312 MANUEES AXD THEIR APPLICATION. 



experiments led him to the conclusion that their potash was 

 more rapidly taken up by the roots of plants than the sulphuric 

 and muriatic acids with which it was combined, and thus an 

 excess of these acids was left in the soil and the land became 

 soured. He found that when he used lime along with kainit 

 and allied salts, their action instead of being injurious was very 

 beneficial. Eecent experiments show that these potash salts do 

 best in soils well supplied with lime, and that they ought to be 

 applied in the autumn and not in the spring, so that the lime 

 may have time during the winter to enter into combination with 

 the sulphuric and muriatic acids they contain, and carry them 

 down out of the reach of the roots of the crops. Lime takes 

 some time to exert its influence upon the soil, and, therefore, the 

 benefits of liming are not usually felt until the first or second 

 year after its application. It is, therefore, strongly to be re- 

 commended not to apply lime immediately to the crop w^hich 

 it is intended to benefit, but to put it on the land one or two 

 years previously. 



As regards the mode of liming, it is questionable whether we 

 are right in the practice which prevails of putting on the land 

 large doses at rare intervals. There are, no doubt, occasions 

 when a large dose is necessary, but with laud in ordinarily good 

 condition I incline to think that the method of liming gently 

 year after year would accomplish its object more economically 

 and without the great tear and wear and subsequent loss of a 

 heavy liming. 



It is a frequent matter of complaint that lime finds its way so 

 rapidly out of the soil, and this is in some measure due to the 

 extravagant method of heavy liming at rare intervals. I have 

 already explained that it is necessary that lime should find its 

 way into the drains if it is to perform some of its most im- 

 portant functions, but it is also desirable that lime should be 

 present in the soil in the place where it is most wanted, and 

 this, I think, will be best attained by applying at least some 

 portion of the lime frequently in small doses. 



Frequent application in small doses is also strongly to be re- 

 commended for nitrate of soda. Owing to its own great solu- 

 bility and to the rapidity with which it is decomposed by lime 

 and carried down through the soil, it frequently happens that 

 a heavy flood carries aw^ay a large part of that valuable and 

 very expensive manure, and therefore to sink it by drilling it in 

 with other manures is a mistake. It should be used lightly 

 and superficially as a top-dressing. It is most beneficially applied 

 to the braird, and as I have already indicated, the deeper and 

 wider the roots of the crop have ramified, the less chance is there 

 of the nitrate escaping them and running into the drains. Sul- 

 phate of ammonia does not escape so rapidly. It is retained by 



