THE CULTIVATOR. 
69 
us the most sure, the most useful, and the least expensive mode of ap¬ 
plying lime as manure. 
11. The reduction of burnt lime to powder by means of a momentary 
immersion in water, in handle baskets, serves much to hasten the slak¬ 
ing, whether the lime is to be applied immediately to the soil, or in com¬ 
post heaps—some hours in this manner sufficing, in place ot waiting 
two weeks; however, the effect of lime in this state, may well be dif¬ 
ferent, as we have then the hydrate of lime, and less of the carbonate 
of caustic lime.* If great rains follow, this process is not without its 
inconvenience, because then the lime, which is alread saturated with 
■water, is more easily brought to the state of mortar, which ought to 
be avoided more than every other injury to the manure. 
The reduction of burnt limestone to powder, whether it be spontane¬ 
ous or by immersion, produces in the compost, a bulk greater by one- 
half or more, than that of the stone—10 cubic feet, producing 15—or a 
ton, 10 cubic feet. This increase is not uniform with all kinds of lime ; 
it is greater with the rich (grasses,) and less with the poor varieties. 
LIMING, AS PRACTISED IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES.-IN THE DEPART¬ 
MENT OF AIN. 
12. The application of lime in Ain dates fifty years back. At the 
present time, the soil which has been limed, is still more productive 
than the neighboring, not limed. Nevertheless, liming is but begin¬ 
ning to extend, while marling, which was begun fifteen years later, has 
already covered many thousands of hectares. This is because marling 
is an operation within the means of poor cultivators, being accomplish¬ 
ed by labor alone ; while liming requires considerable advances, espe¬ 
cially in this country, where lime is dear, and the dose given is heavy. 
The dressings vary in quantity, from 60 to 100 hectolitres the hectare, 
according to the nature of the ground, and often according to the ca¬ 
price of the cultivators. Although these limings have not been made 
with all the care and economy that was desirable, they have been very 
efficacious when the soil has been sufficiently drained. The following 
tables, extracted from the registers of three contiguous domains, be¬ 
longing to M. Armand, three years before, and nine years during the 
progress of liming, give us the means of appreciating the results. The 
quantities of seed and Of crops, are calculated in double decalitres, or 
in measures or fifths of hectolitres. 
Table of the product 0/ 
the domain of La Croi- | 
sette. m 11 
Table of the product 
1 of the domain of 
Miseriat. 
Table of the product 
\ of the domain of 
I La Baronne. 
f 
RYE. 1 
, WHEAT. 
RYE. | 
| WHEAT. 
RYE. 
|| WHEAT. 
02 I 
1 
I 
1 
£ 1 
r 2 
1 I 
i 96 
- 1 
1 II 
.1 
'd I 
1 ^ 
2 
L 
2 
•n 
: 
• 
1 
1 -o 
03 
0 
1 03 1 
0 1 1 
Id I! 
O ! 
1 ^ 
0 
p 
W | 
03 
Sh 
M 
03 
in | 
& 
1 m 
Ph 
<n j 
Pn 
GO 
Ph 1 
02 
Ph 
m 
1 £ 
18221 
110 
600! 
! 24 | 
146 j 
1201 
487 
16 
100 
r 110 l 
505 
22 
1 180 
1823 
liol 
7641 
24 
136! 
120 
70S! 
16 
103 
no) 
643 
22 
138 
1824i 
110] 
7441 
1 24 j 
15611 
1201 
6441 
13 
84l 
1101 
662 
24 
I 149 
18251 
107 
406 
27 
251 j | 
112! 
504] 
28 
228 102 
398 
! 32 
I -252 
1826i 
1061 
57611 28 1 
210 
120; 
6771 
20 
115! 
110,1 
612 
II 32 
j 187 
1827 
100, 
504 
30 
249 
115, 
594 
20 
162; 
107, 
546 
34 
204 
1828! 
90 
634,1 
36 
, 3911 
118! 
7261 
40 
328 
981 
696 
; 38 
343 
18291 
82 1 
533' 
48 
309 j 1 
104 
566! 
41 
277 1 
841 
6081 
40 
j 268 
1830 
60, 
307 
60 
459i 
79l 
-2981 
416, 
71 
j 477] 
911 
389 
59 
374 
1831 
781 
350 
40 
417,, 
911 
43 
326 
1 92 l 
411 
40 i 
! 295 
1832 
55 
478] 
68 
8161 
79 
411 
75 
7861 
70 
512 
80 
649 
1S33| 
fill 
520 
52 
1 54d| 
76' 
616 
48 
| 35ll 
1 75] 
511 
i| 51 
471 
The application of 3,000 hectolitres, [8.490 bushels,] of lime, of the 
value of 6,000 francs, [$1,116,] upon 32 hectares,. [80 acres,] of ground, 
made suceesively during nine years, has then more than doubled the 
winter grain, the seed being deducted. The other crops of the farms 
have received a proportional increase; and the revenue of the proprie¬ 
tor, in doubling, has annually increased two-thirds more than the amount 
of the sum expended in the purchase of lime. Still, there is not yet 
half the arable land limed, since of 66 hectares, only 32 have received 
this improvement. 
The products of 1834 are still greater than those of 1833. But these 
are sufficient to prove the importance and utility of applying lime to 
suitable soils. 
