CARBONATE OF LIME FOR SOILS 143 



ing several days' riding I saw hardly any leguminous 

 plants. Analysis of that soil showed me what I expected 

 to find, that it was most markedly deficient in carbonate 

 of lime. At the same time it is so markedly unproductive 

 that no successful efforts have been made to grow on it 

 grain or gardens without manures. On other soils in 

 similar location and altitudes where much carbonate of 

 lime was found in the soil, the number of wild peas, 

 vetches, lupines and other leguminous plants was aston- 

 ishing, and when that soil was plowed its fertility was 

 found to be very great. It is the truest thing in nature 

 that legumes make soil rich and carbonate of lime makes 

 legumes grow thriftily. This lesson has long been under- 

 stood in the Old World. There since the history of agri- 

 culture was first written lime has been used as a soil- 

 corrective to make it produce legumes so that it may 

 gather riches and feed man. Indeed, the fathers did better 

 than the sons are doing today, for the. increased use of 

 commercial fertilizers has to some extent displaced lime, 

 and the result has in many instances been evil. I have 

 seen land in Scotland reclaimed from barren heaths in 

 the following manner : First, deep drains to lead away 

 the surplus moisture, then the use of "20 cartloads of 

 lime" to the acre (unburned marl or chalk, I think, was 

 used), afterward good plowing, then a moderate amount 

 of manure, and seeding to grasses and clovers. Thus 

 were meadows established where nothing but wild heaths 

 had grown before, and on these meadows sheep were fed, 

 phosphorus sprinkled from time to time with manure, till 

 at last a very rich, productive soil was gained, almost 



