aging the culture of silk will have been successful, and I am very anxious to see the report which will be made to the society on a subject of such vital importance.

Wherever I have travelled I have observed that they cultivate hemp. I was struck with the immense expense that cultivation cost, chiefly in manure. If now and then I met with some privileged piece of ground, which by its fertility did not require such a quantity of manure, the price of the soil was so high that the mere interest of the same would have purchased, to my knowledge, in either Jefferson or Lewis counties, a similar quantity of land, as good at least for the production of hemp, and where the cultivation of it will not cost so much. I hope our society will think it advisable to recommend to the farmers a particular attention to the raising of hemp, wherever the soil is favorable for its cultivation.

I have noticed a curious method of drying fodder by fermentation. I think it worth giving you some details about. They put the hay in hay-cocks on even ground, very soon after it is cut, i. e. 12 or 15 hours, in piling it very equally and treading it down. Rain does not injure it materially. The diameter of a hay-cock does not exceed four feet, and the height equal to 2-3 of this diameter. As soon as the heat produced by fermentation is too great for the hand to remain. in the middle of the hay-cock, say 20 or 24 hours after, they use all diligence to spread the hay, bad or good weather, for it is spoiled in a few hours. Three or four hours are sufficient to dry the hay entirely. The outer part which is not fermented is put aside and treated by the ordinary means. This hay can be preserved several years without experiencing any deterioration. It has a vinous smell which cattle like when once accustomed to it. It is very well adapted to the use of cattle in general, and particularly to horses. They can eat of it freely without inconvenience, even when it is recently made. This method is chiefly advantageous to clover and luzerne, because it dries them sooner-it prevents the leaves from falling, and preserves the nutritive principle.

I have always been an advocate of the roller, and have scen

with regret that it is far from being found in every farm in the state. I am still more convinced of its utility since my last travels through France, as also of the benefit resulting from the harrow; respecting which I can recommend the following method:-In the spring, when the wheat is dry and suffering, pass on it a pair of small harrows. About a month after, the operation can be repeated. The improvement will be very sensible a short time after the first labor, and the result will be a considerable augmentation in the crop, and more straw. You need not fear to unroot the plant. Not one in five hundred will be destroyed; but if there are some lost, the others will supply their place largely from the benefit they will receive in the operation. In following this method, you can sow your wheat thinner than is commonly practised, and provided it is sown regularly you can thicken it by the harrow. The straw becomes then stronger and the wheat seldom lodges-It saves you also from sowing as great quantity of grain.

There is a species of barley, called May wheat, cultivated in the north of France. The ground is prepared in the fall by deep ploughing, and a second one in dry weather immediately before sowing, which is thin, and done in the first days of April. It ripens at the same time as rye. It has a strong growth of two feet. Each stalk gives commonly 12 or 15 heads. It produces about thirty bushels to the acre. Very good bread is made with half flour of barley and half of wheat. It requires better land than common barley.

I wish that any member of the agricultural society of the state of N.York, not sufficiently persuaded of the great utility, nay of the necessity, of encouraging the increase of agricultural societies in different parts of our state, had been with me in my travels. I regretted that establishments of that kind were not more frequent, and still more that not one of them was organized and regulated as it ought to be to promote the good contemplated. But yet the advantages of these institutions are demonstrated beyond the smallest doubt, by the considerable difference which exists between those parts of the

country which have none and the others where some of their best organized societies have exercised their influence. I could quote some of the finest parts of France where the establishment of a good agricultural society has within very few years doubled the produce of the soil. But my letter is already too long to write whatever I could say upon this subject. I must conclude, by tendering my services to our society, and assuring its members of my readiness to do all in my power to subserve its best interest.

I remain, very respectfully,

Your obed't servant,

LE RAY DE CHAUMONT.

Letter from Dr. WILLIAM DARLINGTON, of Pennsylvania, on the use of LIME in Agriculture.

DEAR SIR,

Westchester, (Penn.) December 17, 1832.

