94 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
the sun is first let in upon the dead vegetable matters of the forest. 
It is owing to the expansion of water in freezing, that rocks and 
trees are often split during intense frost, and it is owing to this 
force that in our late severe winters, many of our fruit and other 
trees have been killed—the sap vessels have been burst, and the 
vitality of the tree consequently destroyed. It has been found, that 
a sphericle, or little globe of water, only one inch in diameter, ex¬ 
pands in freezing with a force superior to the resistance of 13 j tons 
weight. 
Though water takes a solid form in its various combinations, such 
as with lime, saline crystals, &c. there is no method of compressing 
it when in a fluid state. 
If water be thrown on quick line, it will be retained by it with 
such force that nothing less than red heat will separate it. In its 
combination with lime it becomes much more solid than when in the 
state of ice, which may be proved by direct experiment. Calcined 
plaster of Paris, in a pulverulent state, becomes quickly solid by 
mixing it with water. Clay, when mixed with water, retains a tenth 
of its weight of that fluid at a heat which would melt iron. 
It should be remembered, that all bodies which are soluble in 
water, form, during their solution, a chemical combination with wa¬ 
ter, and that solutions in water are different from mechanical mix¬ 
tures. 
OF LIME. 
Bishop Watson found, by experiment, that upon an average, eve¬ 
ry ton of limestone produced 11 cwt. 1 qr. 4 Jbs. of quick lime, 
weighed before it was cold; and that when exposed to the air it in¬ 
creased in weight daily at the rate of a hundred weight per ton for 
the first five or six days after it vcas drawn from the kiln. This 
fact is worth the consideration of those farmers who fetch their lime 
from great distances; and it is worth the consideration of the citi¬ 
zens of Albany, who are required to buy their lime by weight. 
When quick lime is spread upon arable land, it destroys, by its 
causticity, the organization of all animal and vegetable matters re¬ 
maining in the soil, and thus converts them into food for the future 
crop. In like manner lime would also burn up the tender shoots of 
the fresh plants, and sterilize, instead of fructifying the ground ; but 
nature has so ordered it, that, as the lime falls to powder upon the 
land, it should gradually absorb carbonic acid from the atmosphere, 
which deprives it of its causticity, and converts it into chalk.— 
Parke. 
Marl is a mixture of carbonate of lime, i. e. limestone in its na¬ 
tural state, and clay, or sand. Marls are useful in agriculture only 
in proportion to the calcarious earth they contain. 
The bones of all kinds of animals are formed of lime and phospho¬ 
ric acid, in the proportion of 48 parts of that earth, and 52 of phos¬ 
phoric acid.— Parke. 
Chalks, calcareous marls, or powdered limestones, act merely by 
forming a useful earthy ingredient of the soil, and their efficacy is 
proportioned to the deficiency of calcareous matter, which in larger 
or smaller quantities seems to be an essential ingredient of all fer¬ 
tile soils ; necessary perhaps to their proper texture, and as an in¬ 
gredient in the organs of plants.— Davy. Most of the United States 
east of the Allegany range and its spurs, is deficient in calcareous 
matters in the soil; and to this deficiency is to be ascribed, in a 
great measure, the unsuitableness of many districts for the growth 
of wheat, for which lime constitutes a specific food. 
Slaked lime is merely a combination of lime, with about one- 
third of its weight of water ; i. e. 55 parts of lime and 17 parts of 
water; and in this case it is composed of a definite proportion of 
lime to a definite proportion of water, and is called by the chemists 
hydrate of lime; and when hydrate of lime becomes carbonate of 
lime, by long exposure to air, the water is expelled, and the carbo¬ 
nic gas takes its place.— Davy. 
The solution of the question whether quicklime ought to be ap¬ 
plied to a soil, depends upon the quantity of inert vegetable matter 
which it contains. The solution of the question whether marl, mild 
lime or powdered limestone ought to be applied, depends upon the 
quantity of calcareous matter already in the soil. All soils are im¬ 
proved by mild lime, and utimately by quick lime, which do not ef¬ 
fervesce with acids; and sands more than clays.— lb. 
When a soil deficient in calcareous matter contains much soluble 
vegetable manure, the application of quick lime should always be 
avoided, as it either tends to decompose the soluble matters, by 
uniting to their carbon and oxygen, so as to become mild lime, or it 
combines with the soluble matters, and forms compounds having less 
attraction for water than the pure vegetable substance.— lb. 
