composed — which, in fact, is the loosening of 

 that mysterious iniluence by wliich the elements 

 of all organized bodies are held together as long 

 as life endures; and the process of decompo- 

 sition of any animal or vegetable substance is, 

 therefore, simply the restoring to nature those 

 substances, in their elementary forms, which it 

 at first received from the soil or atmosphere — 

 and this process goes on with more or less ra- 

 pidity according to the nature of the substance, 

 and the circumstances under which it is placed. 

 Although it is a well-established fact that putre- 

 factive fermentation, or the process of decompo- 

 sition, cannot take place unless in a temperature 

 of above 32° Fahrenheit, a free admission of the 

 atmosphere, and a certain degree of moisture ; 

 still these agents are always present in the soil, 

 within a moderate depth from the surface, and 

 under circumstances sufficiently favorable to 

 efiect the decomposition of the softer and more 

 juicy parts of animal and vegetable substances ; 

 but when their decomposition has taken place, 

 the more solid parts still remain, and these, with 

 the yearly contribution afforded by the more 

 recent phuits, constitute an inexhaustible source 

 of organized matter from which, by viell-direct- 

 ed skill and industry, man may derive his means 

 of subsistence. In this beautiful provision of 

 nature, we find that, \vhen man commits to the 

 earth the remains of aniziial or vegetable bodies, 

 he not only secures a present nourishment to 

 crops which supply his own immediate wants, 

 n the more decomposable parts of those remains, 

 but has al.so laid up a bountiful store for those of 

 his race who will take his place on earth when 

 his labors are over. Lime, then, is aii agent 

 which enables us to avail ourselves of the hid- 

 den stores of nourishment which the soil con- 

 tains ; for, when it is applied to the soil in its 

 caustic state, it is washed in by showers of rain, 

 and, in its progress through the soil, encounters a 

 portion of inert, insoluble, but decomposable 

 matter, which it acts upon in such a manner as 

 to effect its decomposition, and resolve it into 

 three parts essentially different in their nature 

 and character, all which parts are contained in 

 the smallest portion that can be decomposed — 

 Jirsf, the gaseous; second, the soluble; and, 

 third, tlie residuary matter. It is the two first 

 of these we are to regard as the immediate 

 cause of the increased iitne.ss of the soil for the 

 germination and growth of particular plants. 



First, then, with regard to the germination of 

 particular seeds, and there is none with regard 

 to which it is more remarkably the case than 

 diat of white clover, and at the same time, there 

 is no plant more desirable to be obtained. — 

 When Lime is applied to the surface of pasture 

 land of so inferior quality that clover has not be- 

 fore made its apjjearance. and, if the land is not 

 so wet as to counteract the influence of the Lime 

 in the course of the second year after its appli- 

 cation, white clover is almost certain to appear. 

 It is evident from this that the seeds of the clo- 

 ver must have been in the land before it was 

 limed, as the calcination of tlie Lime completely 

 precludes the possibility of the Lime itself being 

 the medium through which they have been con- 

 veyed. How long the seeds may have lain 

 there, without their vital principle being de- 

 stroyed, we have no data to form an estimate ; 

 but we know they must have been there from a 

 very remote period, and their coat must be of a 

 very impervious nature, to have prevented ger- 

 mination, and to have protected it so long from 

 injury ; for germination, like decomposition, re- 

 (698) 



quires a certain temperature, and the seed to be 

 in contact with moisture and the atmosphere ; 

 and the rapidity of the proces.s, in these circum- 

 stances, depends upon the temperature, .so long 

 as it does not exceed 100'' of Fahrenheit. — 

 When Lime, then, commences its action upon 

 decomposable matter, a portion of gas is disen- 

 gaged, which penetrates the soil above it, and 

 is partly absorbed by the soil, and partly makes 

 its escape to the atmcsphere ; and, as decompo- 

 sition proceeds, the soil becomes looser and 

 more permeable to the atmosphere. The tem- 

 perature is, at the same time, increased by the 

 more ready admission of the sun's rays, while 

 the heat, which is always evolved in the process 

 of putrefaction, stimulates the seed to absorb 

 moisture, and, at the same time, oxygen from the 

 atmosphere, which now finds ready admission 

 through the now permeable .soil. The germina- 

 tion of the seed is thus effected which had lain 

 for ages in the soil, and might have continued 

 so for ages to come, had the action of Lime on 

 the decomposable matter not rendered the su- 

 perincumbent soil porous, by which the atmo- 

 sphere was admitted, and the oxygen, its vivify- 

 ing principle, absorbed, and the temperature 

 raised by the ready admission of the sun's rays, 

 and the heat evolved during decomposition. 



The next point for considei-ation is the man- 

 ner in which Lime promotes the growth of par- 

 ticular plants. Although the seeds of some 

 plants are covered with a coating so impei'vioue 

 to moisture and the atmosphere as, v>'hen buried 

 in the cou.solidated earth, germination cannot 

 take place without the agency of .some power- 

 ful stimulant, such as Lime, still we are acquaint- 

 ed with no plant of which it does not in some 

 degree promote the growth. It is true that, 

 when applied to land, some of the plants which 

 before occupied the surface disappear, hut it is 

 doubtful whether this arises from anything in 

 the Lime which is deleterious to such plants, or 

 whether its action has so powerfully promoted 

 the growth of others, that their increased luxu- 

 riance proves fatal to those of weaker charac- 

 ter; and, if pasture is allowed to become too tall 

 and rank for two or three summers together, the 

 white clover, which indicated the improvement 

 of the land, is choked, and, the action of the 

 Lime having .subsided, the germination of other 

 seeds of the same plant does not take place. 



When gaseous matter is disengaged by the 

 action of Lime, the matter to which it has united 

 itself is partially rendered soluble in water ; and 

 it is a truth, which requires no illustration, that 

 no sub.stance of any kind can be received as 

 nourishment by plants which has not, in the first 

 instance, been dissolved in water, the mouths of 

 the roots being so very small as not to admit tlie 

 point of the finest needle. It farther seems to 

 be a law of nature that organized substances 

 cannot again form part of a living being without 

 being in the fir.st place disorgiinized ; and in 

 proportion to the quantity of the inert matter 

 which the Lime has acted upon and rendered 

 soluble, and also in proportion to the gaseous 

 matter which has been evolved during the pro- 

 cess, and been absorbed by the soil, will be the 

 amount of nourishment or advantage resulting 

 from the application of Lime. Although we 

 have selected clover as the plant, the germina- 

 tion of which frequently follows the use of Lime, 

 there are others over which it exerts an eqtial 

 influence; but as its appearance is the surest in- 

 dication of an important change having taken 

 place in the soil, whether the Lime had been ap- 



