THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
93 
tureof woman, she is not alone in her admira- 
tion ot' flowers. 
Man, in the rudeness of his nature, may in- 
deed deny the solt impeachment; and, “as out- 
ward lile requires them not, ask wherefore 
were they made?’ Yet, disguise it as he may, 
with the gentle Mary Howitt, his heart re- 
sponds — 
“To minister delight to man, 
To beautify the earth.” 
It is useless to dent^ it, those fragile and fra- 
grant gifts, so delicate in texture and beautiful 
in form, so exquisite in bloom and enchanting 
in sweetness, are too intimately associated with 
the purity and loveliness of woman, not to at- 
tract our regard, and command our admiration. 
In all ages, and in all countries, where man 
has advanced beyond the savage state the beau- 
tiful gifts of Flora will be admired, preserved 
and cherished; and oft-times, with a yet holier 
and deeper feeling, will be reverenced as the 
-smiles which Deity sheds on earth. Permit 
me, my fair auditors, to thank you, in behalf of 
the Society, for your attendance, and the inter- 
est you manifest in our success. Cheered and 
encouraged by your approbation and presence, 
our Fair becomes truly the Planters’ Jubilee — a 
pleasant reunion of friends. On a former occa- 
sion, the conviction was expres.sed, that to your 
countenance and encouragement the prosperity 
of the Society was in a great degree to be attri- 
buted, and I now earnestly invoke a continu- 
ance ot that interest, that active participation on 
your part in our operations, which cannot fail to 
add to 'the respectability and influence ol the 
Society, and to insure its perpetuity.. 
Within the sphere of your household duties, 
many objects may be found, highly suited to ex- 
hibition and encouragement. The golden pro- 
duce of the dairy — the fruits of horticultural 
skill — the useful web, and the finer tissues of 
the loom — the various articles fashioned by the 
needle, whether adapted to useful and economi- 
cal purposes, or the more curiously wrought 
and tastefull}'' executed objects ot female inge- 
nuity, need only be seen, to be approved, admir- 
ed and emulated. 
Coming from your hands, of as the result of 
your superintending and directing care, these 
will ever form the chief attractions at our Fairs, 
and whilst they claim our approval and admira- 
tion, we shall be stimulated in our appropriate 
departments to emulate your industry and en- 
deavor to attain your skill. * * ~ * 
Southern Sportsman. 
RECIPES. 
To MAKE GOOD Hop Yeast. — To two quarts 
laf water add a single handful of hops and three 
good sized potatoes, pared and .sliced. Boil all 
together till the potatoes are done; strain the li- 
quor on about one quart of flour; mash your 
potatoes and stir them in. When sufficiently 
cool, add not less than half a pint of yeast; let 
it rise and then set it away in a cool place, but 
do not let it freeze. 
Graham Bread. — Take unbolted flour and 
pour on your wetting scalding hot; let it cool 
till about lukewarm, then add yeast enough to 
raise it. Knead and bake it as other bread. 
CoMMo.v Tea Cakes.— T ake 3 cups of but- 
termilk, 1 teaspoonful pearlash and 1 cup short- 
ening; roll and cut to suit your taste, and. bake 
quick. 
Yankee Pie. — Make cake as above; roll it 
into cakes the size of a common baking tin; 
■when done, take off the top of the cake, and 
spread on apple sauce, sugar and butter; replace 
the top and it is ready for the table. 
Johnny Cake.— Take 2 cups of milk, 1 tea- 
spoonful of saleratus, 1 tablespoonful of butter, 
1 do. of molasses; stir it thick ivith Indian 
meal, or one fourth flour and the rest Indian 
meal. Bake one hour. 
Cough in Horses. — The boughs of cedar 
have been used -with complete success. They 
should be cut fine and mixed with the grain. 
LIME AS A MANURE. 
I was a few days ago engaged in reading an 
agricultural periodical of some celebrity, and 
was rather surpri.sed at the great variety of opin- 
ions made public through its pages, on the sub- 
ject of lime as a manure. I have for some 
years believed that its action is as I shall here- 
after describe it; and whilst I offer no objection 
to the views of others, and do not propose to en- 
ter into any controversy in favor of my own, 1 
indulge a hope that when I add another to the 
numerous opinions on the subject, it will not be 
found to be the least worthy of belief, or most 
at variance with practical results. 
It is understood to be one of the laws of na- 
ture, that when the principle of life has ceased 
to exist in organized matter, animal or vegeta- 
ble, chemical action, till then suspended by the 
pow'er of life, resumes its sway, the various 
parts of the organized lifeless body, are acted 
upon by light, heat, air and moisture; decompo- 
sition takes place, and a large part of the sub- 
stance in various combinations, passes into the 
air in the gaseous form — of the carbon so pass- 
ing off, either as carbonic acid gas, or carburet- 
ted hydrogen, the atmosphere becomes the re- 
ceptacle weere it remains in a state of mixture, 
the carbon in the state of carbonic acid gas, 
which, although specifically heavier than at- 
mospheric air, and in a state of mixture only, 
and not of chemical combination, is found gen- 
erally diffused in all situations, and varying less 
from a constant quantity than might be ex- 
pected. 
When we remember that of animal and ve- 
getable bodies, the largest constituent part is 
carbon, and that therefore new bodies depend 
upon eatiionaceous matter for their growth and 
composition, it will be obvious that if the car- 
bon in the atmosphere can be rendered available 
for the sustenance of living vegetables, by any 
process that we can make use of for that pur- 
pose, that then the most important operation in 
farming will have been performed, 
I here premise, that the farmer does not make 
the crop to grow; he destroys the weeds, opens 
the ground to the proper depth, sows good seed 
in proper quantity and at the right season, co- 
vers it sufficiently — mixes with the soil? such 
substances as are necessary for the growth of 
the plant, and in such place that the living plant 
can render them available to its growth; the laws 
originally impressed upon matter, and the bles- 
sing of Heaven produce the result. 
