The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1882-03-09
Ground Limestone.
ITS VALUE AS FERTILIZER STRONGLY PRE-
SCENTED,

10 give common sense view of the subject.
We are not graduate in chemistry, and have
little to say in that direction, but will give
reasonable grounds for our opinion. In the
first place we think the Creator knew more
and better what was needed in the soil to pro-
duce crops than all the so-called chemists and
phosphate men combined, and since we are
all dependent for our support upon the agri-
culture of the country we should use every
available means to promote and assist that
branch of industry. Pure, raw, fine bone is
an undoubted fertilizer, and all manipulated
phosphates are valuable as plant foed just in
proportion to the amount of bone they contain
The chemicals introduced in the manufacture
phosphates are not plant food in themselves,
but decompose the organic mattel in the soil
and make it available as food to the crops
Now bone contains fifty par cent. lime, and
when we pay $40 per ton for bone we are pay
ing at the rate OF $40 for the lime contained
In them, that could be had fer three at the
kiln. A well known and established fact is
that limestone lands wherever they exist have
always been even in their virgin state the
most fertile and productive. They certainly
do and always did contain more Of the mate
rial needed to produce crop than lands
where limestone does not exist. Prof. John
contains 94S lbs, wheat 922 lbs, straw 96S lbs.
of carbon. which is removed from the soil, not
from the air as some chemists would have us
believe. Now if one ton of clover extracts
from the soil 948 lbs. carbon, it is reasonable
to suppose 1t would become exhausted in time.
Since Mr.. Milton Schindel says in his article
of January; "One acre of limestone land con-
tains only $4,000 lbs. of carbon, th en- one
crop OF two tons of hay per acre would ex-
tract from the soil 1896 lbs. or in ten years it
would all be used, unless replaced.
Raw limestone contains 46 per cent. carbon
and was dissolved for years by the elements.
and washed into the soil by the rains. 1t is
that which makes limestone land more fertile
but it is being drawn out faster by the contin-
ued removal of crops than 1t can be returned
by nature, and it must be supplied some Other
way: Mr.. s. also says in the sau article that
Limestone was ground twenty-five years ago
and proved to be worthless, and a failure
That may all be so, but, lime, like everything
else, must be understood. There is vast dit
ference between so-caled limestone, and stone
shat will make good lime. All practical lime
burners know that some burnt into what is
supposed to be lime, is Of no value for any
purpose, whilst there is grade Of stone thai
makes lime good for all purposes for which it
was intended, recuperating land included.
We know that the worn out red lands of
Frederick county have been restored to the
greatest fertility by the use of lime. The re-
nowned blue grass lands of Kentucky contain
eight times as much carbon as phosphoric acid,
and when we find the blue grass contains ],
900 lbs. carbon to the ton, we wonder whether
1t Is not the carbon after all that makes the
blue grass. Now the chemists tell us that
burnt lime after time becomes carbonate of
lime, but never regains the same amount it had
before being burnt. Raw lime finely ground
certainly contains all that burnt lime does, and
much more. 1t is unreasonable to suppose
that limestone in solid beds could supply the
needed lime without being reduced to fneness
and mixed with the soil. We might as well
leave our bone and phosphate in sacks and
stack it in the field and expect it to produce a
crop without sowing it,. Il. Roaoland in
Hagerstoson ma Mail.
Antietam District. Jan. 81. 1882.
Something About the Origin of the
Lenten Season.
Lent, the spring-time fast of forty days before
Easter, began Wednesday the 22d of February
which was Ash Wednesday according to the
Church calendar. Roman Catholic theologians
and many Pretestants maintain that the forty
days fast is of Apostolic origin, and such ap-
pears to be the opinion of St. Jerome, but the
greater number of Professionals consider it to
be OF ecclesiastical institution. 1t is common
" supposed to be commemorative of Christ's
fast OF forty days in the wilderness. and insti-
tuted as preparation for the great anniversa-
ries of His cruciixlon and resurrection. Ac-
cording to some authors, the fast was, in the
beginning, OF only four days duration, en-
bracing the first four days of Holy Week, and
was gradually extended to forty days; but
according to other writers, was of forty days
duration from the first. However this may be,
it appears that the Latin term "quadragesima "
was applied before the fourth century to a
period of forty days before Easter, set apart
for fasting and prayer, beginning with what
is now the first Sunday in Lent, and termi-
mating on Holy Thursday. Within this period
neither the Latins nor Greeks at first tasted
forty days, the Sundays and Thursdays being
excepted by both, and the Saturdays also by
the Greeks. As general sentiment declared in
favor of forty days fast, the period was
heightened both in the East and West, in the
time of Pope Melchisdes, the time extending
to sixty days. Gregory the Great finally d.
rected the fast to begin on the sixth Sunday
before Easter, and that all intervening week
days should be fasting days. This gave but
thirty-six days of fasting, however, and the four
days OF the preceding week were then added,
the solemn fast thus beginning ON Ash We'd
nesday. The Councilo of Loadocea in 363 pre-
scribed entire abstinence from food on Holy
Thursday, and exclusive use Of dry food du-
ring all the fast days of Lent. Then the Coun-
Gil of Orleans, in 541, commanded that those
who did not keep Lent should be considered
as transgressing the laws of the church, and
the Eighth Council Of Toledo, in 646, forbade
the use of flesh meat. Wine, oil, and animal
food are still prohibited in the Greek Church,
and their use in the Latin Church was made
one of the grounds Of separation in the time of
Photius. By degrees all kinds of food, except
flesh, were used in the West, eggs, cheese, and
wine being allowed, and becoming general
after the eleventh century. In the United
States at the present day the use of flesh meat
is allowed several times week, according to
the rule laid down by each bishop for his own
diocese; fish and flesh, however, meyer being
allowed at the same meal. In nearly all the
Protestant churches of Continental Europe,
and particularly among the Lutherans, Lent
is still penitential season. The Church of
England and the Protestant Episcopal Church
both observe Lent. Accounts are given of
some curious old English Lenten customs.
among which is one of pelting puppet called
Jack O. Lent, the origin Of which, however, is
not explained. Ben johnson alludes to 1t in