INDIANA   FARMER.
VOL   II.]
Devoted to Agriculture, Horticulture, Mechanics and tko Uspfnl Arts.
[NO   2.
w. *. i5SS:™7,{ Editor*- )      RICHMOND. IND., SEPTEMBER 15,
/Hollo
way  &:   Co.,
ruDi.rsiiKRS.
COMMUNICATIONS.
For the Indiana Farmer.
SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE—No. 11.
BY TROFESSOR   B. LAWRENCE.
Mineral Manure.
Scarce one generation has passed by since
the country which we inhahit was an unbroken
forest. It had been for unknown ages, accumulating the elements of fertility, by the continual decay of the annual products that grew upon
it, till it had acquired nearly the maximum degree of productiveness; so that the early settlers of this country were under no necessity of
troubling themselves about increasing the richness of their lands, for they were already
about as fertile as art could make them.—
Thence an utter carelessness, mingled with a
degree of contempt towards (artificial farming
\vas manifest every where; and since the land
by continual cropping for many years, without
any return for what it is annually parting with,
is beginning to show unmistakable signs of diminished fertility, it is high time that every farmer who would hold his own, was be«-in-
ing to be in earnest in his inquiries as to the
proper method of keeping up, and of restoring
the exhausted fertility of his lands.
This consists in adding something to them
from time to time, which shall supply the same
amount of fertilizing material, as is parted with
by them in the successive crops which they produce. And as plants consist of two clawes of
elements, viz, organic and inorganic, it is also
necessary that land should be supplied with
both these, for if it is ever so rich in one of
these, and poor in the other, its   produce   will
be measured by the scantiness of the latter.	
But as these two kinds cannot be as well treated
of together, I shall for the present occupy myself with the consideration of mineral manures.
Of all the mineral substances employed as
manures. Lime plays by far the most important
and conspicuous part; and is used in quantities
.1 hundred, if not a thousand fold "reater than
all tho rest together. And yet the quantity of
lime which enters into the constitution of plants
is less than that of several of the other mineral
elements. It becomes then a matter of curious inquiry,    what is   the ground  of this vast
disproportion; on what is the part which lime
performs in the economy of farming. It is not
for the purpose of entering into the circulation
and becoming a part of the substance of plants,
that so much lime is used, for the quantity so
consumed is small, and there is hardly ever a
soil to be found which does not already contain
an abundance for this purpose; but the principal part which it performs is in the effect which
it has upon other substances in preparing them
to become the food of plants. It is a great
chemical ar/cnt, or as physicians would call it an
alterative, whose principal office is to correct tho
lead qualities of the soil, and so to change the
form or state of many other substances, which
are not now in a proper state for entering into
the circulation of plants, into another state
which is available for their use. Its uses are
manifold; some of them being mechanical, and
some chemical.
The mechanical uses of lime are to effect the
physical condition of soils. It has an effect
upon them much like that'of rising upon bread;
it renders them light, lively, and mellow; that
is, those which were before too heavy, hard,
and clammy. But upon sucli as are already
light enough, it would be of no benefit in this
respect, and if vised at all upon such lands, it
should be in smaller quantities than upon stiff
land, s»iceit is its chemical effect only which is
to besought for here. The mechanical effects
of lime are not greatly unlike those of sand.—
But its chemical effects are far the most important, and will bo the subject of the next two
numbers.
Improved breed of Hogs.
Mr. D. Egbert, of Warren Co., O., has sent
quite a largo number of his improved stock of
Hogs to this county for sale. Mr. Daniel
Abrahams, of Centreville, we understand is his
agent, and can perhaps supply the demand.-—
If the specimens exhibited at our last county
Fair, are to be taken as characteristic of tho
Stock in Wayne county, it is time nn improvement was made. Such of those sent out by Mr.
Egbert, as we have scon, were a cross of tho
Russian and Grazier, and were fully developed.
More perfect specimens of the "whole ho"-" we
have never seen, east or west, and as "entire
swine" we commend them to our farmers