LIM 



LIM 



245 



^^ Advantages of Ihne, — Though 

 there are exceptions to the ru!e. 

 yet in general, it may be confident- 

 ly as!«ertecl, that unles? where a 

 soil has by nature, enough of cal- 

 careous oialter in its composition 

 for the purposes of vegetation, it 

 can neither be brought into itf^ 

 most fertile state, nor will other 

 manures be so useful as they ought. 

 if lime or some other calcareou.x 

 earth, bo not previously applied. 

 By lime spread upon a moory soil, 

 good herbage is produced, whert 

 nothing but heath, and unpalatable 

 grasses grew before. B} the sam< 

 means, grass lands, instead of yield 

 ing nothing but bent, and other in 

 ferior grasses, have been covered 

 with those of a more valuable de- 

 scription. The utility of hme to 

 turnips is so great, that though in 

 the same field, where no lime had 

 been applied, the crop died away ; 

 yet in the limed part, the turnips 

 flourished with unabated vigour. 



'' The principles on which Lime 

 operates as a manure. — Quicklime 

 in powder, or dissolved, is injurious 

 to plants ; hence grass watered 

 with lime-water is destroyed. But 

 lime freshly burnt, or slacked, 

 forms a compost with vegetable 

 matter, which is soluble in water, 

 and nutritive to plants. Mild lime, 

 (as chalk, or quicklime again im- 

 pregnated with carbonic acid.) 

 chiefly operates by improving the 

 texture of the soil, and its relation 

 to absorption. 



LIME-STONE, a stone of a 

 calcareous nature, which, by calci 

 nation, or burning in the fire, be 

 comes lirne. There are many 

 kinds of lime-stone ; the hardest 



I kinds make the best lime, and re- 

 quire the most burning. Chalk 

 >.vill burn into lime, of the nature 

 of stone hme, but a great deal 

 weaker; linie may be made of 

 marble and alabaster, &c. But 

 the stones used for lime are mostly 

 o{ a bluish colour or inclining to 

 grey. They are «:ometimes purely 

 calcarious, hut often mixed with 

 tindissolvable stones, which lessen 

 their value. 



Some countries are very plenti- 

 ('ully furnished with these stones, 

 (jreat Britain and Ireland in par- 

 ticular. It is strange they have 

 heen found in so few places in 

 New-England. It has probably 

 been owing to want of attention. 

 An infallible way to distinguish 

 them is, by dropping upon them a 

 few drops of aqua fortis, spirit of 

 sea-salt, or oil of vitriol. All those 

 stones, on which these, or any 

 other strong acids, etTervesce, or 

 rise into bubbles, are limestones, 

 and will burn into lime. 



It is greatly to be wished, that 

 some persons in the various parts 

 of this country, would be furnished 

 with one or other of these acids, 

 and make frequent trials with 

 them. They who are not furnish- 

 ed with the proper acids, may 

 prove stones, by burning them for 

 some days in a smith's fire, and 

 then throwing them into water. 

 Possibly we may find the benevo- 

 lent Author of nature has not left 

 us so unfurnished with these valu- 

 able stone, as we have been ready 

 to imagine. 



The various sorts of Limestone, 

 — Sometimes limestone is almost 

 perfectly pure, as in the case with 



