THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



THE AGRICULTURAL VALUE AND USES OF LIME AND MARL. 



Among mineral manures none are more highly 

 valued than lime and its various admixtures with 

 marl and other earthy substances. That lime 

 furnishes any al)solute nutrition to the plant is ex- 

 tremely doubtful, as very few traces of it are ever 

 found in analyzing the different kinds of vegetables. 

 Its great advantages as a fertilizer appear to be 

 almost entirely derived from its chemical action on 

 various mgredients, and in a certain mechanical in- 

 fluence which often acts favourably in improving 

 the texture of the soil. In order to use lime with 

 any degree of certainty as to its effects, a partial 

 knowledge of its chemical and mechanical uses is 

 absolutely necessary. It is obvious to all, that this 

 substance on different farms produces the most 

 contrary effects. While, used with discretion, en 

 some soils it produces the most astonishing results, 

 it is known to be attended with really ruinous 

 effects when applied to marly and calcareous soils, 

 without they have previously been very much re- 

 duced, in which case lime can be applied in small 

 quantities in conjunction with other manures. 

 Lime is used with the greatest advantage on peaty 

 soils, and those which contain a large amount of 

 vegetable matter — clayey soils, which need to be 

 acted on by its mechanical effects, in rendering 

 them more light, open, and easily cultivated — soils 

 which are barren by the existence of green copperas 

 (proto-sulphate of iron)— those which need potash, 

 and, as a general rule, most soils which are sterile 

 and worn out from long and exhausting systems of 

 cultivation. 



Marl varies very much in its composition in 

 different localities, but is generally known as a 

 mixture of various kinds of earth with lime; and 

 its value is chiefly estimated by the amount of this 

 mineral which it contains— hence we have clayej^ 

 sandy, and earthy marls. Although owing its fer- 

 tihzing qualities mostly to its per-centage of lime, 

 its other ingredients are often highly valuable, 

 especially when applied to opposite formations of 

 soil. Thus sandy marl would prove the best of 

 fertilizers for stiff clay. In England the value of 

 marl has long been recognized, and we are informed 

 that leases were granted as far back as the reign of 

 Edward I. which compelled the tenants to make 

 use of it, but its use is much less employed since 

 lime has become more known. 



The farmers at one time were so confident of its 

 virtues, that they depended almost entirely on it, 

 and made it supersede the use of dung, by which 

 means they were enabled to sell large quantities of 

 tJ 1" ^^^^^- -^"^ *^^^ course, although it en- 

 abled them for a time to raise good crops, even- 

 tually reduced the soil, and thus has arisen the 

 old saymg which was cited by Barnaby Goorge, who 

 wrote so long ago as the middle of the sixteenth 

 century, that "lime and marl are yood for the father, 

 but bad for the son." But this saying, like many 

 others of ancient date, is evidently an error when 



they are judiciously employed in connection with 

 animal and vegetable manures. 



As the value of marl is computed by the quan- 

 tity of lime which it possesses, that value can be 

 roughly ascertained by the effervescence which en- 

 sues when vinegar or muriatic acid is poured on it, 

 after which a chemical analysis, if deemed expedi- 

 ent, would show the exact per-centage of this and 

 all other ingredients. When a bed of marl is first 

 found, and no good reasons are given for its use, 

 farmers should be careful to use it first in small 

 quantities, and thus experiment with it until they 

 are perfectly satisfied of its real worth. In order to 

 get poor land into a good state of productiveness 

 by lime and marl, it is also necessary to manure 

 highly with animal and vegetable fertilizers, such 

 as stable manures. But where it is impossible 

 from the scarcity of these manures to bring it up in 

 this way, the cheaper but slower process of 

 ploughing-under green crops can be resorted to 

 with almost equal success. Clover is perhaps the 

 best crop to turn under, when the land is in good 

 heart enough to produce it ; but when too poor for 

 its production, buckwheat can always be rehed on 

 until the soil is sufficiently replenished for the 

 growth of clover or lucern. 



Farmers possessing fertile land must be aware, 

 by what has been previously said, that if they find 

 the use of lime or marl beneficial to their crops, 

 they must not rely too implicity on this class of 

 (mineral) fertilizers, but rather increase than 



i diminish the amount of farm-yard manures; for 

 the increase of the crops which is produced by 

 hming rather tends to exhaust the soil of its 

 necessary ingredients, and to destroy its fertility ; 

 so that while the use of lime is continued, it be- 

 comes more than ever important not to decrease the 



j use of other manures. All this extra labour and 

 expense bestowed on this system of cultivation will 

 be doubly repaying; for if there is any profit in 



I raising medium crops on a farm, this profit rapidly 

 swells when the same land is made to produce large 

 and abundant returns. 



Most marls need to be drawn out and exposed 



j to the action of the weather for some months before 



1 it is intended to use them, that they may be pul- 

 verized and made suitable for application by the 

 action of the weather. Some kinds are so stiff and 

 unmanageable, as to need the action of both the 

 summer and winter elements to reduce them to a 

 proper state of fineness for application. 



Lime should not be applied in its caustic state, 

 except to lands containing large quantities of inac- 

 tive vegetable matter, and on those in which organic 

 manure is contained unchanged and ineffective. 

 When partially slacked and reduced to fineness by 

 exposure to the air, it possesses sufficient caustic 

 properties for all other soils, if applied soon after 

 being slacked. Mild lime, after being reduced to 

 a powder, is more beneficial to all lands, with the 



