rake, or the cultivator, was as beneficial 

 as a good shower. 



This result is very easily shown by experiment. 

 Just notice, after a dewy night, the difference be- 

 tween ground lately, and often stirred, and that 

 which has lain unmoved for a long time. Or 

 take two cabbage plants under similar circumstan- 

 ces ; water one and stir the other just as often, 

 stirring the earth about it carefully and thorough- 

 ly, and see which will distance the other in 

 growth. 



Who is the writer? We should be glad to 



"swap" a little with him, at any rate, so much as 



to visit his 10-acre farm, and receive a visit from 



him in return — wives included, of course ! 



Eleventh Annual Report of the Secretary of the Massachu 

 Board of Agriculture, together with Reports of Committees 

 appointed to visit the County Societies, with an Appendix 

 containing an abstract of the Finances of the County Societies, 

 for 1863. 



This volume is made up of the Transactions of 

 the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture for the 

 year 1863, directly and indirectly, and contains a 

 report of the visit of the Secretary to Europe, in 

 which are embodied a great many interesting and 

 valuable facts. The history of the pleuro-pneu- 

 monia among our cattle is continued, stating what 

 has transpired since the volume of last year was 

 published. A considerable portion of the volume 

 is occupied by the Reports of Delegates to County 

 Societies, and with extracts from the Transactions 

 of these societies. Many of these extracts con- 

 tain valuable information, show that the spirit of 

 progress is abroad, and that a more enlightened 

 practice in the cultivation of the soil is steadily 

 making its way among our people. 



The volume contains a mass of varied and val- 

 uable information on almost any subject pertain- 

 ing to the farm. It will be eagerly sought for, 

 and cannot fail to have a happy influence upon 

 that class for whom it was especially intended. 



ACTION OF LIME ON SOILS. 



Prof. Harper, in a series of articles in the 

 Practical Farmer on Fertilization and Fertilizers, 

 says hydrate, that is, slaked lime, as well as caus- 

 tic lime, or quick lime, have no agency with re- 

 spect to vegetation immediately, but a double one 

 concerning the soil. Both are a most powerful 

 alterative chemically and mechanically. 



As a chemical alterative they act as an alkali, 

 and neutralize the acidity of any soil, by attract- 

 ing the acid and combining with it to form a neu- 

 tral salt, and free the soil of its acid effect. In 



their alkaline and caustic state they destroy both 

 any excess of vegetable remains in the soil and 

 benefit the growing vegetation in that way very 

 much., Decayed vegetable matter is generally 

 beneficial for plants, it contains carbonic acid and 

 all the elements of fertility in an assimilable state. 

 It is especially beneficial for such plants as re- 

 quire a large quantity of carbonic acid, but too 

 much vegetable matter, and especially decaying 

 or putrescent vegetable matter, is injurious for 

 any plant, even for those that require large quan- 

 tities of carbonic acid. The decaying or putres- 

 cent matter rots the small roots of the plants and 

 destroys them, and lime is therefore in this case 

 extremely beneficial — it remedies the evil at once. 

 Lime must not be applied to poor lands, espe- 

 cially without having been preceded by manuring 

 or without manuring afterwards. Lands of great 

 fertility may be limed any time, and will after 

 lime probably yield a heavier crop than by ma- 

 nuring. Lime should never be applied in wet 

 weather, especially not on a growing crop. Mois- 

 ture renders its caustic qualities immediately ac- 

 tive, and it loses its great combining power quick- 

 ly ; on the other hand if caustic lime is applied 

 in wet weather to a growing crop it will destroy 

 its roots and injure it considerably. The fall is 

 the most suitable season for liming. 



NEW DUTIES ON WOOL. 



It is quite evident that the action of the Wool 

 Growers' Convention at Columbus last January, 

 together with other movements to the same end-, 

 in various portions of the New England and 

 Western States, have at length so attracted the 

 attention of Congress as soon to bring about some 

 change in this highly important subject. 



There is now a demand for wool such as has 

 never existed in this country before, and this de- 

 mand will be likely to continue to its full extent 

 for several years to come, even if the war closes 

 and cotton comes freely to our manufacturers. 

 Sudden and extensive changes can only rarely 

 take place in an interest so vast as that which the 

 manufacture of cotton and woollen goods has 

 now reached in this country. 



This great branch of industry directly affects 

 the interests of the farmer all over our land, north, 

 west and south, and these interests demand the 

 most careful consideration of those whos"e duty it 

 is to legislate for the best good of all. 



Under existing circumstances, it would be idle 

 for the farmers of the north and west to enter large- 

 ly into sheep husbandry, without a protection more 

 adequate than any which at present exists. It 

 would be a competition, with advantages so de- 

 cidedly on one side, that loss or ruin would cer- 

 tainly ensue to those who engaged in it. It would 

 be a competition with long and severe winters, a 

 hard and rocky soil, and high wages and taxes on 

 one side, with low wages, mere nominal taxes, and 

 a mild climate, and never-ending pasturage, on 

 the other, spontaneously producing through the 

 entire year all the herbage that millions of sheep 