Lime always destroys to a certain extent the efficacy of animal 
manures, either by combining with certain of their elements, or by 
giving to them new arrangements. It should never be applied with 
animal manures, unless they are too rich, or for the purpose of pre¬ 
venting noxious effluvia. It is injurious when mixed with any com¬ 
mon dung, and tends to render the extractive matter insoluble.— P>. 
PLANTING.—No. II. 
Of the soils and situations most proper for planting, the treatise 
which we are consulting, “Useful and Ornamental Planting,” par¬ 
ticularizes— 
1. Exposed waste lands, and those that are steep, rocky and pre¬ 
cipitous. The loss to individuals, and to the nation, by such large 
tracts of land lying utterly unproductive, is incalculable. 
2. Lands of better quality, which are unproductive by reason of 
their exposure to bleak winds. Cases are cited, where lands alto¬ 
gether unproductive before, have been brought to produce good corn 
and pasture, merely by a judicious disposition and arrangement ot 
belts of trees to shelter the ground, and thereby ameliorate the cli¬ 
mate. 
3. Where the local soil and climate are good, a scarcity of tim¬ 
ber exists, or is likely to exist soon, for the periodical wants of agri¬ 
cultural and manufacturing operations. Here the planting may be 
confined to the angles of enclosures, belts on the exposed borders 
of the farm, as to the north, north-west and north-east, the bleak 
points of the farm-buildings, the borders of permanent divisions, and 
the highway side. 
Every soil and climate are naturally adapted to the growth of 
particular species of trees. These indications of nature should be 
consulted, and trees growing naturally on similar soils in the neigh¬ 
borhood, or under a like temperature, should be selected. The 
work before us gives the analysis of various soils which had been 
planted as woodland, and indicates the trees which have flourished 
best upon each. On a sandy heath soil, containing but three parts 
in 400 of clay, incumbent on ferruginous stones, the Scotch fir, (PU 
nius sylveslris,) birch and beech succeeded well, and the last best 
when the subsoil was a deep sand. A poor sandy soil, seven parts 
in 400 of clay, was found congenial to the growth of the pine, larch, 
sycamore, &c. A sandy loam, with nine parts in 400 of clay, 
grew the larch and fir tribes luxuriantly, and also the beach. On a 
light sand, incumbent on clay, the oak and chesnut did well, and the 
elin tolerably so. A clay loam, on a clay subsoil, brought the oak 
to the highest state of perfection. On a damp clayey soil, incum¬ 
bent on clay, the oak, elm, ash and horn-beam, attained to great 
perfection, and the tulip tree (whitewood,) grew free when the 
ground was trenched. A rich alluvial marsh soil, containing 32 
parts in 400 of clay, and 40 of vegetable matter, is said to be capa¬ 
ble of growing all kind of trees, at least the following were found 
to thrive extremely well, viz., willow, alder, (some of the European 
species of these, grow to trees,) elm, sycamore, ash, locust, birch, 
oak, horse chesnut, Spanish chesnut, horn-beam, lime, &c. 
In selecting trees for a plantation, reference should also be had 
to quickness of growth and value of product. Where it is exempt 
from the borer, these qualities are found eminently combined in the 
common locust, (robina pseudo-acacia,') with the further advantage, 
that it multiplies rapidly by its roots. The oak, ash, beech, maple, 
walnut, baswood, plane, chesnut, elm, and many other native deci- 
dious trees, are readily propagated by seed, and afford profitable 
timber and wood. Of the coniferous trees, the seeds of several 
species of the pine, larch, and fir, indigenous and exotic, may be 
readily procured. The Scotch pine and larch are particularly ot 
thrifty growth, and are useful in the arts and on the farm. 
The relative growth of several kinds of trees, during 17 years af¬ 
ter planting, is shown below, as ascertained on a plantation of the 
Duke of Bedford, in England, upon a porous soil. The measure¬ 
ment was meant to indicate the medium size, individual trees being 
found much larger. The last column of figures shows the height at 
which the several kinds are usually planted out, from nursery beds, 
in Great Britain. 
Girth or circumfe- Height in 
rence at 2 feet Do. do. at inches when 
from the ground. 7 feet. planted. 
Poplar,. 41 inches-37 inches.. 18 to 36 
Larch, . 37 do. 32$ do.... 6 to 24 
