183.5.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



365 



Theapplicationof8000hectolitres[8490bushels] 

 of lime, of the value of 6000 francs [$1116] upon 

 32 hectares [80 acres] of ground, marie successive- 

 ly during nine, years, has then more than doubled 

 the crops of winter grain, the seed being deducted. 

 The other crops of the farms have received a pro- 

 portional increase, and the revenue of the propri- 

 etor, in doubling, has annually increased two- 

 thirds mure than the amount of the sum expend- 

 ed in the purchase of lime. Still, there is not ye: 

 Half the arable land limed, since of 66 hectares, 

 only 32 have received this improvement. 



The products of 1834 are still greater than those 

 of 1S33. But these are sufficient to prove the im- 

 portance and utility of applying lime to suitable 

 soils. 



Many other examples sustain these results; and 

 from them all it. appears, that the wheat Beddings 

 are increased from double to triple — that the rye 

 lands, from bringing four to five [to one of seed] 

 in rye, are able to bring six to eight in wheat — and 

 that other products are increased in proportion. 

 The melioration then is, relatively, much greater 

 upon bad ground than upon good, since it is two- 

 thirds and more on the wheat land, and on the rye 

 lands the crop is increased in value three-fold. 



Flemish liming. 



13. The use of calcareous manures in the de- 

 partment of the North, as in Belgium, appears to 

 be as old as good farming. It is now much less 

 frequent in Belgium. The ancient and repeated 

 limings have, as it seems, furnished to great 

 part of the soil, all that is necessary to it, for the 

 present. But the department of the North still 

 receives lime, marl, or ashes, every where, or 

 nearly so, where lime is not a component ingre- 

 dient of the soil. They distinguish in this coun- 

 try two kinds of liming. The first [chaulage fon- 

 der,'] consists in giving to the soil every 10 or 12 

 years, before seed time, four cubic metres, or 40 

 hectolitres of lime to the hectare.* They often 

 mix with the slaked lime, ashes of dead coal, or of 

 peat, which enter into the mixture in the propor- 

 tion of from a third to a half, and take the place 

 of an equal quantity of lime. The other mode of 

 liming [chaulage jPassohfnent,] is given in com- 

 post, and at every renewal of the rotation, or upon 

 the crop of spring grain. It is also in regular use 

 in this country, still more than in Belgium, upon 

 the meadows, on cold pasture lands, which do not 

 receive the waters of irrigation. It warms the 

 ground, and increases and improves its products. 

 The older the compost is, the greater its effect, 

 which lasts from 15 to 2D years, at the end of 

 which time the dressing is renewed. 



14. The limings of Normandy, the most an- 

 cient of France, are kept up in the neighborhood 

 of Bayeux, while elsewhere they arc forbidden in 

 the leases: however, now they go over all the sur- 

 face which has need of them; but in place of be- 

 ing applied immediately to the soil, as in the an- 

 cient method, the lime is almost always put in 

 compost. 



* 46 bushels to the acre, English or American mea- 

 sure. 



Liming of La Sarthe. 



15. Of the modes of using lime, that of La 

 Sarthe seems preferable. It is at once economi- 

 cal and ]"■<> 'v.i i'xve, and secures the soil from all 

 exhaustion. It is given every three years, at each 

 renewal of the rotation, in the average quantity 

 of 10 hectolitres to the hectare,* in compost made 

 in advance, with seven or eight parts of mould, or 

 of good earth, to one of lime. They use thiscom- 

 I 0! I on the land lor the autumn sowing, and placed 

 alternately with rows of farm-yard manure. This 

 method, of which the success is greater from day 

 to day, is extending on the great body of flat ar- 

 gilo-si!icious lands, which border the Loire; and 

 it would seem that this method ought to be adopt- 

 ed every where, on open soils that permit surplus 

 water to drain off' easily. On very moist soils, 

 the dose of lime ought perhaps to be increased. 



We would desire much to inculcate with lorce 

 the suitableness', and eminent advantages, of usijag 

 at the same time lime and [alimentary] manure. 

 licvii they do better still, in using at the same 

 time a compost of lime with earth and dung. In 

 addition, during the half century that the Man- 

 ceaux have been liming, the productiveness of the 

 soil has not ceased to increase. 



16. The countries of which we have spoken, 

 are those of France in which liming is most gen- 

 eral. However more than half the departments 

 I think, have commenced the use, and in a sixth, 

 or nearly, it seems to be established. Doubtless, 

 the first trials do not succeed every where. There 

 is required a rare combination of conditions for 

 new experiments, even when they have succeeded, 

 to induce their imitation by the great mass. 

 Still, successful results are multiplied, and become 

 the centres of impulse, from winch meliorations 

 extend. 



English lining. 



17. The English limings seem to be established 

 upon quite another principle from that of France. 

 They are given with such prodigality, that the 

 melioration upon the limed soil, has no need to be 

 renewed afterwards. Whilst that in France we 

 are content to give from a thousandth to a hun- 

 dredth of lime to the tillable soil, from 10 to 100 

 hectolitres the hectare, they give in England from 

 one to six hundredths, or from 100 to 600 hecto- 

 litres the hectare. The full success of the method 

 of our country might make us regard the English 

 method as an unnecessary waste. It seems that 

 they sacrifice a capital five, six, ten times greater, 

 without obtaining from it a result much superior; 

 and that without lavishing [alimentary] manures 

 also afterwards, that the future value of the soil 

 would be endangered, in the hands of a greedy 

 cu'nivator. 



We will not urge the condemnation of a prac- 

 tice which seemslo have resulted in few inconve- 

 niencies. The abundance of alimentary manures 

 which the English farmer gives to his [limed] 

 soils, has guarded against exhaustion: and then, 

 in very moist ground, they have doubtless by the 

 heavy liming, made the soil healthy, and its na- 

 ture seems modified for a long time to come; and 

 such kinds, and where humus abounds, will take 



fll£ bushels to the acre. 