Your letter, containing a number of queries relative to the operation and utility of lime, in the processes of agriculture, was received in the early part of June last: But as I have been much engaged, during the past summer, with duties which required all my attention,— and, as your letter intimated that answers furnished " any time during the present year" would be in season for your purposes, I have taken the liberty to postpone my reply until now.

I proceed, then, with great pleasure, to furnish you with such facts and remarks as my opportunities for observation have enabled me to offer. With a view to render the answers more explicit and satisfactory, I will annex them, seriatim, to your several inquiries.

Query I. "Upon what lands does lime operate most beneficially."

1. In regard to geological form ation,-as primitive, transition, secondary, and alluvial?

2. In reference to the soil,-as sand, clay, lime and vegetable matter?

3. As indicated by natural growth of timber and plants?"

Answer. My residence has always been in a primitive region, and my observations very much limited to agricultural processes in soils upon that formation. The prevailing rock here is gneiss, with occasional beds, or veins, of hornblende, greenstone and sceinite. About five miles to the north of us, is the great valley of transition limestone, stretch-. ing from northeast to southwest; and immediately on the southern side of this valley, running parallel with it, is a broken ridge of hills, formed of mica slate,—with beds of serpentine rock and hornblende, on the side next to the gneiss rock, on the southeast. Over the gneiss rock, and among the hornblende, the soil is generally a stiff loam; and there, I think, the best effects are perceptible from a given quantity of lime. On the soil overlaying the schis. tose rocks, the good effects of lime are sufficiently obvious, under the management of skilful farmers; but the benefits seem to be less permanent. On the serpentine rock the soil is extremely sterile, and neither lime nor barnyard manure can be used with much advantage. In the limestone soil of the great valley, where one would suppose it was already redundant, lime is used with advantage; and much heavier dressings are put on, than in the adjacent districts. I cannot furnish the rationale of this practice; but I believe the fact is established, that more lime is required to produce the same beneficial effect upon soils resting on limestone rock, than upon those overlaying gneiss,-and perhaps some other primitive rocks.

I have had no opportunity to witness the effect of lime upon secondary, and strictly alluvial, formations; but the above circumstance has led me to suspect, that the same quantity of lime would not be so signally beneficial in secondary, as it is in certain primitive formations.

Lime, undoubtedly, has a good effect in soils which are sandy, even where sand predominates; but I believe its

meliorating properties are most conspicuous in a clay soil,— or rather in a stiff loam. A good proportion of decomposed vegetable matter adds greatly to the beneficial effects of lime; and hence our farmers are desirous to mingle as much barnyard manure as possible with their lime dressings,—and to get their fields into what is called a good sod, or turf,—full of grass roots. Then a dressing of lime has an admirable effect.* The soils indicated by a natural growth of black oak, (quercus tinctoria,) walnut (juglans nigra,) and poplar (liriodendron), and those in which such grasses as the poas and festucas best flourish, are generally most signally benefited by the use of lime. In short, I may observe, that lime has been found more or less beneficial in every description of soil, in this district. It is most so, on hilly, or rolling lands, where clay predominates,-less permanently so, among the mica slate, and least of all, on the magnesian rocks. The soil on these last is rarely worth cultivating.

Query II. "What quantity of lime is applied to the acre, upon different soils, at a single dressing, and during a period of years ?"

A

Answer. The quantity of lime, per acre, which can be used advantageously, varies with the condition and original character of the soil. Highly improved land will bear a heavier dressing than poor land. On a soil of medium condition, the usual dressing is 40 to 50 bushels per acre. deep, rich soil, or limestone land in the great valley, will receive 70 to 80—(and I am told even 100,) bushels to the acre, with advantage. On very poor land, 20 to 30 bushels per acre, is deemed most advantageous to commence with. It is usually repeated every five or six years-i. e. every time the field comes in turn to be broken up with the plough; and as

* The yard manure is not usually mingled with the lime, when the latter is first applied. The practice is, to lime the Indian corn ground, prior to planting that grain on the inverted sod,—and, the ensuing spring, to manure the same field for a barley crop ;-or, to reserve the manure until the succeeding autumn, and apply it to the wheat crop. settled which of these is the better practice. Each has its advocates; but It is not well it is most usual to reserve the manure for the wheat.