THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



223 



is indispensable to their vigor and health. This 

 substance is formed in the spring or early summer, 

 by the free and regular circulation of the sap, 

 and to trim trees befow; this layer is formed is 

 thought to be very deleterious to their growth. — 

 Ed. Maine Cultivator. 



LIMB. 



From Sinclair's Husbandry. 



There is perhaps no country in Europe, where 

 caicined lime is used to so great an extent, and in 

 suTjh quantities, as in the more improved and im- 

 proving districts of Scotland. This may be part- 

 ly owing to the total absence of chalk, which 

 abounds in so many parts of England, and which 

 renders calcined lime less necessary there ; but it is 

 principally to be attributed to the great benefit 

 that has been derived from its use. In bringing 

 in new or maiden soils, the use of lime is found 

 to be so essential, that Utile good could be done 

 without it. Its first application, in particular, gives 

 a degree of permanent fertility to the soil, which 

 can be imparted by no other manure. Its effects, 

 indeed, are hardly to be credited, but their cor- 

 rectness cannot be disputed. Maiden soils, in 

 Laramermuir, of a tolerable quality, will, with the 

 force of sheeps' dung, or other animal manures, 

 produce a middling crop of oats, or rye ; but the 

 richest animal dung does not enable them to bring 

 any other grain to maturity. Peas, barley, o^r 

 wheat, will set out with every appearance of suc- 

 cess ; but when the peas are in bloom, and the 

 other grains are putting forth the ear, they pro- 

 ceed no farther, and dwindle away in fruitless 

 abortion*. The same soils, after getting a suffi- 

 cient quantity of lime, will produce eve°y species 

 of grain, and in good seasons bring them to ma- 

 turity, in all future times, always supposing the 

 ground to be under proper culture, and the cltmale 

 adapted to the crop. This fact proves, that oats 

 and rye require less calcareous matter than what 

 is necessary for other grains ; that" lime acts as an 

 alterative, as well as an active medicine, and that 

 the defects in the constitution of the soil are cured, 

 even after the stimulant and fertilizing effects o! 

 the lime have long ceased to operate. Lime is 

 also peculiarly beneficial in improving muirish 

 soils, by making them produce good°herbage, 

 where nothing but heath and other unpalatable 

 grasses grew formerly. The expense of this 

 article in Aberdeenshire is stated to be enormous, 

 very little of it being produced in that country ; 

 yet hrae is there considered to be absolutely ne- 

 cessary, and, indeed, the foundation of all sub- 

 stantial improvements.! It is supposed, however, 

 not to be so useful on the sea-shore, as in the more 



Marl, although containing calcareous matter, is 

 not so effective. It will produce oats, barley, and 

 early peas in abundance, and in some situations will 

 also produce wheat, when the season is favorable ; 

 but wheat crops cannot be depended upon from marl 

 alone. 



t Communication from Mr. Barclay, Mill of 

 Knockleith. It is observed, that lime has sometimes 

 been withheld both from low lands after fallow, and 

 from hilly lands after turnips ; but in all these cases, 

 with an evident loss to the occupant, by a decrease 

 ot produce throughout the whole course. 



inland districts, from the soil being perhaps mixed 

 with sea-shells. 



The importance of lime aa a manure is strik- 

 ingly exemplified by the following information 

 from Mr. Walker of Mellendean : He entered 

 into the possession of that farm twenty-five years 

 ago, and then gave the whole farm, (with the ex- 

 ception of a few acres of the richest soil in differ- 

 ent fields, which had 'for ages been manured aa 

 infield,) a good dose of lime. From the newly- 

 limed land, his returns were folly equal to his ex- 

 pectations, and greatly superior to those from the 

 richest spots that had received no lime. Beincr 

 very desirous to ascertain how long the limed land 

 would maintain its superiority, he kept both the 

 limed and unlimed under the same management 

 in every respect, during his first lease of twenty- 

 one years ; and he can affirm, that at the end of 

 that period, his crops upon the limed land were 

 equally good, and as much superior to those of 

 the unlimed land, as they were at the commence- 

 ment thereof. Having got a new lease of that 

 liirm, he proposes laying lime upon every spot of 

 ground that was not limed formerly, being convin- 

 ced that he has been a considerable loser by hia 

 experiment. How long therefore the effects of 

 lime may last, he will not take upon himself to 

 foresee ; but he can safely say, that ther£ is land 

 upon his brother's property at Wooden, that was 

 limed by his farther upwards of thirty years ago, 

 where the effects of the lime, upon every crop, are 

 still as apparent as when it was first laid on the 

 land. 



It is proposed, in discussing this subject, very 

 shortly to explain the following particulars : 1. The 

 soils to which lime is applicable ; 2, The dis- 

 tance from which it has been carried ; 3. The 

 quantity used ; 4. The best mode of slacking ; 

 5. The common modes of application ; 6. The 

 plan of top-dressing the surface ; 7. The price 5 

 8. The use of pounded limestone ; and, 9. The 

 causes which may occasion its failure. 



1. This manure is certainly well calculated for 

 clay lands. Some recommend laying on a certain 

 quantity of it, to the amount of 20 bolls of shells, 

 or 120 bushels, to the Scotch, or 96 to the English 

 acre, and as hot as possible, every time the Tand 

 is fallowed. This plan, however, is objected 

 to from respectable authority ; and it is contended, 

 that so small a quantity of lime shells is quite un- 

 fit for stimulating any kind of soil, except where 

 it is of a dry muirish nature, and not formerly 

 limed. To lime land every time it is in fallow, 

 seems unnecessary, more especially if a sufficient 

 quantity were applied in the first instance.* From 

 60 to 70 barley bolls per Scotch acre, or from 390 

 to 420 bushels joer Scotch, that is. from 288 to 356 

 bushels/jer English acre, are quantities frequently 

 given in East Lothian. In regard to loams, if 

 they are in good condition, and in good heart, 

 perhaps liming once in the course of two rotations 

 will be sufficient. t It is a rule, however, in re- 

 gard to the application of lime, and other calcare- 



* Mr. John Shirreff remarks, that to specify a quan- 

 tity for all lands is impossible, so much depends upon 

 the depth and quality of the soil ; also on the quantity 

 of calcareous matter, either previously applied, or 

 originally in the soil. 



t Communication from Georere Paterson, Esq. of 

 Castle-Huntly. 



