1367.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
285 
Liming Land. 
This practice, which, is so common in British 
agriculture, is but little known in our country 
outside of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In a 
recent visit to the grain growing districts of 
these States, we found lime as highly esteemed 
as manure, and a regular part of their rotation, 
as we have noticed elsewhere. Where lime 
can be bad at ten cents a bushel and under, as 
it can in all the limestone regions of Pennsyl- 
vania, the practice is almost universal. It is 
used a good deal on farms, far distant from the 
lhne-kilns, where it costs at the depot or canal 
twenty cents a bushel and upwards. The con- 
viction of its utility in these States may be said 
to be universal, and if it is not used, it is either 
owing to the high price of the article, or to the 
fact that agriculture receives little attention. 
It is applied by some to the sod immediately 
after mowing, and this sod is turned under 
either in the fall or in the spring for corn. It 
is claimed that the lime stimulates the growth 
of grass, and affects favorably every crop in the 
rotation. It would be impossible, without lim- 
ing, to keep up the grain farms to their present; 
degree of productiveness. It is also claimed 
for the summer application and the spring plow- 
ing, that it distributes the lime more equally, 
and keeps it near the surface. The lime which 
has been carried down by the fall and winter 
rains, is brought to the surface again when the 
sod is inverted. By this method also, the lime 
has more time to act upon the inert material in 
the soil, and to prepare plant food for the sub- 
sequent crop. Other farmers are quite as cer- 
tain that the best time to apply lime is upon the 
inverted sod in the spring, while the ground is 
preparing for corn. They want to keep the 
lime as near the surface as possible, and have 
no fears of ils late action upon the crop. The 
quantity applied to the acre is from thirty to a 
hundred bushels, depending somewhat upon the 
character of the soil, the price of the lime, and 
the theoretical views of the planter. The better 
the soil, that is, the more clay and vegetable mat- 
ter it contains, the more lime it will bear. Some 
think a hundred bushels quite too much, and 
that so much has a tendency to turn the stalks 
yellow, and to diminish the yield. Smaller 
quantities, say from 30 to 50 bushels, are more 
commonly applied. The lime is usually brought 
from the lime-kiln or depot in its caustic state, 
and is dropped upon the land in heaps where 
it is to be used. It is there slaked by the ap- 
plication of water, and is about doubled in quan- 
tity by this process. It is then spread as evenly 
as possible over the land. This makes a cheap 
dressing for the laud even at twenty cents a 
bushel. The effect is very clearly marked where- 
ever it is used. It keeps up the fertility of the 
soil, and makes remunerative crops even with- 
out manure. Of course, with manure the crops 
are larger and pay better. The question very 
naturally arises, if liming land will pay in other 
districts where it is not now used ? Without 
answering this question at once in the affirma- 
tive, we think the results in these States are such 
as to encourage every farmer who can get lime 
at a reasonable price to make the experiment. 
"We have abundance of lime rock in regions 
where it is not burned at all. The conviction 
is quite common that it will not pay to use lime 
upon limestone soils, but in Pennsylvania the 
effects of the application are quite as marked 
upon these soils as upon any other. Then it is 
supposed that it is a difficult and expensive pro- 
cess to burn lime. Very much of this article is 
made upon the farms where -it is used without 
even a kiln for burning, as we shall show in an 
illustrated article next month. The lime can be 
made by the most unskilled labor, and with the 
roughest and cheapest kinds of fuel. Wherever 
there is lime rock and cheap fuel, we have no 
doubt the lime can be furnished at less than 
twenty cents a bushel. In the vicinity of cities 
and large towns, oyster shells accumulate in 
quantities, and can be put to better use than road 
making and grading. They are easily reduced 
with brush or peat, and afford cheap lime and 
generally of better quality than the rock yields. 
We desire to have the experiment made in other 
States on a scale large enough to settle the 
question. We believe many of our farmers will 
doubtless find it to their interest to use lime. 
When to Turn in Clover. 
In the regions where green crops are turned 
under for manure, there is a diversity of practice. 
