A TREATISE ON THE CONNECTION <OF 



lime ; in which case, the alkali would be disengaged. No 

 injury will arise from the application of a superabundance 

 of lime, provided that the soil contain a still greater 

 proportion of vegetable matter ; in which case, the alkali 

 -disengaged by the lime would act upon the vegetable 

 ^natter, and form a saline substance, similar to that which 

 .the : superabundant use of lime had decomposed. 



-Ground of this description, to which lime has been 

 applied, will no longer have a tendency to promote the 

 growth of sorel in preference to other plants ; its next 

 spontaneous growth will, probably, be chickweed, which 

 is a certain indication of its being in a state fit to pro- 

 duce grain o.r other crops. 



Magnesia has a greater affinity with the oxalic acid 

 than alkalis have, so that by the addition of earths, con- 

 taining magnesia, to ground producing a crop of sorel, 

 the acid will not only be neutralized, but the oxalat of pot- 

 ash, -the other component part of sorel, will likewise be 

 decomposed. By this means the alkali will be disen- 

 gaged, and put into a situation to act upon, and dissolve 

 the. inert vegetable matter contained in the soil. The salt 



forced 



