78 NEW YORK FARMERS’ CLUB. 
ling manner. The carcase was dressed in the most 
tasty and capital style by Mr. Devoe, and the dead 
weight was 1664 pounds beef; 255 pounds rough 
tallow ; and 116 pounds of hide ; total 2035 pounds. 
Alive, this fine ox indicated all the good qualities 
that his dead carcase showed. His handling was 
superb, and his beef was beautifully mixed, fat and 
lean, and was very juicy. We can speak from 
authority, for we not only saw but ate of his beef. 
Finer we never saw, finer we never tasted. It is a 
credit to have bred, a credit to have fed, and a credit 
to have slaughtered such an ox; and a luxury it 
was to eat of his beef. 
NEW YORiTfARMERS’ CLUB. 
The last meetings of this Club have been unusu¬ 
ally well attended, and if we rightly judge, this 
institution is gaining popularity and favor in all 
parts of the country. Among the subjects for dis¬ 
cussion, since our last report, was a continuation of 
<e Manures and the means of restoring fertility to 
exhausted lands.” 
Salt Grass and Muck as Manure. —Mr. Hall of 
Perth Amboy inquired the best mode of making 
manure from the grass and mud of marshes over¬ 
flowed by the sea. Dr. Underhill replied that the 
method usually practised vras, to dig up the mud 
in the fall, and allow it to freeze during the wfinter, 
and then to employ it as a top-dressing on the land 
in the spring; but if wanted for more immediate use, 
it could be converted into a good manure in a month, 
hy mixing two loads of newly-burnt shell-lime to 
fifteen loads of the mud. 
Lime as a Fertilizer .—A somewhat animated dis¬ 
cussion took place by Drs. Field and Underhill, and 
Messrs. Judge Van Wyck, R. L. Pell, Col. Clark, 
and J. Orville Taylor, of Saratoga county, on the 
use and application of lime as a manure. 
Mr. Van W yck strongly advocated the use of 
lime, when judiciously applied ; but did not regard 
it as a fertilizer in itself, but an agent which col¬ 
lects carbon and moisture, and then imparts them 
to the roots and leaves of plants. Lime, he con¬ 
tended, is excellent to dissolve those manures which 
without it would be insoluble ; and when applied 
to soils chiefly composed of clay, it renders them 
friable and mellow. He did not consider it, how¬ 
ever, so suitable for dry, sandy soils, nor could it 
be profitably used on those exhausted by tillage. 
On the sandy plains of Long Island and New Jer¬ 
sey, if marl or putrescent manures can be used, he 
said lime may be judiciously managed; but if ap¬ 
plied merely to sand alone, it will not only become 
converted into mortar, in time, but a hard cement. 
He cited an instance where lime had been employed 
with advantage, at the rate of 400 bushels per acre. 
A difference of opinion seemed to prevail whether 
caustic or unslacked lime can be used without injury 
or loss in making composts, or in being applied 
directly to the soil in a course of tillage, (a) 
(a) Lime , according to the best authorities, is con¬ 
sidered the most valuable of the fossil manures, and 
for cold mossy soils it is indispensable. It may be 
obtained in most situations, and should be covered 
from wet, and not slacked till laid upon the land. 
It must then be regularly spread, and immediately 
harrowed in with the seed, but not too deeply, for 
lime ought to be kept near the surface. Lime is 
also extremely useful as a compost, and as a top¬ 
dressing for grass-land; but it is comparatively 
useless, if laid on wet undrained land. The quan¬ 
tity used must depend upon the nature of the soil 
for whilst 80 bushels per acre are sufficient for sandy 
soils, loams will require 100, and clay 150 bushels 
per acre. 
Quick-lime decomposes any hard vegetable sub¬ 
stance in the soil, and converts it into food for the 
cultivated plants ; and hence its value when applied 
to the mossy land. It improves a soil destitute of 
calcareous matter. It separates the particles of stiff 
soils, making them more friable, and acts upon 
light soils by making them more firm and adhesive, 
thus rendering both soils better adapted for the 
growth of plants. Soils containing pyrites (sul- 
phuret of iron) are greatly benefited by the addition 
of lime, as the pyrites are decomposed, forming 
gypsum, while the iron remains inert. 
The benefit to be derived from lime greatly 
depends, however, upon the nature and the state of 
the soil. Strong lands are much improved for two 
or three crops by this stimulant; but frequent repe¬ 
titions will not have the same good effect, unless the 
land in the interim has been placed under a clover 
or other green crop, by which vegetable matter will 
be introduced for the lime to act upon. 
The deficiency of vegetable matter in light soils, 
is one chief reason why lime does not always act 
upon them beneficially ; and it should therefore be 
used very sparingly on these soils, with an interval 
of six or seven years between each liming. Indeed, 
it is often as necessary to change the mode of ma¬ 
nuring land, as it is to change the crops to be culti¬ 
vated ; and it is from not sufficiently attending to 
this, that arable farms have become deteriorated, 
whilst the farmer fancied that he was doing great 
justice to the land by liming every third or fourth 
year. But let the introduction of a green crop be 
tried in such a case, and the farmer will afterwards 
find that his grain crops increase, and his land is in 
better heart. 
On the first application of lime to land abounding 
in vegetable matter, it should be laid on in a par¬ 
tially slacked state. Its effects when so applied will 
continue, so long as it finds vegetable matter to act 
upon ; but when lime is applied to land constantly 
in tillage, it has little or no vegetable matter to act 
upon, and therefore can have comparatively but little 
effect. On the cold peaty lands in Derbyshire, 
England, they lay on enormous dressings of lime in 
the spring, which by the end of summer completely 
decompose the coarse grasses and brings up an 
excellent herbage ; but lime in such quantity would 
destroy vegetation, if applied on thin soils, or 
worn-out fallows. 
In the application of lime to cold and newly- 
reclaimed land, which is generally surcharged with 
coarse vegetable matter, it should be a rule always 
to give abundance, and in a newly-slakced condi¬ 
tion, in order that the lime may have its full effect. 
If slacked a considerable time before it is applied, it 
does not act so powerfully in reducing the noxious 
vegetable matter, or neutralizing the acids, as when 
applied in a hot state. On very thin moorish soils, 
however, lime by itself will not always improve 
the herbage. These soils require a nourishing, as 
