BENEFICIAL ACTION OF LIME. 88 



ticiilarly well in a Immose soil containing a moderate 

 quantity of Inniius.* 



Upon deep-rooting plants, such as turnips, clover, san- 

 foin, peas and beans, organic matters accumulating largely 

 in the subsoil act very injiuiously, especially in clay, 

 where they decay much more slowly than in a lime soil. 

 The process of decay is communicated to the sickening 

 roots, in which spores of fungi find a suitable soil for their 

 developement. When turnips are thus affected, they be- 

 come the prey of certain insects, which deposit their eggs 

 in the roots, causing m their developement a strange 

 alteration and disturbance of the vegetative process ; for 

 in the diseased parts spongy tumom's arise, the inner sub- 

 stance of wliich becomes soft and emits a bad smell, and 

 in this state serves to nourish the larva of the small fly. 



All these processes, however obscure in themselves, are 

 put an end to by applying lime to such a field ; a proper 

 hme dressing will always attain this object. Fields that 

 are particularly rich in organic remains require a much 

 larger supply of lime than others, to effect their restora- 

 tion to a healthy state. 



It is certain, that in all such cases, the beneficial action 

 of the hme is not attributable to an original deficiency of 

 that body in the soil for plants growing on it ; for in that 

 case, considering the rapidity with which it is diffused 



* Gasparini sowed a few gi-ains of spelt in a pot with washed earth 

 from Vesuvius ; these produced plants which continued to gi-ow in a 

 healthy state. In another pot, filled with the same earth, he introduced 

 a piece of bread ; in this, all the roots in the immediate vicinity of 

 the mouldering bread died away, and the other roots seemed to 

 have turned off towards the sides of the pot. It is clear that spelt 

 would not grow in a soil copiously mi.xed Avith bread ; and if the 

 decaying roots left by a spelt crop have the same effect, it is not 

 difficult to conceive how the decaying remains which a plant leaves in 

 the ground, may injuriously affect its own growth, or that of other 

 plants. (Kussell.) 



G 2 



