On Liming Land. 279 © 
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to spread it in the autumn; and either plough or har- 
row it in. The next season I take only a summer crop. 
Indian corn I think the best; as its culture mixes the 
lime most effectually with the soil. Ihave most fre- 
quently put lime on in the spring ; and I have cropped 
fields with winter-grain, when limed in the same sea- 
son. I have sometimes succeeded with rye ; but when 
wheat was sown on land fresh limed, I have invariably 
suffered by mildew, smut, rust, or blight. I scarcely 
remember an instance to the contrary. The crop is 
retarded in its maturation, by the lime: and though it 
shews a deep verdure, and large heads; the former is 
as deceptive as the blush of a hectic; and the latter 
seldom, or never fill.* Yet in some European books, I 
* It would seem that the fresh lime, acting on the sub- 
stances in the earth with ruinous energy, pressed on the plant 
more food than it could digest or contain; and produced 
death by a fatal plethora. With a good glass one can plainly 
discern the bursting of the vessels and the extravasation of 
the sap, with all their consequences. The grain is shrivelled, 
though the plant, until its catastrophe, appears to thrive. If 
winter crops on fresh limed lands come to maturity, they 
ripen late ; and their risks of mildew are increased. I have 
observed this, even when dung is used with fresh lime. But 
with lime alone on exhausted lands, where little or no vege- 
table or animal matter is found in the soil, I have seen wheat 
a starved and worthless plant. Summer crops only should be 
sown on land fresh limed ; and Indian corn is the most suit- 
able. When I repeat the liming, as I have generally done 
with a greater quantity than that first applied, I commonly 
take a crop of Indian corn in the year before wheat; to £z// 
the lime, according to the country phrase. The corn, being 
