1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



S63 



compounds,* and would feel from their use, rather 

 ill than good effects. 



On the contrary, all soils composed of the moul- 

 derings [debris] of granite or schistus, almost all 

 sandy soils, those which are moist and cold of the 

 immense argilo-sihcious table lands [plateaux ar- 

 gilo-silicieux] which separate the basins of great 

 rrversf — the ground where the fern, the little 

 rush [petit ajonc] the heath, les pet its carex blaacs, 

 the whitish moss spring spontaneously — almost 

 all the soils infested with cvci le a chapelets, with 

 dogs-tooth, with bent grass [agrostis,] red sorrel, 

 and the little feverfew — that soil where, unless so 

 clayey as to offer great, difficulty to cultivation, on- 

 ly rye, potatoes, and buckwheat, can be made, 

 and where sainfoin and the greater part of the 

 crops of commerce cannot succeed — where, how- 

 ever, trees of all kinds, and especially the resinous 

 kinds, the wood-pine, the sea pine, the larch, the 

 northern pine, and the chestnut, thrive better than 

 in the best land — all these soils are without the 

 calcareous principle, and all the improving ma- 

 nures in which it is found, would give to these the 

 qualities ofj and nourish the growths peculiar to 

 calcareous soils. 



But there, more than elsewhere, it is especially 

 necessary to avoid too much haste. Liming upon 

 a great scale, ought not to be done, until after hav- 

 ing succeeded in small experiments on many dif- 

 ferent parts of the ground designed to be improved. 



*Though both the truth and the usefulness of this 

 passage, in general, are admitted, yet it is incorrect in 

 the position that none of the "compounds of lime" 

 would be advantageously employed on calcareous soils. 

 On tin- contrary, the sulphate of lime (gypsum) the 

 most important compound as a manure, next to the 

 carbonate, is most effective where the land has lime in 

 some other form: and indeed (as has been maintained 

 elsewhere) it seems generally inert and useless on 

 soils very deficient in lime. — Essay on Calcareous Ma- 

 nures, pp. 50, 92. 



tThe character of the lands called by the author 

 "plateaux argilo-silicieux ," and which he refers to fre- 

 quently in the course of his essay, can only be gather- 

 ed from the context. They are poor, intractable under 

 tillage, and but little pervious to water. The name in- 

 dicates their composition to be silicious and aluminous 

 earth almost entirely. It may be inferred that such 

 lands resemble in soil the elevated level ridges which 

 in lower Virginia separate dilferent water courses, and 

 especially those which in addition to being miserably 

 poor, are remarkably close, stiff, and "water-holding" 

 — and are in some places called "cold livery land," 

 "pipe-clay," or "cray-fish" soils. Soil of this kind, 

 and of the most marked character, is particularly de- 

 scribed at page 40, Essay on Calcareous Manures, 

 2nd ed. M. Puvis elsewhere speaks of this "argilo-si- 

 licieux" soil as being found every where in France, 

 and as known in different places under the various 

 names of "terrain blanc," "blanche terre," in the south, 

 "boulbenne," in the north, of "terre clytre,"and "ter- 

 re a bois" — and in the basin of the Loire, "terre de So- 

 logne." The last name would direct us to the lands of 

 Sologne, which furnish it, as it may be presumed, as 

 being of like quality. Arthur Young says "Sologne is 

 one of the poorest and most unimproved provinces of the 

 kingdom, and one of the most singular countries I 

 have seen. It is flat, consisting of a poor sand or gra- 

 vel, every where on a clay or marl bottom, retentive 

 of water to such a degree that every ditch and hole 

 wa3 full of it." Tr. 



Extent of surface to which lime is suitable. 



7. A great proportion of the soil of France does 

 not contain the calcareous principle. The country 

 of primitive formation — the mountains of which 

 the rock is not calcareous — many soils even, of 

 which the subsoils enclose calcareous formations 

 — the great and last alluvion which has covered 

 the surluce, and which still composes it wherever 

 the return waters have not carried it oh' with 

 them — also extensive surfaces, in the composition 

 of which the calcareous principle had not entered 

 but in small proportions, and which small amount 

 has been used by the successions of vegetation — 

 all these kinds of soil, which compose at least 

 three-fourths of the surface of France, to be fer- 

 tilized, demand calcareous manures. If it is ad- 

 mitted that one-third of all this space has already 

 received aid from lime, marl, ashes of wood, or of 

 peat, of bones burnt, or pounded, there will still 

 remain the half of France to be improved by such 

 means: an immense task, doubtless — but of which 

 the results will be still more prodigious, since it 

 will cause the products of all this great space to 

 be increased by one-half^ or more. 



Of the various modes of applying lime to the soil. 



8. Three principal procedures are in usage for 

 applying lime. The first is the most simple, and 

 is the most general wherever lime is obtained 

 cheaply, and where culture is but little advanced 

 in perfection, and hand labor is dear. This con- 

 sists in putting the lime [the burned limestone] 

 immediately on the ground in little heaps at 20 

 feet average distance, and each heap containing, 

 according to the rate of liming, between a cubic 

 foot of the stone, to half that quantity. When 

 the lime has been slaked by exposure to the air, 

 and has fallen into powder, it is spread over the 

 surface, so as to be equally divided. 



9. The second mode differs from the first in this 

 respect: the heaps of stone are covered with a coat 

 of earth, about six inches thick, according to the 

 size of the heap, and which is equal to five or six 

 times the bulk of the lime. When the lime be- 

 gins to swell, in slaking, the cracks and openings 

 in the heap are filled with earth: and when the 

 lime is reduced to powder, each heap is worked 

 over, so as to mix thoroughly the lime and the 

 earth. If nothing hurries the labor, this last op- 

 eration is repeated at the end of 15 days — and 

 then after waiting two weeks more, the mixture 

 is spread over the soil. 



10. The third process, which is adopted where 

 culture is more perfect, where lime is dear, and 

 which combines all the advantages of liming 

 without offering any of their inconveniences, 

 consists m making compost heaps of lime and 

 earth, or mould. For that, there is first made a 

 bed of earth, mould, or turf, of a foot, or there- 

 about, in thickness. The clods are chopped down, 

 and then is spread over a layer of unslaked lime 

 of a hectolitre* for the 20 cubic feet, or a ton to 

 the 45 cubic feet of earth. Upon this lime, there 



*The hectolitre contains 6102.8 English cubic inch- 

 es, or is equal to 2.83, (or about 2.6-7) Winchester 

 bushels. Therefore the hectolitre is rather more in 

 proportion to the hectare, than our bushel is to the 

 acre. The decalitre (named next page) is the tenth 

 of a hectolitre, and of course the "double decalitre," ii 

 the fifth. Tk. 



