THE FA 



R8' REGISTER. 



Vol. IN. 



NOVEMBER, 1835. 



No. 7. 



EDMUND RUFFIX, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. 



ON THE USE OF LIME AS MANURE. 



By M. Puvis. 



Translated for the Farmers' Register from the Annates dc I'Jlg- 

 riciUbure Francaise, of 1835. 



[Concluded from page 3C6.] 



Various qualities of lime. 



22. It is necessary for the farmer to know the 

 nature of the lime which he uses. It may be 

 pure, or mixed with silex, argil, or magnesia. 

 Pure lime is the most economical, the most ac- 

 tive, that which can produce the most effect in the 

 least quantity. 



Silicious limestone is used in greater quantity. 

 The lime from it receives, as does the foregoing, 

 the name of hot lime, and there is little difference 

 in the application, except that more of the latter 

 is wanting. 



The argillaceous lime is the same as the hydrau 



Of second timings. 



23. When the limed field returns to the state in 

 which it was before the operation, when the same 

 weeds re-appear, and the crops lower in product, 

 it is lime to renew the application of lime. It may 

 be conceived that the time of the second liming 

 depends on the amount given in the first. When 

 the dressing has been light, it is necessary, as is 

 done by the Flemings and the Manceaux, to re- 

 commence entirely, or to the extent of the first 

 dressing: when it has been heavy, the next may 

 be diminished by one-half. Besides, in this mat- 

 ter we should take counsel of the state of the soil, 

 and of experience, because there are some lands 

 which demand, and can use heavier doses of lime 

 than others. 



Quantities applied. 



24. The quantities of first as of second dress- 



he, lime or the poor lime of builders. It appears that ! "g s of lime > vai T with the consistence of soils: 

 the first two kinds are more favorable to forming ,he 7 0U S ht 1o bc enial] on Hglrt and sandy soils— 



and may, without ill consequences, be heavy on 



clay soils. 



gram, while the latter favors more, the growth of 

 straw, grasses, and leguminous crops. It is bet- 

 ter ibr the improvement of the soil, but a heavier 

 dose of it is required. 



Magnesian line acts very powerfully, but ex- 

 s the soil if given in a large dose, or if it. is 

 not followed by alimentary manure in abundance. 

 It has exhausted some districts in England, and 

 entire provinces of America,* and it. is to this kind 

 that seem due most of the complaints made 

 against lime. 



By chemical processes the farmer may make 

 himself sure of the nature of the lime which he 

 uses. 



Pure lime is commonly white, and is dissolved 

 without any thing being left, in nitric or muriatic 

 acid. 



Silicious lime is often gray, and leaves a sand) 

 residue [after solution,] which is rough to the 

 touch. 



Argillaceous lime is obtained from stones which 

 have a clayey odor and appearance: it is common- 

 ly yellow — and leaves, after the solution, a resi- 

 due which is mostly an impalpable powder, [etqui 

 prend en masse,] which may be formed into a mass 

 when wet. 



Magnesian lime is made from stone commonly 

 colored brown or pale yellow; it forms a white 

 cloud in nitric acid, diluted with water, and used 

 in less quantity than enough for saturation. 



*The author has been deceived by exaggerated ac- 

 counts of injury from liming in America. It is prob- 

 able that wherever it occurred, it was caused by the 

 usual ignorance of the action of lime: from erroneous- 

 ly considering it as an alimentaiy, and directly fertil- 

 izing manure, and after applying it, wearing out the 

 soil by continued grain crops. Such effects are spo- 

 ken of by Bordley. En. Farm. Rig. 



Vol. Ill— 49 



The dose ought to vary according as the soil is 

 more or less pervious to water, or as drained well 

 or ill by its texture. Small applications to soils 

 from which the superfluous water does not pass 

 easily, are but little felt; but if the dressing is 

 heavy, and the ploughing deep, the lime aids the 

 draining, and adds to the healthy state of the soil. 

 St may be conceived that the quantity of lime 

 ought also to be increased with the annual quanti- 

 ty of rain that falls — because in proportion to that 

 quantity ought the openness of the soil, and its 

 fitness for draining, to be extended. 



Nevertheless, the practices of the departments 

 of the North, and of La Sarthe, seem to indicate 

 the average dressing which suits in general for 

 land: thus the liming of the North, which every 

 ten or twelve years gives to the soil 40 hectolitres 

 of lime to the hectare, or a little more than three 

 hectolitres a year, agrees with that of La Sarthe, 

 which gives eight or ten hectolitres every three 

 years. The first plan gives at one dressing what 

 the other distributes in four: as both make a like 

 average, it may be thence inferred that the earth 

 demands annually three hectolitres of lime to the 

 hectare, [3| bushels to the acre,] to sustain its fe- 

 cundity. But as neither the soil nor the plants 

 consume all this quantity of lime, it is to be be- 

 lieved, that at the end of a greater or less length 

 of time, the soil will have received enough to 

 have no more need of it for a certain space of 

 time. 



Marnier of treating limed lands. 



25. After having by liming, given the soil a 

 great productive power, having put it in condition 

 to produce the most valuable crops, which are of- 

 ten also the most exhausting, it is necessary to 

 husband these resources — to give manure in re- 

 turn for the products obtained — to employ as litter, 



