No. 105. 429 



soils, is to mix it with the urine and dung of cattle ; on failure of 

 these articles, with alkaline and other salts, and, lastly, with lime." 

 P. 181. 



" Peat soils which acquire unctuous rich claminess, by the appli- 

 cation and action of dung, urine, alkaline salts, &c., in partly dissolve 

 ing the peat, are the fittest of all soils for the growth of hemp." P. 

 182, 



"From experiments made with alkaline salts and peat, it can be 

 asserted that the effects of such mixture, weight for weight, are equal 

 if not superior to those of dung." P. 183. 



" The rendering the inert vegetable matter of peat mosses and fens 

 serviceable to this purpose, though effected at a greater expense 

 than is at present incurred by an application or [of ?] dressing to 

 ground, could not fail to answer the expectation of the farmer, and 

 must be considered as one of the most valuable improvements that 

 has hitherto occurred in the annals of husbandry." P. 183. 



The most beneficial and productive of these preparations will be 

 found to be — 



Peat with dung and urine •; 

 Peat with alkaline salts ; 

 Peat with alkaline hepar; 

 Peat with Glauber salt and lime ; 

 And peat with lime. 



When the soil does not contain a due proportion of calcareous mat- 

 ter, a preference should always be given either to the last, or to the 

 two last of the above preparations, until it shall have received a suf- 

 ficient supply of an article so indispensably necessary as calcareous 

 matter to the production of sweet herbage, leguminous plants and 

 grain. Hence it is manifest that an economical and frequent appli- 

 cation of lime, in moderate quantities, either mixed with peat or 

 other vegetable matter, or even by itself, is greatly to be preferred 

 to those abundant dressings of lime usually given at one time, which 

 cause an action on the soil more powerful and violent than is condu- 

 cive to, or compatible with a continued state of fertility. In short, 

 lime should be considered in a chemical and medicinal point of view, 

 when so applied, acting as an alterative, corrector and a decompound- 

 er ; a disengager of certain parts of the animal and vegetable sub- 

 stances contained in soils, and as a retainer and combiner with oth- 

 ers ; and is not to be regarded by the practical farmer as a substance 

 fit for the immediate food and nourishment of vegetables, like dung, 

 or decayed vegetable or animal matters. For, although calcareous 

 matter, or lime, forms a component part of vegetable and animal bo- 

 dies, still the quantity that can be obtained from the annual produce 

 of most crops from an acre of ground, will not exceed eighty pounds 

 weight. This fact has been well ascertained, and if proper attention 

 be paid to it, in regulating the conduct of the agriculturist, in the fu'- 

 ture application of lime, it will prove more satisfactory than all the 

 chemical reasonings adduced in this treatise." P. 116 to 119. 



