The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1850-06-22
Agricultural Truths.

| ~ ~ L utItss
=. All acA lands should be drained.
BY draining them, the most stiff and i'll
tractaole SOILS may be changed into tria-
bic ones; the labor OF culture will be re-
duced, the quantity of products increased,
and their quality improved, while the
health Of the place will also be impro-
we'd.
3, W'a lands, which may need 1t,
should always be drained before applica-
ton OF lime or mari, and line should be
allowed for the soil TO become Compare
lively dry, before ploughed, or the lime
or morIaPpied.
4 Lands which may have been dram
ed BY covered drains, should be ploughed
croSSwise the drains, until the soil which
! surmounts them shall have become set
tied and firm.
3. 1t may be assumed as fact, that
lands which may have been in culture
for Ion. series OF years, withoa, being
lined, will derive benefit from dres,
sing OF lme or mari.
s. .SEG lands will bear heavier dres-
sings OF lime or mari, than sandy ones.
Stiff lands, winch may have been in
grass, will bear more tn an those wherein
! grass clover had not been cultivated
/ FIRST applications OF lime or mari. to
thin sandy lands, should always be small
ones, preceded by nutrltive manures; sec
ond applications OF lime Or mari not to
be repeated unless after such lands shall
have been in grass or clover, or received
large dressings of manures comprising
much organic matters.
7. Deep tilth Is conducive to fruitful
ness IN crops but 1t possibly nay be sl-
fest to increase The depth gradually, ma
nure with free and liberal hand, and to
apply lime each time the soil may be
deepened; which ,hould never exceed
more than one or two inches of the hard
pan, in any one year: that to be reguIa-
tea by the character Of the suhso,l 10 be
turned up. Such drepenngs; should al
ways be made il the fat, to give the IN
Vcrtrd SOIL the benefit Of the neutraliz,ng
effects OF the linz, and the dlSlntegra-
ting Influence OF the winters irosts -
Twvnty-t FIVE bushels Of freshly Stacked
lIlnr per acre, spread over the uptnrne d
earth, would answer for such purpose.
7. As to what is nuiritlve manure, It
! I9ay be defined to be, any animal sub
stance, the eNcretions OF animals or any
! vegetable substances any thing which
has had lie, has the power of reproduce
! ton.
Q. All lands which may have been
lined or married., should be speedily
thereafter set in clover or gra-s, as perm
anent improvement cannot be effected
with out the soil be SO treated as 10 keep
mp stock Of organic matter therein, to
be wrought up into food by the decompo-
sing action of the lime or mail The
calcareous element in each, which is
the great principle in either that renders
IT effective, requiring where withal to
work with.
10. As the late Judge Peters said
Farmers should value manure as a miser
does his strong box-should grasp alter
and hoard II as eagerly and as anxiousIv
as a covetous man accunuIates treasure
II. Que OF the best methods of apply
ing lime TO light sandy lands is to make
compost Of lime aud clay; Holk 1t over
well, several times, 81 as 10 mix the
lime intimately with tie clay; top dress
the land with the mixture, after being
| p!ouEhed, and then harrow the compost
in. Ten loads OF clay, and twenty-five
bushels OF lime, thus treated, would form
an excellent dressing Tor an acre of such
land, and would have the double effect
of supplying the soil with the necessary
calcareous principle, and OF amending its
texture.
| II Orchards, 10 ensure continued
trulttulness and fair fruit, should be pc
riodically manured, in order that the
food carried off annually in the fruit,
should be restored to the soil. Six parts
peat and two Of lime. or six parts marsh
| mud and two Of mari, would form an eX-
cellNnt dressing in the proportion Of 20
loads to the acre: the cost OF which might
De covered by growing crop ofcorn,
potatoes or other roots thereon, the year
any such application