94 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
plication of lime may, as an ingredient in the composi¬ 
tion thereof, only tend to increase the evil by making it 
more loose and friable. Brown says, “ It is sufficiently 
understood, that land which has been long in grass con¬ 
tains much vegetable matter, and that the trouble and 
expense of liming it would be amply repaid to the cul¬ 
tivator ; but the propriety of applying lime on old ara¬ 
ble lands, has been questioned, and with much justice, 
by the most part of practical agriculturists, and their 
doubts on that head are confirmed by the fullest expe¬ 
rience. 
u Were lime a manure, it would be a noble substance, 
for enriching and restoring fertility to lands worn out 
by a succession of corn crops; but as worn out land is 
not restored to fertility by the application of lime, we 
are warranted to consider it in a different light; or, in 
other words, as an article 10 bring certain principles in¬ 
to action, previously possessed by the soil. This con¬ 
clusion is sanctioned by experience; and experience is 
a far better guide than the most plausible theory. 
“ When lime duly operates, the whole powers of the 
soil are put in a state of requisition, and may be forced 
to act till the very soul of vegetation is extracted. It is 
scarcely practicable to restore fertility to land, even to 
the best natural quality, which has been thus abused; 
at least, a considerable period must elapse before it 
can be restored to its original fertility; but thin moor¬ 
ish soils after being exhausted by lime, are not to be re¬ 
stored. To lime them a second time, is not only a use¬ 
less expenditure of labor and money, but also productive 
of serious mischief. Soils of this description, after a 
second liming, are apt to singe and burn the grain that 
is sown upon them; and, even when dunged, not to 
make such a return as would have been rendered under 
different circumstances. 
“ Lime has been long applied by British husbandmen, 
as a stimulus to the soil; and in consequence of such an 
application, luxuriant crops have been produced even 
upon soils of apparently inferior quality, and which 
would have yielded crops of trifling value had this auxi¬ 
liary been withheld. In fact, the majority of soils can¬ 
not be cultivated with advantage till they are dressed 
with lime ; and whether considered as an alterative, or 
as a stimulant, or as a manure, it will be found to be 
the basis of good husbandry, and of more use than all 
the other manures put together. Wherever lime has 
been properly applied, it has constantly been found to 
prove as much superior to dung, as dung is to the rak- 
ings of the roads, or the produce of a peat mine. 
“From a pretty long experience, and considerable at¬ 
tention to the operation of lime, we are inclined to 
think that it acts both as an alterative and as a stimu¬ 
lant; operating in the one case as a medicine that chan¬ 
ges the nature of the soil, and in the other as arousing 
or bringing into action the vegetable powers contained 
in the soil, which without such an application would 
have remained dormant and inactive. These opinions, 
we know are different from those maintained by several 
ingenious men, but they are supported by the result of 
numerous trials, undertaken to ascertain how and in 
what measure lime operated upon the soil. ” 
It is evident that lime, when applied to land in how¬ 
ever small quantities, will tend to change its texture; 
and when there is vegetable matter in the soil, it may 
produce a greater decomposing disposition in it than 
before. In this case, it will act as a stimulant, hasten¬ 
ing the decay of vegetable matter, and thereby furnish¬ 
ing the elements of vegetable life. Lime also acts pow¬ 
erfully on an irony matter in the soil, and on the gravel 
sands, and clay soils of the diluvial formation; and on 
the soil of the plastic clay, the new and old red sand¬ 
stone, and the basaltic formation, the effect produced by 
the application of lime is very great. This may be ow¬ 
ing, as we have said before, to neutralizing the perni¬ 
cious effects of the sulphate of iron, and converting it 
into a useful soil; and every fresh application of lime 
may therefore convert an additional portion of sulphate 
or oxide of iron into an additional portion of good and 
useful soil. When there is a deficiency of carbonace¬ 
ous matter in the soil, a fresh portion of lime must in¬ 
crease the productive powers of the soil. 