Lime and magnesia were formerly consider- 
ed as alkaline earths, and as such I shall here 
treat them; both of them have so much affinity 
for acids, that in nature I believe they are al- 
ways found combined with them; my recollec- 
tion is, that of the principal acids, both lime and 
magne.sia have the least affinity for carbonic, 
and the gi'eatest for sulphuric acid; yet as the 
stronger acids are not found in the atmosphere, 
whilst the carbonic acid is always there piesent 
— both lime and magnesia, when freshly cal- 
cined and in the states known as quick lime and 
pure magnesia, and exposed to the air, absorb 
carbonic acid gas from the atmosphere and be- 
come carbonates, 
Thus far there appears to be an approach to 
general agreement, viz: 1. That vegetable and 
animal matter are formed in part of carbon: 2. 
That in the decomposition of vegetable matters, 
the carbon in part escapes into the atmosphere, 
combined with oxygen, forming carbonic acid 
gas; 3. That lime and magnesia, when in a 
caustic state, as produced by calcination, and 
exposed to the air, absorb the carbonic acid gas. 
Therefore, when lime or magnesia in the caus- 
tic state is reduced to an impalpable po’w'der, and 
thinly spread upon the surface of the earth, it 
will rapidly become a carbonate; and thus we 
shall have a carbonaceous compound upon the 
surface of the earth, in such a situation as to be 
accessible to the roots of plants. I believe that 
many plants have tfie power of separating the 
carbon of the carbonates of lime and magnesia, 
thus placed within their reach, and appropria- 
ting it to their own growth and increase; but the 
progress of the growth and development ol plants 
being under the government of the occuli prin- 
ciple of life, our evidences can consist only of 
analogies — of probabilities drawn fioiii the 
known properties of chemical substances. 
Can the roots of plants absorb carbcn from 
the carbonate of lime in the earth? 
Certain plants do take up substances more 
difficult of solution, and for which I kn .w not 
that any plausible theory has been oflered: thus, 
pure flint is found in the cuticle of some plants: 
in the scouring rush, equisetuvi hyeviale, and pi- 
geon weed, Ulhosperniuvi arvense, plants of our 
district, it is abundantly perceptible. 
The following paragraph is extracted from 
the North American Review, for October, 1842, 
stating a case wherein the roots of living ].lants 
overcame an existing combination much great- 
er than the case in question. 
“It must have been in the observation of 
many persons who cultivate ornamental bulbous 
roots in glasses, that the inner surface of the 
glass lo.ses its polish and becomes rough; this 
is merely from the decomposition of the glass — 
now water alone will produce no such effect 
upon gla.ss; the living plant communicates by 
its roots through the water, (for the roots are 
generally not in contact with the glass) an in- 
fluence powerful enough to separate the potash 
of the glass from its strong co'mbination, and 
transfer it to itself. With the knowledge of such 
facts in our view, we are not left to the necessi- 
ty of rejecting a belief in the existence of any 
process in vegetable life, merely because it can- 
not be explained by the laws of inorganic che- 
mistry.” 
I make the following extracts from Liebig’s 
Agricultural Chemistry, New World edition, 
1843, page 9, on the article Humus: 
“Woody fibre in a state of decay, is the sub- 
stance called hum'us.” “The carbonic acid 
which protects the undecayed humus from fur- 
ther change, is absorbed and taken away by the 
fine fibres of the roots and by the roots themselves, 
this is replaced by atmospheric air, by which 
process decay is renewed and a fresh portion of 
carbonic acid formed.” “The roots perform the 
functions of the leaves from the first moment of 
their formation; they extract from the soil their 
proper nutriment, namely, the carbonic acid 
generated by the humus,” 
How rvill this theory be sustained by the re- 
sults, so far as we have had experience? 
If this be the true theory, lime should be spread 
upon the surface in the state of a fine powder, 
and suffered to lay upon the surface until it be- 
came mild by the absorption of carbonic acid 
gas— for the object is to obtan the carbonic acid 
to unite with the \\me,f7-o-ni the air and not from 
the earth; for if the lime is placed in a situation 
to obtain carbonic acid from the earth or the de- 
caying humus of the soil, no advantage would 
be gained; it being very probable that living 
plants can assimilate the carbonic acid more ea- 
sily from decaying humus, than Iro n carbonate 
of lime — but if the lime absorbs the carbonic 
acid from the air, it is a quantity fixed in the 
soil in addition to what before existed there, as 
manure, decayed humus, &c. So far as we 
have experience, it is, I believe, decidedly in 
confirmation of the theory. I applied lime to 
my grounds man}^ years ago, putting it on at the 
same time with the stable manure to the wheat 
crop, and with some care to have them ploughed 
in together, without exposure to rain or dew; 
the results were so discouraging, that I discon- 
tinued the use of lime for some years — the 
wheat crop was generally injured, although 
good crops of grass succeeded, which should 
have been the result according to the theory — 
the carbonic acid gas, given out by the decom- 
posing manure, instead of being made available 
to the growth of the wheat, became absorbed by 
the lime, thus diminishing the proper support 
of the wheat, but which was afterward furnish- 
ed to the grass. Thirty orforty years ago, when 
little lime was used as a manure, it was occa- 
sionally mixed in the dung hill; but more fre- 
quently mixed with corn stalks and decaying 
