LIME AS A FERTILIZER. 



103 



LIME AS A FERTILIZER. 



The ase of Lime in building, is of the earliest 

 antiquity, but for the purpose of manure, the use 

 of it has been confined to Europe and North 

 America ; tliat emploj-ment of it never having 

 been thought of in Asia or Africa, though the 

 substance itself is every vihere is to be found. 



In this country, the application of Lime to 

 land has greatly mcreased, w-ithin the present 

 century. An impression of its durability over 

 other fertilizers, has contributed much, no doubt, 

 to its popularity ; yet while the use of it is ex- 

 tending, the question as to its mode of action, 

 has not been definitively settled. On that point 

 much difference of opinion exists, as there does 

 also, about the modus operandi of Sulphate of 

 Lime, or Plaster of Paris — some maintaining 

 them to be manures in themselves, entering into 

 the composition of the plants, while others be- 

 lieve that they contribute — especially Lime — to 

 the decomposition of the vegetabrei matter it 

 finds in the soil ; preparing it to afford food and 

 sustenance to the growing crop. 



Those who contend that Plaster of Paris acts 

 its part, by drawing moisture from the atmo- 

 sphere, are required to say why it does not thus 

 benefit vegetation by drawing moisture from 

 the atmosphere, as well in one region of country 

 as anotlier. Yet it is well known that so great 

 is the difference of its action in that respect — so 

 inert is it in one country and so powerful in an- 

 other, that nothing is more common, when a 

 landholder offers to sell his estate, than for him 

 to be asked, first of all — "Is yours plaster 

 landV And this is easily understood, since it 

 is well known, that where plaster or sulphate of 

 lime will act, as it does on the old soft yellov^- 

 looking, broom-sedge lands of Calvert, Prince 

 Georges, and Anne Arandel counties, m Mary- 

 land, no fertilizer, natural or artificial, vegetable, 

 animal, or mineral, is to be compared ■with it, in 

 point of cheapness and efficacy, up to that de- 

 gree of melioration which re.sults in a heavy 

 crop of red clover ; and which reaches to, if it 

 does not end with, the production of about eight 

 barrels (40 bushel.s) of Indian com, or one thou- 

 sand pounds of tobacco. As it is with Lime, so 

 it is with Plaster of Paris, the first application is 

 attended with the most obvious effects ; but this 

 may be because there is then the greatest room 

 for improvement ; and consequently the effects 

 are more visible. But the question has been 

 raised, whether applications of plaster, however 

 often repeated, will do more than (and that by 

 means of the grass crops, especially clover, it 

 (211) 



secures) keep the land to that moderate point of 



productiveness, ever after, which is the result of 

 the first clover crop that follows the use of it. 

 We say moderate productiveness, because, 

 surely every farmer is bound to esteem forty 

 bushels of com as very moderate, in the face of 

 so much testimony to prove that eightj- bushels 

 have been frequently, and sometimes one hund- 

 red, gathered from an acre. 



The evidences of the power of Lime to carry 

 up the produce of land to a much higher mea- 

 sure, and to maintain it there much longer, than 

 other manures most in use, have as before said, 

 greatly contributed to extend the use of it. 



Observation of its great potency, especially 

 in Pennsylvania, among a people slow to be 

 moved, and not liable to be wheedled in practical 

 matters, has caused much inquiry to be made 

 as to the mode of rising it most common in that 

 country, and much, accordingly, has been writ- 

 ten on the subject. The agricultural journals 

 abound in descriptions of the practice of liming, 

 and with speculations as to the proper time and 

 quantity to be applied ; and in what reference, 

 direct or remote, to other manures, and to par- 

 ticular crops. 



The point in regard to which we apprehend 

 hurtful mistake is most likely to occur, is, as to 

 the state in which it should be applied : that is, 

 how soon from the kiln, and \\hat treatment it 

 should undergo in the meantime ; how much or 

 how little should it be purposely exposed to wet 

 or rain or dew, or to be left m a condition to 

 draw moi.sture from the atmosphere. 



As to the season of the year, the answer re- 

 lated by Doctor Darlington, of West Chester, 

 Pennsylvania, a writer to whom Agricultural 

 Science is so much indebted, as having been 

 given by a Dutch farmer, probably comprehends 

 all that need be said : "Never mind," was his 

 reply ; " when — so you get it on your land .'" 



But the time is not now, however lately it 

 may have been, when farmers of the first order 

 of intelligence will be satisfied with knowing 

 the mev2 mechanical routine of time and quan- 

 tity. An impulse has been given to the mmd — 

 its facultj- of curio.sity, the mother of knowledge, 

 has been excited, and men who were content to 

 know how much will do. now demand to know 

 the way in irhick it works. Tell us, say they, 

 ko7v it acts, and we shall better understand all 

 the details of practice, and be better prepared 

 in case of disappointment, in a particular case, 

 to ferret out the reasons of the failure, and tc 