The effects which lime, as an alterative, has on the 
soil, must depend in a great measure on the composi¬ 
tion of that article, and also on the composition of the 
soil to which it is to be applied ; for the composition of 
the various limestone formations, and also the chalk and 
marls, vary greatly. The nature of the ingredients be¬ 
ing different, 'the lime from the silicious limestone con¬ 
tains a considerable portion of silicious particles, and 
may answer best on stong clay soils, as it will furnish 
both silicious and calcareous matter to the clay soil, 
and the lime burnt from the lias limestone, which con¬ 
tains a considerable portion of clay, will produce the 
best effect on light sandy soils. But there are some soils 
on which lime when applied, has never produced any 
beneficial effect. This is the case with the soil on, the 
oolitic formations, and other calcareous soils. This is 
evidently owing to the superabundance of lime already 
in the soil, so that an addition of calcareous matter on¬ 
ly increases the evil; but where there is no calcareous 
matter in the soil, and also a great quantity of iron, as 
is the case in the soil of the new red sandstone forma¬ 
tion, the lime has an increased effect on every fresh ap¬ 
plication. This is so well known in the neighborhood 
of Taunton in Somersetshire, and over all the soil of the 
new red sandstone, that the farmers lime their land eve¬ 
ry time it comes in course of fallow for turnips, and this 
produces excellent crops even without dung. 
It is most astonishing that writers on agriculture have 
retailed an opinion, that quick lime, when mixed in a 
mass of earth containing the live roots and seeds of 
weeds, will destroy them. Any attempt of this kind 
will meet with a complete failure; for the roots and the 
seeds of weeds cannot be destroyed by the fermentation 
or any heat that can be produced in such a compost.— 
The same writers have also stated that lime hastens the 
decay of vegetable matter; whereas the fact is, that it 
retards the process of the decomposition of vegetable 
matter. If straw of long dung be mixed with slaked 
lime, it will be preserved, while if mixed with an equal 
portion of earth, the earth will hasten its decay. 
It has been shown that although vegetables are com¬ 
posed of mucilage, starch, sugar, albumen, gluten and 
various other substances, yet all of them are reducible 
into carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen; and that water and 
air are composed of these substances;—that vegetable 
and animal manures are decomposed into the same ele¬ 
ments, as those of water and air;—that any of the sim¬ 
ple minerals which compose the surface of the earth, 
when unmixed with any other mineral, are unfit for the 
growth of vegetables; but that when these simple ma¬ 
terials are intimately mixed together, that this compound 
when exposed to the influence of the sun and atmos¬ 
phere, produces an abundant crop;—that there is no pro¬ 
cess going on at the surface of the earth amongst the 
materials which compose the cultivated soil which chan¬ 
ges any of the mineral component parts of it into a new 
substance; that none of the materials composing the 
soil, enter into the composition of the plants;—and that 
the application of manure does not always cause pro¬ 
ductiveness in soils .—Morton on Soils. 
Agriculture. 
The following statement of the comparative modes of 
farming in England and America, is extracted from that 
amusing publication, The Clockmaker :—“ The bane of 
this country, Squire, and, indeed, of all America, is hav¬ 
in’ too much land; they run over more ground than they 
can cultivate, and crop the land so severely that they run 
it out. A very large portion of land in America has 
been run out by repeated grain crops; and when you 
add that to land naturally too poor to bear grain, or too 
broken for cultivation, you will find this great country 
in a fair way to be ruined. The state of Vermont has 
nothin’ like the exports it used to have; and a plaguy 
sight of the young folks came down to Boston to hire 
out as helps. The two Carolinas and Virginia are co¬ 
vered with places that have been given up as ruined, and 
many other states. We hav’n’t the surplus of wheat and 
grain we used to have in the U-nited States, and it never 
will be so plenty again. That’s the reason you hear of 
folk’s clearin’ land, makin’ a farm, and sellin’ off again, 
and goin’ further into the bush. They’ve exhausted it, 
and find it easier to clear new lands than to restore the 
old. A great deal of Nova Scotia is run out: and if it 
war’n’t for the lime, marsh-mud, sea-weed, salt sand and 
what not, they’ve got here in such quantities, there’d be 
no cure for it—It takes good farmin’ to keep an upland 
location in order, I tell you, and make it sustain itself. 
