Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1852-1852, 1852-07-16

The application Is within fraction of fifty BUSH
els of lime to the acre, as each check contains
40 sqr. yards; and if we allow 1000 square yards
to make all acre, it would be exactly fifty bush.
els to the acre. but it is sufficiently near for all
practical purposes. consider it much more
beneficial to apply it over the grass, than upon
land after it is ploughed would advise in all
cases, to spread it upon the surface; and if the
farmer can spare the capital as long, that it should
be applied two or three years before it is broken
up. My reason for thus applying lime, is that
it is not only more convenient, and can be more
accurately done, but that it more thoroughly
mixes with the soil by the rains and frosts Of
! winter l have, however, derived very great
| and permanent benefit from applying it in the
summer and breaking it up the following spring
fifty bushels is good application for the first
| dressing, unless the land should be exceedingly
rich, wien it would bear much larger quar- tity:
My mode is TO apply fifty bushels the first applf-
cation, and to follow it with second application
of fifty bushels more when the land again comes;
into regular cultivation. From all the agricul-
tural information have upon the lasting benefit
Of lime upon land, is that one hundred bushels
to the acre is sufficient quantity for almost all
land, and that its fertility can be brought to any
extent Of improvement, provided it is followed by
other agents and manures; its effects will last
from fifteen to twenty years, and no other appli-
cation lie needed for that space of time. It
would be irrelevant and out Of place fol- me here
to impress the Importance of draining and deep
ploughingin conjunction with any and all ma
nures, a, essential in the permanent improve
ment Of all worn out lands-let him who expects
to reap crop upon wet or badly ploughed land
by the mere application of lime, or any other
manure, be at once undeceived.
Tile necessity Of ,tollowing lime witb other
agents and assistants IN improving soils,-Lime
being an agent in the soil, it is necessary that it
should be followed by such other manures as the
land may stand in need Of as soil may abound
with lime, and other properties for production
not being present, it would not of course supply
them. AS lime combines with inert vegetable
matter in the soil, and converts it into food for
plants, how necessary is it to follow our applica
tions of lime with the grasses and above all I
place C2ouer, which in conjunction with lime I
have never yet seen fail to produce fine crop,
and upon which plaster acts bene6cially. Ihave
applied plaster in small quantities, yet have re-
ccivcd but little apparent benefit, unless applied
to Governor have been successful in raising
clover unless preceded by an application of lime;
and in injunction with lime it is great reno
rator. My preference has long been given to
clover not only for the purposes of food for stock,
but the best Of all the grasses for the improve
ment of the soil. In the words of distinguish
ed farmer, speaking of the action of clover upon
land, he says, "under the dense shade of its fo-
liage and in the moisture thus preserved at the
surface Of the soil, some subtle process seems to
be conducted, some natural chemistry or agricut-
tural alchemy, which we do not thoroughly un!
derstand, but which ensures fertility" we know
however that clover has deep roots and draws
some of its nutriment from the depths of the
soil below the ploughs range; and that it ex-
tracts from the atmosphere both carbon and am
monia iii larger quantities than other plants.
The mode Of turning in green crops after an
application of lime or mari is one much resorted
to by our farmers, and the pea more than any
other crop used especially the black and shin
ney pea; the mode adopted is to fallow their
lands and sow the pea in the month of May, and.
in the fall to plough them in the land in the
green state, and in this manner impart great bene-
fit to the wheat as we'll as lasting beneftto the
land. Another mode is to SOW the pea in their
corn fields, as they are working their. corn the
last time (say from the 25th June to 18th July,)
the pea is sown as soon as the corn is worked,
and cutivators or rakes follow, which both cov-
ers the pea and prepares the land for the better
growth of corn and a dry spell of weather.
Green crops contain in their substance notion
ly all they have drawn from the SOIL but a great
Al ~.
in these living plants and you necessarily add to
the soil more than they have taken from it, and
of course you make it richer in organic matter,
No subject claims the attention Of the farmer
of greater Importance, than that of turning in
green crops for the improvement Of their lands,
especially after an application of lime or mari.
The subject has already claimed the attention of
the Essayist and all agricultural journals.
TO DE CONTINUED.