OF MANURE. 193 



both tried without dung. The application commonly is to 

 the summer-fallow : he has also applied it to pasture, quite 

 hot, and in compost as above described, and found both 

 answer well; but the time of application was July, and he 

 soon found, that it ought to lie at least one year or more 

 before the field was ploughed. 



Mr Ballingal having used from 500 to 1000 bolls per 

 annum, for several years, his experience may be confidently 

 relied on. He remarks, that lime, if exposed to rain, or 

 even to frost, and slacked like mortar, loses half its effect ; 

 no care can then mix it intimately with the soil. His land 

 is wet, and often when the lime is driven, unfit for carting 

 upon the field, nor are the ridges prepared for spreading 

 the lime ; without having fallen upon such a plan, there- 

 fore, he could never have used lime to equal advantage. 

 He adds, that an intelligent neighbour of his, brings his 

 lime from the kiln, lays it in small heaps, about a firlot of 

 shells in each heap, or four heaps per boll, on the fallow ; 

 covers these instantly with earth, which slacks the lime, 

 and when it is completely so, he spreads it in powder, quite 

 hot, on the fallows, and ploughs it in with a light furrow. 

 This saves labour and expence. He never uses water in 

 slacking lime, and the effects of his practice are very good ; 

 the earth, or rather the moisture in it, slacks the lime most 

 completely, and no water is necessary.* This is an ex- 



are greater and more immediate than in any other way. By Mr Ballin* 

 gal's plan, the lime can be carried to the field in autumn, or even in 

 winter, which, though an old practice, could not be done with equal 

 safety, as under the proposed system. 



* A correspondent contends, that lime is best laid on the land in 

 small heaps, and immediately covered with earth, which in a damp or 



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