It takes more to fetch a larm too that’s had the gizzard 
taken out of it than it’s worth. It actilly frightens me 
when I think your agriculture in Britain is progressin’ 
and the land better tilled every day, while thousands up¬ 
on thousands of acres with us are turned into barrens. 
No traveller as I’ve seed have noticed this, and our folks 
are not aware of it themselves to the extent of the evil. 
Squire, you and I wont live to see it; but, if this awful 
robbin’ of prosperity goes on for another century as it 
has progressed for the last hundred years, we’ll be a na¬ 
tion of paupers. Very little land in America, even of 
the best, will carry more than one crop of wheat arterits 
cleared a’fore it wants manure; and where its cleared’ 
so .fast, where’s the manure to come from, it puzzles me? 
(and I won’t turn my back on any man in the farmin’ 
line;) the Lord knows, for I don’t; but if there’s a thing 
that scares me it is this. * * * Yes, too much land 
is the ruin of us all at this side of the water. Afore I 
went to England I used to think that the onequal divi¬ 
sions of property there, and the system of landlord and 
tenant, was a curse to the country; and that there was 
more dignity and freedom to the individual andmore be¬ 
nefit to the nation, for every man to own the land he cul¬ 
tivated, as with us. But I’e changed my mind; I see it’s 
the cause of the high state of cultivation in England, 
and the prosperity of its agriculture. If the great men 
had the lands in their own hands there, every now and 
then an improvident one would skin the soil and run it 
out; bein’ let to others, he can’t do it himself, and he 
takes plaguy good care by his lease his tenant shan’t do 
it neither. Well, then, there he his, with his capital to 
make great improvements, substantial repairs, and so 
on, and things are pushed up to perfection.” 
Young Men’s Department. 
Self-Culture. 
BY W. E. CHANNING, D.D. 
( Continued..) 
I proceed to another important means of self-culture, 
and this is the control of the animal appetites. To raise 
the moral and intellectual nature, we must put down the 
animal. Sensuality is the abyss in which very many 
souls are plunged and lost. Among the most prosperous 
classes, what a vast amount of intellectual life is drown¬ 
ed in luxurious excesses. It is one great curse of wealth, 
that it is used to pamper the senses; and among the 
poorer classes, though luxury is wanting, yet a gross 
feeding often prevails, under which the spirit is whelm¬ 
ed. It is a sad sight to walk through our streets, and 
to see how many countenances bear marks of a lethar¬ 
gy and a brutal coarseness, induced by unrestrained in¬ 
dulgence. Whoever would cultivate the soul, must re¬ 
strain the appetite. I am not an advocate for the doc¬ 
trine, that animal food was not meant for man ; but that 
this is used among us to excess, that as a people we 
should gain much in cheerfulness, activity, and buoyan¬ 
cy of mind, by less gross and stimulating food, I am 
strongly inclined to believe. Above all, let me urge on 
those, who would bring out and elevate their higher na¬ 
ture, to abstain from the use of spirituous liquors. This 
bad habit is distinguished from all others by the rava¬ 
ges it makes on the reason, the intellect; and this effect 
is produced to a mournful extent, even when drunken¬ 
ness is escaped. Not a few men, called temperate, and 
who have thought themselves such, have learned, on ab¬ 
staining from the use of ardent spirits, that for years 
their minds had been clouded, impaired by moderate 
drinking, without their suspecting the injury. Multi¬ 
tudes in this city are bereft of half their intellectual en¬ 
ergy! by a degree of indulgence which passes for inno¬ 
cent. Of all the foes of the working class, this is the 
deadliest. Nothing has done more to keep down this 
class, to destroy their self-respect, to rob them of their 
just influence in the community, to render profitless the 
means of improvement within their reach, than the use 
of ardent spirits as a drink. They are called on to 
withstand this practice, as they regard their honor, and 
would take their just place in society. They are under 
solemn obligations to give their sanction to every effort 
for its suppression. They ought to regard as their 
worst enemies, (though unintentionally such,) as the 
enemies of their rights, dignity, and influence, the men 
who desire to flood city and country with distilled poi¬ 
son. I lately visited a flourishing village, and on ex¬ 
pressing to one of the respected inhabitants thepleasure 
I felt in witnessing so many signs of progress, he re¬ 
plied, that one of the causes of the prosperity I witness¬ 
ed, was the disuse of ardent spirits by the people. And 
this reformation we may be assured wrought something 
higher than outward prosperity. In almost every fa¬ 
mily so improved, we cannot doubt that the capacities 
of the parent for intellectual and moral improvement 
were enlarged, and the means of education made more 
effectual to the child. I call on working men to take 
hold of the cause of temperance as peculiarly their cause. 
