:<*4 



OW MANUltfS. 



Tipon good sound loams, worth from 15*. to 20s. an acre. 

 Six or seven waggon loads per acre are seen immediately in 

 the crops, and to an inch. Chalk presently gives the land 

 3 reddish colour, so that the part of a fallow which has 

 been chalked will be discernible at a distance from this 

 tinge. A singular circumstance observed in Essex is its 

 being an enemy to what their farmers call grazing, or run- 

 ping to turf. A field, which before chalking will run of it- 

 self to a fine head of white clover, does so no longer after 

 chalking. The chalk used there is not soft, but rather 

 hard. The sharpest frosts leave many lumps unbroken, 

 which must be done with pickaxes; and the hard bit*;, 

 which break to a clear white, are better than those that 

 crumble between the fingers. This is to be attributed to 

 the nature of the soil, which is rather too stiff for turnips. 

 1 ■ »ppli. Soils abounding spontaneously with sorrel are highly \m-> 

 cable. provable by chalk. It is used successfully on all soils, on 



which marie is found to answer. It is not a general favour- 

 ite in Norfolk for poor sand*, or even middling ones ; but 

 some farmers of considerable note for accuracy of observa- 

 tion have of late used very hard chalk, and with great suc- 

 cess. On all moors, peat bogs, and peat fens, every species 

 of calcareous earth may be applied with singularly good 

 effect ; and as chalk abounds more than marie in this earthy 

 it » full as valuable on them, if not more so. 



3. Lime, 



Licj2. "Every kind of calcareous stone, being in fact a carbonate 



of lime, may be converted into lime by expelling its car-* 

 bouic acid and water by means of tire. In this state it is 

 caustic, and has a strong power of reabsorbing moisture, 

 awd likewise carbonic acid, if exposed to the atmosphere. 

 As limestones generally contain a portion of clay and sand, 

 these will remain mixed with the calcareous earth in the 

 iime. This is of little 'consequence, only diminishing the 

 -quantity of calcareous earth . But sometimes they have a 

 mixture of hmtine.,ia, and this ha~ been said to be detri- 

 mental to vegetation. Limestone that contains magnesia is 

 generally of a brownish hue, or fawn colour; but none is 

 found m ft stone :!nt breuVs blue. 



La 



