THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



297 



the credit of a large part, but only a part, of the 

 great agricultural improvement of England, and 

 still more of Scotland. 



(^^) We might well aflbrd lo concur in the opi- 

 nion expressed, that lime in England " has had 

 its day," but in a different sense from what is 

 above intended. Lime has " had its day," indeed ; 

 that is, it has performed all its proper service, 

 wherever it has been (Lilly and sufficiently applied 

 to give the needed change of constitution to the 

 soil, and still to leave enough excess of lime 

 to combine with and fix any early expected ad- 

 ditional supplies of putrescent manures or other 

 alimentary matter. In this sense, marl also " has 

 had its day" on some (arms we know of in Vir- 

 ginia, and the use there has been discontinued 

 for some years. But it was only discontinued be- 

 cause all the surface had been fully marled ; and 

 other manures have been since sought to be ap- 

 plied, in preference, and almost exclusively, be- 

 cause these manures, vegetable and animal, are 

 now highly profitable. Slill the benefits at first 

 derived from the marl continue and increase with 

 every year. No advocate for the use of calca- 

 reous manures, who knew any thing of their 

 true operation, has recommended their continued 

 repetition — or their being substituted for putre- 

 scent, or (or all other manures. In our own case, 

 we have not only almost ceased to supply marl 

 (for the above reason,) but have become as ar- 

 dent as is Mr. Turner for applying putrescent 

 manures on the lands where the marl "has had 

 its day," and where, before marling, the applica- 

 tion of putrescent manures was almost labor and 

 expense thrown away. 



(/.) Precisely— such is the effect of what we 

 have termed the power of calcareous earth o( 

 " fixing" putrescent manures—and the mode of 

 that operation, we maintam, is that the calcareous 

 earth forms a chemical combination with both the 

 soil and the putrescent manure, and thus retains 

 the manure, and makes it permanent, until and 

 except so far as the superior power of growino 

 plants shall withdraw the putrescent manure (or 

 their sustenance from that combination. As we 

 have never ascribed this power to the causticity 

 of quick-lime, nor advocated lime while in a 

 caustic state (or this operation, all Mr. Turner's 

 objections to caustic lime on this score might be 

 admitted, without affecting in the least our posi- 

 tion in regard to the "fixing" property of mild lime. 



(m.) fVe should object to the mixing of caustic 

 lime with even the coarsest of manures, if they 

 had any rich and very putrescent matter inter- 

 mixed—for lo such matter the contact of caustic 

 lime is always injurious, in the manner which Mr. 

 Turner has correctly stated. 

 Vol. X.— 38 



(n.) Having before stated what we meant by 

 the term and the operation of the "fixing" of 

 manure, by calcareous earth, it is not necessary 

 to say any thing farther in regard to any mistaken 

 inferences of our meaning. One small exception 

 however it may not be improper lo express, which 

 is to state that we certainly did not mean to 

 maintain the position, which Mr. Turner here 

 opposes, that any " applications of lime on a pre- 

 vious manuring can so fix that manure as to ren- 

 der subsequent manurings unnecessary." He 

 who would assert such doctrine, and as founded 

 on his own practical experience, would deserve 

 no respect for any other opinions, either in refer- 

 ence to his judgment or his veracity. In the 

 first case, lime, (meaning mi'Zd lime,) applied on 

 a previous cover of putrescent manure, and 

 which was of course passing off' in more or less 

 waste, could not possibly be thoroughly intermixed 

 and combined with the manure, so as to stop the 

 waste, or to retain as much as the amount of lime 

 under more favorable circumstances might com- 

 bine with. This effect would be much belter 

 produced by the lime having been made ihej^rsf 

 application even to "dead land," and so tho- 

 roughly incorporated with if, that the manure 

 would meet lime every where. But even that 

 would not serve, except so far as the quantities of 

 the calcareous and the putrescent manures were 

 in proportions suitable to combine with each other. 

 If the lime given lo an acre be sufficient to com- 

 bine with and fix and save only 100 bushels of 

 putrescent manure, and 1000 be put on, the 100 

 may be saved, but 900 will be lost as surely and 

 as quickly as if no lime had been applied. But 

 even that amount of putrescent manure, and its 

 fertilizing action, which the lime in a soil could 

 fix and retain under a lenient and judicious course 

 of tillage and rotation, (whether it be equal to 

 100 or 1,000 bushels of stable manure to the 

 acre,) certainly will, in lime, be drawn (rom the 

 soil by the crop, if under severe and continued 

 tillage, and removal of all the growth. And so 

 (though it may require a long time and much 

 trouble) may the best natural soils, such as 

 were litned by the hand of the Creator, be also 

 exhausted and reduced to poverty. But even 

 when 60 reduced, the fixing and recuperative 

 power of the lime in such soils will be apparent, 

 if any chance for recovery be allowed to the land ; 

 as it will improve rapidly, and get rich again, if 

 but left lo itself; whereas Mr. Turner's poor land, 

 and ours, that were " born poor," would remain 

 so lor ever, il left to get rich merely by rest, and 

 their own growth for manure. Therefore, the 

 admission that a marled or limed soil, after beinf 

 enriched, may be empoverished by scourgincr cul- 

 tivation, is not a contradiction of our posilion of 

 ihe permanency of ths improvement made by cal- 

 careous manures, and also by putrescent manures 



