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matter, and they form a kind of compost together, 

 of which a part is usually soluble in water. 



By this kind of operation, lime renders matter 

 which was before comparatively inert, nutritive ; and 

 as charcoal and oxygene abound in all vegetable mat- 

 ters, it becomes at the same time converted into car- 

 bonate of lime. 



Mild lime, powdered limestone, marles or chalks, 

 have no action of this kind upon vegetable matter ; 

 by their action they prevent the too rapid decomposi- 

 tion of substances already dissolved ; but they have no 

 tendency to form soluble matters. 



It is obvious from these circumstances, that the 

 operation of quicklime, and marie or chalk, depends 

 upon principles altogether different. Quicklime in 

 being applied to land tends to bring any hard vegeta- 

 ble matter that it contains into a state of more rapid 

 decomposition and solution, so as to render it a pro- 

 per food for plants. Chalk, and marie, or carbonate 

 of lime will only improve the texture of the soil, or 

 its relation to absorption ; it acts merely as one of its 

 earthy ingredients. Quicklime, when it becomes 

 mild, operates in the same manner as chalk ; but in 

 the act of becoming mild, it prepares soluble out of 

 insoluble matter. 



It is upon this circumstance that the operation of 

 lime in the preparation for wheat crops depends ; and 

 its efficacy in fertilizing peats, and in bringing into a 

 state of cultivation all soils abounding in hard roots, 

 or dry fibres, or inert vegetable matter. 



The solution of the question whether quicklime 

 ought to be applied to a soil, depends upon the quan. 