These remarks are the more needed, in consequence of 
the efforts made far and wide, to annul at the present 
moment a recent law for the suppression of the sale of 
ardent spirits in such quantities as favor intemperance. 
I know, that there are intelligent and good men, who 
believe, that, in enacting this law, government transcend¬ 
ed its limits, left its true path, and established a prece¬ 
dent for legislative interference with all our pursuits 
and pleasures. No one here looks more jealously on 
government than myself. But I maintain, that this is 
a case which stands by itself, which can be confounded 
with no other, and on which government from its very 
nature and end is peculiarly bound to act. Let it never 
be forgotten, that thegreat end of government, its high¬ 
est functions, is, not to make roads, grant charters, ori¬ 
ginate improvements, but to prevent or repress crimes 
against individual rights and social order. For this end 
it ordains a penal code, erects prisons, and inflicts fear¬ 
ful punishments. No w if it be true, that a vastpropor ; 
tion of the crimes, which government is instituted to 
prevent and repress, have their origin in the use of ar¬ 
dent spirits; if our poor-houses, work-houses, jails and 
penitentiaries are tenanted in a great degree by those, 
whose first and chief impulse to crime came from the 
distillery and dram-shop ; if murder and theft, the most 
fearful outrages on property and life, are most frequent¬ 
ly the issues and consummation of intemperance, is not 
government bound to restrain by legislation the vending 
of the stimulus to these terrible social wrongs? Is go¬ 
vernment never to act as a parent, never to remove the 
causes or occasions of wrong doing ? Has it but one 
instrument for repressing crime, namely, public, infa¬ 
mous punishment, an evil only inferior to crime? Is 
government a usurper, does it wander beyond its sphere, 
by imposing restraints on an article, which doesno ima¬ 
ginable good, which can plead no benefit conferred on 
body or mind, which unfits the citizen for the discharge 
of his duty to his country, and which, above all, stirs 
up men to the perpetration of most of the crimes, from 
which it is the highest and most solemn office of govern¬ 
ment to protect society? 
I come now to another important measure of self-cul¬ 
ture, and this is, intercourse with superior minds. I 
have insisted on our own activity as essential to our pro¬ 
gress ; but we were not made to live or advance alone. 
Society is as needful to us as air or food. A child doom¬ 
ed to utter loneliness, growing up without sight or sound 
of human beings, would not put forth equal power with 
many brutes; and a man, never brought into contact 
with minds superior to his own, .will probably run one 
and the same dull round of thought and action to the 
end of life. 
It is chiefly through books that we enjoy intercourse 
with superior minds, and these invaluable means of com 
munication are in the reach of all. In the best books, 
great men talk to us, give us their most precious 
thoughts, and pour their souls into ours. God be thank¬ 
ed for books. They are the voices of the distant and 
the dead, and make us heirs of the spiritual life of past 
ages. Books are the true levellers. They give to all, 
who will faithfully use them, the society, the spiritual 
presence of the best and greatest of our race. No mat¬ 
ter how poor I am. No matter though the prosperous 
