108 ON KESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS WITH 



spreading. Immediately after spreading, grub it with three 

 horses across the plough furrows, then give it a double turn of 

 heavy harrows thoroughly to incorporate it with the soil. 



II. Mix up lime shells with weeds, spare soil on high head- 

 lands, scrapings of roads, and other refuse, &c. ; turn them over 

 once or twice, oftener if necessary, to get the mixture into a fine 

 mechanical condition ; apply it to grass early in spring; and spread 

 it immediately, when heaped ; and as soon after as it is perfectly 

 dry, give the land a rub of light chain harrows to break down the 

 lime, and pack it in close to the roots of the plants. 



III. Applying lime shell to the break that is to be sown down 

 with barley or wheat and grass seeds, after it has got the seed 

 furrow, observing the same rules as in No. I. for putting on and 

 spreading the lime, but only grub, if necessary, after the lime is 

 spread. In some cases a turn or two with heavy harrows is all 

 that is required before drilling in the seed. 



IV. Putting on lime in shell previous to ploughing for barley 

 or wheat, observing the same rules of application as in No. I., 

 and ploughing it down with a light furrow, and either drilling in 

 the seed or sowing it broadcast. 



V. Applying a composition of lime and earth, the same as in 

 No. IV., and to the same crops. In applying lime this way I 

 have often put on town or farm-yard manure, but have always 

 made a point to put them on separately. 



I have carefully studied the above modes of applying lime, and 

 upon comparing results I must say that the first method is 

 decidedly superior to any of the others, for applying lime in shell. 

 By that mode the lime is applied in a hot state, as well as in a 

 fine mechanical condition ; it is thoroughly mixed up and incor- 

 porated with the soil, and it is of decidedly more advantage 

 to the turnip crop, greatly helping to prevent " finger-and-toe " 

 disease, although not entirely doing so. Besides showing a 

 decided improvement in the general appearance and bulk of the 

 turnip crop, it also shows very favourably ujoon the following 

 cereal and grass crops, and particularly making the grass come 

 earlier in spring, compared with that of the land without lime. 

 The only disadvantage I have noticed with this method is, that 

 when applied late in April, and shortly before the turnip crop is 

 to be sown, it is apt to burn out spots of the young braird in a 

 dry season if not carefully spread. 



The second method has given splendid results, but only in the 

 lighter class of soils of a moory description, as applied to young 

 grass early in spring. Of course, the road scrapings and other 

 manurial ingredients contained in the compost contributed largely 

 to the results. The compost, when properly broken and harrowed 

 in with the chains, tends to protect and nurture the weakly grass 

 plants which have been partially thrown out by the frost, and by 