Many other examples sustains these results; and from them all it 
appears, that the wheat seedings are increased from double to triple— 
that the rye-lands, from bringing four to five [to one in seed,] in rye, 
are able to bring six to eight in wheat—and that other products are in¬ 
creased in proportion. The melioration then is, relatively, much greater 
upon bad ground than upon good, since it is two-thirds and more on the 
wheat land, and on the rye-lands the crop is increased in value three¬ 
fold. 
* An incorrect expression, certainly, but literally translated.— Tr. 
From Chaplal’s Chemistry applied to Agriculture. 
ON THE CULTIVATION OF WOAD. 
It appears that the Isatis tinctoria may be made to flourish every¬ 
where excepting in moist lands; corn-fields and ground which is pre¬ 
pared for cultivation are adapted to its growth; a good crop may be 
procured upon alluvial soils, but strong soils are preferable, provided 
they are not too clayey. 
The ground in which the seed of the isatis is to be sown must be 
ploughed three times, not only that the ground may be thoroughly 
softened and divided, but that all the weeds which would injure the 
growth of the plant, and increase the expense of weeding, may be de¬ 
stroyed. The different ploughings should be performed at intervals of 
a month or three weeks from each other. In strong lands, and those 
which are disposed to retain too much water, deeper furrows may be 
traced at certain spaces, so as to form small drains by which the water 
that would injure the plant is drawn off. The nature of the manure 
which is employed in the culture of woad, exerts a powerful influence, 
not only upon the vegetation of the plant, but upon the quantity and 
quality of-its colouring principle. 
The manures which consist of well decomposed animal or vegetable 
substances are the best, and for this reason night soil, the dung of sheep 
and doves, the decayed fragments of wool and silk, and the chrysalises 
of the Silk worm, are preferred to any ether manures. 
Those substances that act as stimulants to vegetation, such as lime, 
plaster, marine salt, poudrette, mortar-rubbish, ashes, &c. favor the 
growth of the plant without affecting the colouring principle. 
When land has been dressed with barn-yard manure, it may be made 
to yield a crop of grain or maize, and afterwards be sown with woad. 
The season for sowing the isatis varies much in different parts of Eu¬ 
rope. In Italy, Corsica, Tuscany, &c. it is sown in the course of the 
month of November. As it does not receive injury from the cold, it 
grows during the winter, and in March is sufficiently strong to over¬ 
come the weeds which usually make their appearance at that season. 
From the circumstance of its growing through the winter, it may be ren¬ 
dered a very important article of nourishment for horned cattle. 
In the south of France, woad is sown in March, and in England in 
February. In certain other countries it is sown after the corn harvests; 
but in this case, a season favorable to vegetation is required, and the 
practice of sowing at that time can only be followed advantageously in 
those climates where rains, are certain, so that the cultivator may be 
able to gather two or three harvests of leaves before winter. His fields 
of woad will afford him pastures for his cattle during the frosts, and 
he is secure at the return of summer of an abundant harvest of leaves. 
The seed of the isatis should be soaked in water previously to sowing, 
as germination will be hastened by it. The seed is sown broadcast, in 
the same quantity as wheat, and harrowed in. The blade shows itself 
at the end of ten or twelve days. As soon as the plants have thrown 
out five or six leaves, thpy must be carefully weeded, and this must be 
repeated several times before gathering the leaves. The design of the 
weeding is to remove all strange plants that may spring up in the same 
soil, especially the roots of bastard woad, (bourdaigne,) the mixture of 
which injures the colouring matter of the pure isatis; and to thin the 
rows of stalks, that those remaining may have more room to grow. 
The isatis, like other plants, has its diseases and its enemies. The 
leaves are frequently seen covered with yellow spots, which turn brown 
and acquire the appearance of rust; this seems to be occasioned by the 
sudden changes which sometimes occur in the atmosphere; the rays of 
a hot sun darting immediately upon plants after a mist of rain, often 
produces a rustiness of the leaves and stalks. 
It often happens, that, in consequence of a great degree of heat ac¬ 
companied by drought, the plants are not fully developed; the leaves ac¬ 
quire not more than one-third of their usual size, yet exhibit all the other 
characterestics of perfect maturity; the harvest, however, is lost, for if 
the leaves be cut in that imperfect state, the plants either perish or lan¬ 
guish without yielding any product. 
The isatis is not exempt from the ravages of insects ; there is one cal¬ 
led the flea, which often destroys the first and second harvest of leaves; 
another, known by the name of the louse, attacks the last leaves, but 
does less injury than the other, because the first harvests are the most im¬ 
portant. The snail and the cabbage-worm likewise commit some de¬ 
predations upon woad. 
THOUGHTS ON THE SELECTION, BREEDING, &c. OF NEAT 
OR HORNED CATTLE. 
(Extracted from a Communication in the New- York Farmer.) 
I have said, and I repeat it, with a view of impressing what I here ad¬ 
vance, on the minds of husbandmen; that the interest of the drovers is 
amalgamated with that of the butchers, for whom the former buy, but 
differs widely from that of the farmer or feeder, as to the profits to be 
derived from cattle, when bought and sold by the weight, after being 
slaughtered, a circumstance very imperfectly understood by the farmers, 
which I shall explain. 
In buying and selling by weight, there are two modes practised, as to 
