366 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 6. 



up a heavy dose of lime, and as it seems, always 

 without inconvenient consequences: there is then 

 formed there the hamate of lime in the greatest 

 proportion, and we will see that that this combi- 

 nation is a great means of" productiveness in the 

 soil.* 



Surface liming. 



18. In Germany, where liming and marling, 

 like most other agricultural improvements, have 

 recently made great advances, besides the ordina- 

 ry modes of application, lime is used as a surface 

 dressing. They sprinkle over the rye, in the 

 spring, a compost containing 8 to 10 hectolitres oi 

 lime to the hectare, fifteen days after having sown 

 clover. Also on the clover of the preceding year, 

 they apply lime in powder, which had been slaked 

 in the water oi the dunghill, the dose being less 

 by one-hall: the effect upon the clover and the 

 following crop of wheat is very advantageous. 



In Flanders, where they use lime mixed with 

 ashes, it is particularly for the meadows, natural 

 or artificial, and the application is then made on 

 the surface. 



Burning lime. 



19. The burning of lime is done with wood, 

 with pit coal, or with peat; in temporary kilns, or 

 furnaces, in permanent, or in perpetual kilns. It is 

 burned in many places most economically with 

 coal, but it is not so good a manure as the lime 

 burned with wood, because, as it seems, of the 

 potash contained in the latter case. There are 

 but few places in which peat is used for this pur- 

 pose; however, in Prussia, they succeed with 

 three-fourths peat, and one-fourth wood. It is, 

 doubtless, a very economical process, and the Su- 

 citte a" Encouragement has given in its transac- 

 tions plans of peat kilns; but i know not whether 

 the operators who received prizes for their use, 

 have continued the practice. 



The temporary kilns admit of the burning of a 

 great quantity of lime; but the permanent kilns 

 burn it with most, economy of fuel. In the first, 

 5 quintals of wood burn 4 quintals, or 1 ton, or 

 2^ hectolitres of lime — and in the others, the same 

 quantity of wood will suffice for 6 quintals, or 3^ 

 hectolitres. But in the permanent kilns such is 

 the expense of construction and repairs, that they 

 cannot be justified except when kept in frequent 

 use. Coal burns lrom three to four times its bulk 

 of lime — the shape of the kiln, the kind of lime- 

 stone, and that of the coal, making the difference. 

 Hydraulic lime is calcined more easily than the 

 common [chaux grasse.] The eifg-shaped kilns 

 for coal seem to be preferable to the conical, which 

 are more generally niet with. 



*In this passage the author distinctly affirms the 

 truth of the chemical combination in the soil of calca- 

 reous and vegetable (or other putrescent) matter — or 

 the power of calcareous earth to fix and retain enrich- 

 ing matter — which is maintained in the Essay on Cal- 

 careous Manures, (pp. 30, 31,) to be the most import- 

 ant action of calcareous matter as an ingredient of soil. 

 Still M. Puvis seems to attach much less importance 

 to this than to other agencies of lime, which are con- 

 sidered in the Essav as of little value in comparison. 

 Tk. 



Precautions to be used in liming. 



20. Whatever may be the method adopted for 

 using lime, it is essential that, as with all calca- 

 reous manures, it should be applied in powder, 

 and not in a state like mortar — and upon the 

 earth when not wet. Until die lime is covered up 

 finally, all rain upon it ought to be avoided, which 

 reduces it to paste, or to clots: and this injures its 

 effect greatly, and even more than reasoning can 

 explain. It ought not to be placed but upon soil, 

 the surface mould of which drains itself natural- 

 ly [by permitting the water to pass through.] On 

 a marshy soil, unless the upper layer has been 

 well dried, or in a very moist soil, from which the 

 surface water does not sink or pass off easily, the 

 properties of' lime remain as locked up, and do 

 not make themselves seen, until, by new opera- 

 tions, the vegetable mould has been drained and 

 put in healthy condition. 



On an argillaceous and very humid soil, the use 

 of marl, which is applied in great quantities, is 

 preferable to that of lime, because that it can have 

 a more powerful effect in giving the deficient 

 health to the surface mould. On soil of this kind, 

 a deep ploughing is a preliminary condition, es- 

 sential to the success of either liming or marling: 

 because in increasing the depth of the till- 

 ed soil, we increase also the means of put- 

 ting the surface into healthy condition. 



21. To secure the effect of lime on the first 

 crop, it ought to be mixed with the soil some time 

 belbre the sowing of the crop:- however, if it is 

 used in compost, it is sufficient that the compost 

 may have been made a long time previously. 



Lime, whether alone, or in compost, spread 

 dry upon the soil, ought to be covered by a very 

 shallow first ploughing, preceded by a slight har- 

 rowing, in order that the lime, in the course of til- 

 lage, may remain always, as much as possible, 

 placed in the midst of the vegetable mould. 



Lime, reduced to the smallest particles, tends 

 to sink into the soil. It glides between the 

 small particles of sand and of clay, and descends 

 below the sphere of the nutrition of plants, and 

 stops under the ploughed layer of soil: and when 

 there in abundance, it forms by its combinations, 

 a kind of floor, which arrests the sinking water, 

 and greatly injures the crops. This is an inconve- 

 nience of lime applied in heavy doses, and is has- 

 tened by deep ploughing. 



[To be continued.] 



From the New England Farmer. 

 MUD FOR MANURE. 



If you should find no mines of marl on your 

 premises, worth working, it may be well to direct 

 attentiou to wdiat a geologist would call alluvial 

 deposites, or the mud lbund at the bottom of ponds, 

 rivers, creeks, ditches, swamps, &c. Some ponds 

 are totally dried up, in allot and dry summer; and 

 all ponds and rivers are so diminished, by a copi- 

 ous evaporation, as to leave part, and the richest 

 part, of their beds uncovered. And these beds, 

 where there has been no rapid current, are al- 

 ways found to contain a rich mud. In some 

 places, it reaches to a considerable depth. This 

 mud, though taken from fresh waters, has been 

 found to be a valuable manure, especially for dry, 



