64 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



&quot; Lime, next to ashes, either as a carbonate or sulphate, has been instrumental in the 

 improvement of our soils beyond any other saline manures. Like ashes, too, its application 

 is beneficial to every soil, not already sufficiently charged with it. It makes heavy land 

 lighter, and light land heavier; it gives adhesiveness to creeping sands or leachy gravel, and 

 comparative openness and porosity to tenacious clays ; and it has a permanently beneficial 

 effect, where generally used, in disinfecting the atmosphere of any noxious vapors existing in 

 it. It does not condense and retain the organic matters brought into contact with it by the 

 air and rains, but it has the better effect of converting the insoluble matters in the soil into 

 available food for plants. It has proved in many instances the wand of Midas, changing 

 everything it touched into gold. It is the key to the strong box of the farmer, securely lock 

 ing up his treasure till demanded for his own use, and yielding it profusely to his demands 

 whenever required. In its influence in drying the land, and accelerating the growth of plants, 

 the use of lime is equivalent to an increase of temperature ; and the farmer sometimes expe 

 riences, in effect, the same benefit from it, as if his land were removed a degree or two to 

 the south. The influence of lime in resuscitating soils after they have been exhausted has 

 been frequent and striking; and it may be stated as an incontrovertible truth, that wherever 

 procurable at low prices, lime is one of the most economical and efficient agents in securing 

 fertility within the farmer s reach. 



It has been falsely said to be an exhauster of soils; that it enriches the fathers and 

 impoverishes the sons. So far as it gives the occupant of the land the control over its latent 

 fertility, this is true; but if he squanders the rich products when within his reach, it will be 

 his own fault. Lime gives him the power of exhausting his principal; if he uses aught 

 beyond the interest, his prodigality is chargeable to his own folly, not to the liberality of his 

 agent.&quot; 



Lime made from shells is the most valuable. Our cultivated crops contain on the aver 

 age about as much lime as potash. 



Lime should be slacked before being applied, except when used to decompose the organic 

 substances in the soil; it can then be applied without slacking, but in any case, while it is nec 

 essary that it should be thoroughly mixed with the earth, it should be kept near the surface, 

 as it is liable to sink into the soil. In whatever way it is applied, it is well to remember that 

 the carbonic acid which has been expelled from it by the heat is quickly regained from the 

 atmosphere, and it should, in consequence of this, be as little exposed to the air as possible 

 before being applied to the land. It should be put upon the land as soon as practicable after 

 slacking. Some farmers pile it in heaps upon the land, and by mixing it with water apply 

 it at once, and harrow it in. Another method is to place it in large piles and cover it thickly 

 with earth and leave it to gradually slack. In this case there is danger from loss by drench 

 ing rains, unless the pile be well-protected to prevent washing. Some favor a compost of 

 earth, lime, and salt, in the proportion of one part of salt to three or four parts of lime. It 

 is better to apply lime in small quantities, and do so frequently, than to make a large appli 

 cation of it at longer intervals, from ten to fifteen bushels being considered by good judges 

 a fair allowance for ordinary soils, though we have known 100 or more bushels per acre to 

 be used. By watching the effect of a small application, the farmer will be able to judge 

 whether his lands require it in larger quantities, or whether its use on his particular soil be 

 at all beneficial, since there is scarcely anything that is so dependent upon repeated experi 

 ment, and so independent of all definite rules, as the fertilizing department of agriculture, 

 owing to the great diversity of soils, the difference in their mechanical condition, and various 

 other causes. 



Lime is particularly valuable in the cultivation of tobacco, causing the ashes to be very 

 white. 



