78 LIMB. 



Whether or not the benefits derived will balance 

 the expense of such heavy applications, lam not pre- 

 pared to say ; but be this as it may, the shell lime is 

 far preferable, and should in all cases be used, though 

 not in any such quantities as here spoken of. Indeed 

 if my system be correct, no lime is needed, and no 

 other artificial manure, unless it be made into a com- 

 post, which should be made as follows : 



To make a compost pile, take all the long manure 

 you have, and alt the vegetable matter that can be 

 gathered on the farm, such as leaves, hay, grass from 

 the hedges, and what else that may be found, and 

 place them in layers in the field, sprinkling on each 

 layer a good coat of lime. Let each lajer of dung 

 and vegetable matter be five or six inches thick, and 

 on each alternately or successively spread a good 

 coat of lime. When it has risen into a pile, and con- 

 tains all the matter you possess, cover it over with 

 dirt five or six inches thick, so that the gasses which 

 do escape, may be caught and retained iu the earth 

 on the top, which they will serve to enrich. Heat 

 will soon be generated, fermentation will ensue, and 

 the vegetable matter be decomposed, or reduced 

 to original principles ; that state in w r hich the dead 

 plant becomes food for the living one. Thus life 

 springs out of death and decay, for vegetable matter 

 must be not only dead, but rotten, before the living 

 plant can derive nourishment from it. The very 

 roots of the living, riot in the dead matter of the dead 



