The mountain sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1844-1853, 1850-08-01
A9RTgUNWWNAIho 4
Agricultural TruthS,


l. Unless the farmer feeds his land IT
will not feed him.
2. All tcet lands should be drained.-
By draining them, the most stiff and in
tractable soils may be changed INTO fria.
bic ones; the labor of culture will be re-
duced, the quantity of products increased,
and ttheir quality improved; while the
health Of the place will also be improved.
3. Wet lands, which may need it should
always be drained before application of
lime or mari, and time should be allowed
for the soil TO become comparatively dry,
before being ploughed, or the lime or mari
applied.
4. Lands which may have been drained
by covered drains, should be ploughed
crosswise the drains, until the soil which
surmounts them shall have become settled
and firm,
5. 1t may be assumed as a fact, that
lands which may have been in culture for
long series of years, without being lined
will derive benefit from a dressing of lime
or mari.
6. Stiff lands will bear heavier dressings
of lime or mari, than sandy ones. Stiff
| lands which may have been in grass, will
bear more than those whereon grass or
clover had not been cultivated. First ap-
plications of lime or mari, to thin sandy
lands, should always be small ones pre-
ceded by nutrative manures, second appli-
cations 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 mat
! ters.
7. Deep tilth is conductive to fruitful
ness IN crops; but it possibly may be sa-
fest, to increase the depth gradually, ma
nure with free and liberal hand, and TO
apply lime each time the soil may be deep
ened, which sould never exceed more than
one or two inches of the ha rd pan, in one
year; that TO be regulated by the character
of the subsoil to be turned up. Such deep
enings, should always be made in the fall,
to give the inverted soil the benefit of the
neutralizing effects of the lime, and the
dsntegrating influence of the winter S
frosts. Twenty-Five bushels of freshly
Stacked lime per acre, spread over the
upturned earth, would answer for such
purpose.
/ 8. As to what Is nutrltlVe manure, 1t
may be defined to be, any animal sub
|
vegetable substances,-as any thing which
has had life and has the power of repro
duction.
8. All lands which may have been lined
or marled, should be speedily thereafter
set in clover or grass, as permanent I'M
Iprovement cannot be effected, without the
soil be so treated as to keep up stock oi
Iorganic matter therein, to be wrought up
into food by the decomposing action Of the
lime or mari. 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: Far
mers should value manure as miser does
his strong box-should grasp after it and
hoard 1t as eagerly and anXiously as a cov-
Ietous man accumulates treasure.
IL. One of the best methods of apply
ing lime TO light sandy lands is to make a
compost Of lime and clay; work it over
well, several times so as to mix the lime
intimately with the clay; topdress the land
with the mixture, after being ploughed, and
then harrow the compost in. Ten loads
OF clay and 25 bushels of lime, thus treated
would form an excellent dressing for 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, TO ensure continued fIuit-
fulness and fair fruit should be periodically
manured, III order that the food carried off
annually in the fruit, should be restored to
the soil. Six parts peat and two of lime,
would form on excellent dressing, in the
proportion of twenty loads to the acre; the
cost of which might be covered, by grow
ing crop of corn, potatoes, or other roots
thereon, the year of any such application.
I3. Orchards should not be kept perma-
nently in grass, as it answers for harbor
for vermin, while il robs the trees of the
food that should be appropriated to them.
-.7n,. Farmer.
A Wonderful Piece Of Mechanism.