Improving the Condition of the Soil 



A. Agricultural Lime. B. Quicklime. 



Per acre. 5^ 5. s. d. 



2 tons at 1 75. 6c?. per ton at kila i 15 J ton ,. ..8 6 



Transport by rail at 3s. per ton 6 ^ ton . . ..16 



Cartage at IS. 6£?. per ton .. 3 J ton .. .. 9 



Handling and distributing on Unloading, spread- 



the fields (it is unnecessary to ing and respread- 



cover with earth), 2 tons .. i ing lateral .. i o 



Total £25 II 9 



tst Difierence (certain), £2 5s. 0^.-125. 6^.=;^i 3s. 36?. per 

 acre. 



2nd Difierence (probable), better effect by B than by A. 



Agricultural lime will be found in the soil many 

 years after it has been applied, often without any 

 alteration. The name ground lime is generally 

 applied to ground limestone. Pure limestone corre- 

 sponds to about 56 per cent, of lime [CaO] and 

 about 44 per cent, of carbon dioxide [CO2]. There- 

 fore the value of ground limestone is always less 

 than that of its corresponding quantity of lime. 



Gas Lime. — Gas lime is the waste from the second 

 purification in the manufacture of lighting gas, 

 which consists of passing it over sieves spread with 

 wet lime, so as to take out the sulphurous com- 

 pounds which would otherwise destroy the pipes. 

 This lime contains a series of calcinous compounds, 

 among which are sulphites and cyanides, which are 

 poison both to plants and animals, along with a little 

 ammoniacal nitrogen varying between 0*25 and 0-5 

 per cent. It is the presence of these poisons which 

 causes gas lime to be sometimes used as a weed 

 killer on garden paths, or to destroy slugs, there- 

 fore it should never be used fresh in agriculture. 

 It should never be spread on fallows, because by the 



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