THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



Heboteir to ^srtculture, gjSttfcttlture, an* tin Wtouszholi) ^rt#. 



Agriculture is the nursing' mother of the Arts. 



[Xenophon. 



NEW SERIES. 



Vol. VI. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 ON THE USE OF LIME AS A MANURE. 



Mr. Editor^ — In the course of my travels, 

 which have been very considerable for a good 

 many years, my lot has often been cast among 

 farmers, some of them greatly my superiors in 

 knowledge on agricultural subjects as well as 

 other things. I have derived a great deal of 

 pleasure from hearing them describe the various 

 methods they pursue either in improving their 

 lands, or in just raising enough to support their 

 families. I find at present that the use of lime 

 as a manure, is engaging a large share of their 

 attention, and I am sorry to have it to say, that 

 many of them who have tried it are of opinion 

 that it is throwing away money to attempt the 

 use of it. I have conversed with farmers in 

 Hanover, Caroline, Goochland and Louisa, a 

 section of country in which it would be of great 

 importance to the farmer to find something within 

 his grasp to apply to his worn out lands by 

 which they might be brought back again to 

 yield some return for the labor bestowed. They 

 have all testified that they have seen no benefit 

 at all from the use of it. I should be glad to 

 give the names of those farmers, as it might 

 bring them out to give us a little information 

 which might be useful to others, upon this sub- 

 ject ; but perhaps it would be indelicate in me 

 to do so. During a few days, this summer, 

 spent at the White Sulphur, which you know 

 is a fine place to see farmers from different parts 

 of our State, where we have nothing else to do 

 but talk over various subjects, I thought it a fa- 

 vorable time to get information upon the use of 

 lime. I conversed with a number of farmers 

 who had used lime without the least success. — 

 One day I met with a very intelligent farmer 

 who had used lime very extensively, and with 

 great success. After my first interview with 

 this gentleman, I was anxious to get all those 

 who had failed in the use of lime, into my room, 

 just to state to us their experiments, and get him 

 to satisfy them, if he could, that the cause of 

 their failure arose from their not going to work 

 in the right way. But their reply was, "We 

 know that when we use manure it at once tells, 

 by its effects on all sorts of lands, and it is very 

 discouraging to be spending time and money for 

 what does no good ;" so that I never could get 

 them together. I must say to you, that in ad- 

 Vol. VI.-7 



Tillage and Pasturage are the two breasts of the 

 State. — Sully. 



VOLUME I. 



No. 3. 



dition to the gentleman alluded to above, I have 

 met with two or three in this county, who use 

 lime on their land, it costing them nothing but 

 the labor of burning it, who speak favorably of 

 it. But in addition to the number who have 

 derived no benefit from it, I have several times 

 passed a field on which fifty bushels to the acre 

 were spread some years ago, and I have, so far 

 as I could judge from riding along the road, 

 never been able to see any advantage that the 

 crops have derived from it. The expense of 

 liming the above land was supposed to be about 

 ten dollars per acre. Philosophers who have 

 investigated the nature and properties of lime, to 

 find out the secret spell by w 7 hich it works, differ 

 in their opinions. Some have attributed the ef- 

 fect to its power of decomposing putrescible 

 matter ; others, to its affinity for carbonic acid ; 

 and some have ascribed it to the change effected 

 on the constitution of the soil. I find, on looking 

 over the notes which I made at the White Sul- 

 phur, the following conversation between myself 

 and the gentleman above alluded to : 



" Do you consider," said I, "lime a beneficial 

 manure to most soils?" 



" I do," says he ; " lime has stood the test of 

 experience so long as to leave not the smallest 

 doubt, to those in any degree acquainted with 

 the subject ; besides, can any one, who is the 

 least acquainted with the Dutch farmers in Penn* 

 sylvania, suppose that they would spend time, 

 labor and money, on a useless article'?" 



" You will perceive," said I, " that I have 

 called lime a manure. Nov/, as far as my read- 

 ing extends, it seems to me that lime does not, 

 in itself, constitute a food for plants ; therefore, 

 cannot strictly be called a manure." 



" It is true," said he, " that lime, in its caustic 

 state, is not a proper food for plants; yet I will 

 show you how it becomes so. In the composi- 

 tion of all vegetable substances, carbon prepon- 

 derates ; it is, therefore, fair to infer that the food 

 of vegetables is, in a great degree, carbonaceous, 

 hence lime, to operate as a manure, should be 

 in the form of carbonate. Now, so great is the 

 affinity of lime for carbonic acid, that when ex- 

 posed to the atmosphere it gradually attracts a 

 sufficient quantity to form it into a carbonate of 

 lime ; and being now in a state of minute sub- 

 division, or at least, in a state which easily ad- 

 mits of it, from external causes, it is in a state 



C. T. BOTTS, Editor. 

 RICHMOND, MARCH, 1846. 



