74 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



if repeated at the expiration of each rotation of 

 four years, until one hundred bushels had been 

 applied per acre, would be better than applying 

 that quantity at a single spreading; first, be- 

 cause the lesser quantity would be more than 

 sufficient to meet all the demands of the crops 

 for a period of years ; and secondly, because, as 

 the outlay would be diminished three hundred 

 per cent, a much larger quantity of land could 

 be dressed with it, and the farm, therefore, at an 

 earlier period, and at much less expense, be 

 brought into a state of profitable fertility. And 

 as the heaviness of the cost forms a very serious 

 objection to many persons undertaking the liming 

 of their lands, we shall state a few of the many 

 reasons which induce us to adopt the views of 

 the subject we have heretofore felt it to be our 

 duty to advance. 



From the tests of analysis, it has been very 

 clearly ascertained, that the crops, in a four 

 years rotation, extract from the soil, on an aver- 

 age, about 242 lbs. of lime, which is 60^ lbs. 

 per year. Some crops, we are aware, require 

 more than others, but the average is set down as 

 we have before stated. If, then, it requires but 

 60-| lbs., which is less than a bushel, to supply 

 the plants grown on an acre, in a year, with the 

 proper quantity of this particular kind of food, 

 the inference is a fair one, that unless a mechani- 

 cal amendment of the texture of the soil be an 

 important object with the improver, there can 

 be no positive necessity for the use, at any one 

 time, of 100 bushels of lime upon a single acre, 

 and the deduction is equally fair, that, as less 

 than a bushel is given out in food to the plants 

 in any one year, it would be preferable to use 

 the hundred bushels on four acres, instead of 

 one. By this division of the largest quantity 

 named, the improver would be enabled by the 

 increased products, to carry on his liming, and 

 thus relieve himself from much of the onerous- 

 ness of outlay, where heavy dressings are at 

 first given. 



Practical observers, as well as scientific men, 

 have affirmed, that visible good effects of lime 

 have been witnessed thirty years after its appli- 

 cation ; and we have no doubt of the fact. For, 

 although much is lost to cultivation by the ten- 

 dency of the mineral to sink beyond the reach 

 of the roots of most growing crops, yet it must 

 be obvious that, if less than a bushel is annually 

 taken up by the plants, an application of one 

 hundred bushels to an acre would last for a pe- 

 riod greatly beyond thirty years. The question 

 then resolves itself into this: If 25 bushels will 

 answer for a series of years, equally as well as 

 an hundred, why should trie heavy expense of 

 the latter be incurred. We make this sugges- 

 tion purely as a matter of economy ; and not be- 

 cause of any fears we entertain that a hundred 

 bushels per acre, could, under any circumstances, 

 operate disadvantageous!/ to the soil, provided 



there were sufficient organic remains in it for 

 the lime to act upon, or that animal and vegeta- 

 ble manure were applied, or green crops ploughed 

 jin. Lime, as a means of restoring fertility to 

 ' an exhausted soil, is among the most efficient 

 I agents which can be used; and we hold, that 

 without it, no permanent melioration can be ef- 

 fected, and for these simple and obvious reasons — 

 all analysis prove that lime is to be found in the 

 ashes of most of the vegetable productions, and 

 therefore forming, as it does, a part of their food, 

 it is essential that it should be in the soil, in or- 

 der to secure a healthful growth of the plants 

 raised thereon. — American Farmer, 



For die Southern Planter, 

 ON MANURES, &c. 



JWr. Editor, — There has long been a diversity 

 of opinion in regard to the escape of manures 

 from the soil. While one person contends that 

 manures evaporate, another, with equal earnest- 

 ness, asserts that they sink into the earth. Both, 

 to a certain extent, may be right, still, I think 

 the greater portion is carried off by ablution. — 

 Much may be taken up by the production of 

 crops, but the greatest thief is the washing of 

 rains. Suppose one should expose, in the open 

 air, a portion of sugar or salt, and, after a few 

 months, should undertake to inquire whence it 

 had gone. All would agree that it had been 

 dissolved and carried off by the action of the 

 rains, &c. In like manner is the substance of 

 manures lost. But for this circumstance our 

 roads would be the richest lands that we pos- 

 sess ; for it is very evident that there is almost 

 a daily manuring of them. 



In proof of my position, it is only necessary 

 that I should cite attention to the fact that all 

 low places become rich from alluvion. The 

 high places are gradually becoming lower and 

 poorer, while, on the contrary, the low places 

 are becoming higher and richer. 



The different streams, in time of high water, 

 are ever tinged, not only with earthy particles, 

 but with a solution of manure from various 

 sources. The lighter particles of the soil, de- 

 rived from the decomposition of animal and ve- 

 getable matter, as well as manures of all other 

 kinds, supply the perpetual drain. 



In order to save as much as possible of the 

 substance of decaying animal and vegetable 

 substances it is necessary that the soil should 

 be kept in a light, porous, and absorbent condi- 

 tion. 



I believe that it is generally admitted, that, 

 in the percolation of fluids through sand, pul- 

 verized charcoal, &c. that they are freed from 

 all impurities. Thus, when the soil is open and 

 porous in time of rains, it catches the fertilizing 

 particles as the water passes through the earth, 



