149 



soil will then yield an abundant crop of wheat, a 

 wheat soil will become capable of growing tobacco, 

 &c. The soil will become more grateful for 



manures, and maximum results will be obtained 



v 



%ith a minimum of outlay. 



It is said that the grain of the cerealia are 

 especially benefited by .a lime -manure. The 

 husk is stated to be thinner, the grain heavier 

 and yielding more flour, which is richer in 

 gluten. Also potatoes have been found to be 

 more mealy. In fact, such favorable accounts 

 are numberless. But on flax lime appears to 

 have a deleterious action, as some have stated that 

 it injures the fibre of the stem. 



Slaked lime, being an impalpable powder, is 

 apt to be washed into the subsoil, and limed 

 lands should therefore be deeply ploughed every 

 third or fourth year. 



The different properties of lime, to which we 

 must ascribe all the favorable results of its applica- 

 tion, are of a complicated nature, and it is difficult 

 to say to which of them it owes most of its repute. 

 Its mechanical action of rendering heavy soils lighter 

 and more porous, and therefore more permeable to 

 the influence of moisture and atmospheric air, may 

 sometimes be as important as its chemical action, 

 which may briefly be said to consist first, in its 

 being an important ingredient of inorganic plant- 

 food ; secondly, in its decomposing the insoluble 



