246 [Senate 



It is well known that when magnesia occurs among quick-lime, it 

 is often injurious to the land. Such a mixture is called hot limey from 

 its burning alkaline quality, — the magnesia not combining so speed- 

 ily as lime does with carbonic acid, which would render it mild. 

 Eesides the lime, having a stronger attraction for that acid, will ei- 

 ther be served first, or take it from the magnesia till it has got enough. 

 I have seen spots of earth, where large heaps had been thrown down 

 to slack, remain barren — as free from vegetation as this floor — for 

 two or three years, although the ground had been carefully scraped 

 over when the heap was removed. 



Yet such is the stuff to which the southeastern part of Pennsylvania 

 owes much of its fertility. Formerly when I lent a hand to that pro- 

 cess, it was considered that 30 or 40 bushels to the acre were as much 

 as the land could bear without injury. It was found, however, that 

 rich land would bear more than poor land; and in process of time 

 they discovered that 100 bushels to the acre might be safely and pro- 

 fitably applied to pastures or meadows. The lime was slacked in 

 large heaps; and then from a cart or wagon on a calm day, it was 

 scattered with a shovel evenly over the grass. It fell among the de- 

 caying leaves, which in warm weather yield carbonic acid, and it be- 

 came mild without injuring the crop. 



Some years ago, I published an account of this simple method, be- 

 lieving it superior to that of any other country; and you may judge 

 of my surprise to see it stated in a work of high authority, bearing 

 the date of 1840, that magnesian limestone is unfit for the purposes 

 of agriculture. 



Lime, however, possesses other properties besides that of neutrali- 

 zing acids. One of the most remarkable, is the power to absorb pu- 

 trescent manures; and to hold the fertilizing essence till it is wanted 

 by the crop, through every vicissitude of the seasons, and through in- 

 definite periods of time. There it is locked up; and nothing at com- 

 mon temperatures but the energy of a growing plant, can unlock it.* 



Lime has therefore been styled the basis of all good husbandry. It 

 stores up the manure that is not immediately wanted, for future use — 

 a kind of save all. When the supplies from the barn yard are spread 

 and plowed into a soil that is nearly destitute of lime, the growing 

 crop catches a part of its virtue; but a very large part escapes, and 

 very little will be left for the benefit of those that succeed. I had 

 been used to such soils until I removed to my present farm; and was 

 then agreeably surprised to see how much more durable were the ef- 

 fects of stable manure. My fields were limed by the deluge. 



Unwholesome vapors and villanous smells are also absorbed by 

 lime; and some places, once remarkable for insalubrity, have been 

 changed in their character by liming or marling the fields around 

 them. Nuisancps are converted into manures. A striking illustra- 



* The following extract from Liebi^'s Organic Chemistry, is cited as a parallel case : 

 " An abnormal production of certain component parts of plants, presupposes a power and ca- 

 pability of assimilation, to which the most powerful chemical action cannot he compared. The 

 best idea of it may be formed, by considering that it surpasses the power of the strongest galvanic 

 battery, with which we are not able to separate the oxygen from carbonic acid." p. 184. 



