LIME APPLIED TO VEGETABLE MATTER. 
2G5 
Mr. Patterson at SI 00 each, rather than in England 
at $300 2 
Mr. Colt, of New Jersey, has some beautiful 
Devons; the Messrs. Hurl but, of Connecticut; 
Mr. Washburn, of Otsego County, this State, has a 
fine herd imported by Mr. Rotch, and crossed in 
with Mr. Patterson’s stock; Mr. Allen, of Black 
Rock, has a choice herd, made up from Mr. Patter¬ 
son’s stock and recent importations from England. 
Messrs. Garbutt & Breck, of Genesee County, have 
been breeding superior Devon cattle for years, and 
last October advertised a public sale of 40 to SO 
head. With all their efforts, they could only sell 
14 head, at an average price of $60 each. The 
Massachusetts importation cost $300 each, as 
before remarked; and those who have seen both, 
say, they are in no respects superior to Messrs. 
Garbutt & Breck’s,when for the same money they 
could have got five for one ! 
A few years since, a young Englishman imported 
into the western part of this State, a very superior 
young bull and two heifers, pure North Devons, 
from the herd of Mr. Davy, of North Moulton, 
Devonshire, one of the best breeders of this sort of 
stock in England—his animals generally taking the 
first prizes wherever exhibited. These he found it 
difficult to dispose of at $100 each. They fell into 
hands that appreciated them, and are now highly 
valued. A majority of the cows composing the 
above herds, are good milkers, giving from 16 to 22 
quarts per day, making rather more than an 
average proportion of butter, thus showing the su¬ 
perior quality of the milk. 
Now, as to Ayrshires. Mr. John P. Cushing, 
of Watertown, near Boston, some ten years since, 
or more, imported eight or ten cows, and one or 
two bulls, which he ordered to be selected from the 
very best breeds, without regard to cost, in Scot¬ 
land. These he has bred ever since, and, with his 
accustomed munificence, has given away, as we un¬ 
derstand, several young animals every year, both 
to Agricultural Societies, and to individuals, for the 
benefit of the public. Of this liberality, the Massa¬ 
chusetts Society have, very unwisely, as we think, 
declined to avail themselves. 
Capt. George Randall, of New Bedford, some 
years ago, imported several Ayrshires of great ex¬ 
cellence, from which he has bred many young ani¬ 
mals of equal pretensions, and sold at moderate 
prices. Mr. Griswold, of Connecticut, and Mr. 
Patten, of New York, have also imported the best 
animals that money could procure; several other 
individuals in different parts of the country have 
done the same. In September, 1844, we saw 
standing in the Ayrshire quarter of the State Cattle 
Show, at Poughkeepsie, an excellent bull, imported 
into Montreal two years previously, and sent there 
for sale, with full pedigree, and approved descent, 
for which the owner could not obtain $100 ! 
Two or three recently imported cows were 
there also, which could have been bought for that 
sum each. And yet, with all these fine animals 
before the public, from several different herds of 
unquestioned excellence, the Massachusetts Society 
sends to Scotland, at an expense of $1,500, to buy 
five Ayrshires, in no way superior to what they 
could at any time obtain at home for one-third 
the money. 
Let us be understood. W e have no wish, in the 
slightest degree, to discourage the promotion of the 
highest excellence in all that appertains to our 
agricultural advancement. We advocate improve¬ 
ment in its greatest extent, and in nothing more 
than in our domestic animals. Numerous indivi¬ 
duals in our country, with a spirit and liberality 
nowhere surpassed, have invested thousands of 
dollars in the importation of foreign cattle of the 
most approved qualify, and from them have bred 
herds equal in value, and in all desirable points, to 
their originals. But how have they been reward¬ 
ed 2 In nine cases out of ten, they have suffered 
the deep mortification of finding their efforts and 
their enterprise unappreciated, by those who, ap¬ 
proving their value, are about to adapt them to 
their own uses; and of seeing them, like this in¬ 
stance of the Massachusetts Society, “ pass by on 
the other side,” telling them in effect, that this 
stock, though of acknowledged excellence, has de¬ 
teriorated in their hands, and that they have no 
confidence in American-bred cattle 2 Is this fair ? 
Is it just ? 
W e insist upon it, that there are as good and as 
careful breeders in America as in England, for all 
practical purposes. We know several cases where 
imported stock have actually become improved in 
their progeny by American breeders ; although we 
consider that those extraordinary instances of in¬ 
dividual skill in occasionally producing uncom¬ 
monly line animals, have not been developed here as 
frequently as in England, But let it be remembered, 
that such animals as astonish Englishmen or 
Scotchmen at home, do not come to America. We 
cannot afford to pay for them yet. But we have 
got the blood of these superior animals, and will 
soon be in the way of producing it equal to 
themselves. 
Let us now sustain each other—at least, until our 
domestic demand shall carry prices up to something 
like a compensating amount for the heavy capital 
already invested ill our improved stock ; or until 
the reduced cheapness on the other side the Atlan¬ 
tic shall be a sufficient reason for passing by ani¬ 
mals and herds of equal excellence on this, 
LIME APPLIED TO VEGETABLE MATTER, 
SHOULD BE NEWLY-MADE, AND COM¬ 
PLETELY SLACKED. 
Newly-made lime, according to Dundonald, from 
its power of destroying, or as it were burning 
vegetable and animal bodies, is termed caustic. 
When applied to organic bodies, containing moist¬ 
ure, it rapidly destroys their adhesion, or continuity 
of parts, and disengages from them hydrogen and 
nitrogen, forming volatile alkali. The residuum 
will be found to consist of charcoal, and of a com¬ 
bination of lime with the phosphoric and other 
acids, forming saline matters, which are nearly in¬ 
soluble. The above effects are produced by the 
application of lime to peat, or to soils containing 
much vegetable matter; part of which is dissipated 
in a gaseous state, and part combines with the 
lime, forming insoluble compounds, which cannot 
promote vegetation, until brought into action by 
other saline substances, either on the principle of 
superior affinity, or on that of the double elective 
attractions. 