Some plow when the crop is in its most suc- 
culent state. The rule for clover is when the 
heads are about half turned brown. The reason 
offered for this practice is, that the bulk of the 
crop is then the greatest, and it undergoes most 
rapid decomposition in the soil. Others do not 
plow in clover until late in fall, and after it has 
been well pastured. The reasons they give for 
this practice are : 1st, that turning in the clover 
green, makes the soil sour, and has a tendency 
to bring in sorrel. 3. It has a bad influence 
upon subsequent crops. 3. In waiting until 
fall, you have the advantage of pasturing, and 
if the cattle are kept upon the pasture, as they 
should be, everything the field produces is re- 
turned to it 4. More carbonaceous matter is 
returned to the soil. What you lose in tops, 
you gain in the roots of the clover, which have 
four or five months longer to grow. 5. Better 
crops follow. Some of the best farmers in Penn- 
sylvania follow this method altogether. Others 
still Wait until the following spring, and turn in 
the clover just as it begins to grow. 
Buckwheat as a Green Crop- 
Where this grain is sowed the 1st of August, 
it will be in condition to plow in for a rye crop 
the last of September. We have seen rye taken 
from a field four years in succession, with 
no other manure than buckwheat turned in at 
the time of sowing the rye. There was a con- 
stant increase in the yield of the grain, showing 
the benefit of the green crop. If the land is 
not strong enough to give a good growth of 
buckwheat, some manure will be necessary. A 
continued succession of grain crops does not 
show good husbandry, but it may answer for 
remote fields, where stable manure can not be 
applied economically. The green crops and 
the grain should come in a regular rotation, and 
if the soil is thin, several green crops may be 
turned in, in succession, with profit. 
.»-. »»■ — •-. 
Plan for a Fixed or Movable Fence. 
We need not apologize for again introducing 
the subject of fences, for it is one which concerns 
every farmer, and the cost of keeping up good 
fences is (or would be) a drain upon many farms, 
which cancels nearly all the profits. Mr. W. T. 
Millar, of Jefferson Co., Wis., advocates the^se 
of iron posts 2'| 3 feet long, made of inch rod, in- 
serted in large stones. (Fig. 1.) A hole 3 inches 
deep is drilled in the stone, the bar inserted, and 
the remaining space filled up with melted sul- 
phur or lead. The stones 
used are of such a size 
that by the aid of the 
posts, which would af- 
ford a powerful lever- 
age, several might be 
i easily loaded upon a 
^ stone-boat, and distrib- 
= uted along the line of 
the fence. Mr. Millar 
attaches the panels to 
the posts by putting one on each side, and 
bolting or pinning them together. (Pig. 2.) 
The panels of a movable fence might be securely 
hooked together by a common iron hook and 
staple, and those of a permanent fence might be 
fastened best by withes of galvanized iron wire. 
The posts need not be more than2 ! | 2 to 3 feet 
long to support the panels of a 4 or 4 1 | 2 -foot 
fence. The advantages claimed are that the 
posts will last long, that they will stand on the 
top of the ground, that they may be easily moved 
and reset, or straightened up, and that they may 
be made in winter. Two furrows or more. 
Fig. 3. — IEON POST FENCE. 
turned together along the line, would be a good 
substitute for the bottom rail. The strips of 
which the fence is made should be narrow, to 
present little surface to the wind. 
The plan of using iron posts is not novel, for 
posts of several forms have long been used, driv- 
en into the ground and braced. The ends in 
the ground rust rapidly; the part above also rusts, 
unless painted with coal tar. When stones can 
not be obtained, it is very easy to improvise 
them with gravel and hydraulic cement. Simply 
dig a pit, say two feet long, a foot deep, and a 
foot wide. Fill this with the concrete, and insert 
the post in the 
middle, as in fig. 
3. This would, we 
think, be cheaper 
and better than 
drilling holes in 
very hard stones. 
Wooden posts 
may be set in the 
same way — that 
is, by digging holes, setting in the posts, and fill- 
iug up with concrete. Use a peck of lime and a 
quart of cement to S'jj to 3 bushels of gravel, 
mixed coarse and tine, some of the stones being 
as large as one's fist. Thus set, gate or fence 
posts will last a life time. 
■»-. — ■«» — .-. 
Work ttte Muck Mikes. — The spring has 
been so wet that it would not be strange if we 
had a dry summer or autumn, making ponds 
and swamps accessible. Drawiug out muck to 
some spot easily reached, always pays the farmer 
well. He should keep on hand a large bank of 
muck, and the larger and older the better. The 
sunshine, rains, and frosts, are always improving 
it. as the rank growth of weeds on such heaps 
abundantly proves. It is always available then 
for the yards, stables, or privies, or wherever 
deodorizers are wanted. Composts can be made ' 
on short notice, and top-dressings admiuislepetl 
iust at the right time for grass field or gariMn. ° 
Fig. 3. 
