No. 7. 



Lime. 



221 



a more gradual process. If the first quantity 

 is tlirown on, the land receives a surfeit, 

 from which it does not recover for sometime; 

 in other words, it takes sometime for so lartj-e 

 an application to be assimilated with tlie soil, 

 while with a smaller amount we gain the 

 same end as rapidly, if not more so, and iar 

 more prudently, for wo feel our way, and 

 watch the progress of our land towards the 

 degree of fertility we are endeavouring to 

 reach, and in this way mark the action of 

 the manure, and study the capacity and con 

 dition of our land. 



We presume that one of the sources of 

 complaint against lime, comes from its not 

 showing its effects with sufficient rapidity 

 to please the hurried and excited hopes of 

 those who apply it, and it is perhaps tor this 

 reason that they heap on large quantities to 

 -meet their impatient expectations. 



It is seldom, if ever, that this agent takes 

 the trouble to try to make itself popular by 

 acting in a hurry. It has, in the first place, 

 to make the acquaintance of the new friend 

 to which it is just introduced, and it may be 

 a considerable time before their tastes are 

 found so congenial as to admit of the reserve 

 and hesitation of a first approach, ripening 

 into the warmth of friendship. Two or three 

 years may pass over — in one case we heard 

 of five — before much effect is observed. 

 But then during this period of apparent in- 

 ertness, it is very far from doing nothing. 

 On the contrary it is hard at work, acting 

 \\\mn all the materials about it worthy of its 

 notice, or destined by nature to aid it in the 

 great end of cultivation. These may not, 

 however, be in a state to be easily and ra- 

 pidly affected bythe lime. Much will de- 

 pend on this, not perhaps as to the ultimate 

 purpose, but as to the effects of the applica- 

 tion being more or less immediately percept- 

 ible ; and if its influence were rapid, it is 

 clear that the intervals of its application 

 must be short. While one of the great re- 

 commendations of this material is that after 

 a sufficient quantity is 'put on the ground, 

 the farmer may fold his hands and mark how 

 beautifully it will unfold the fertilizing ^and 

 rich qualities of his soil. 



There is one argument against the use of 

 large quantities of lime at a single dressing, 

 unless when authorized by circumstances, 

 and in favour of small amounts at short in- 

 tervals, that is perhaps worthy of notice. 

 Every one who has seen fields ploughed that 

 have been limed, must have remarked the 

 very considerable quantity remaining below 

 the surface, and at some depth. Is not this 

 an indication that more has been put on the 

 ground than was of any use — more tlian the 

 soil could employ 1 and if so, this por-tion is 



thrown away, for it lies on the subsoil, out 

 of reach of all crops, and putting at a very 

 sullen defiance all cultivation, unless we 

 turn it up by deep ploughing, and with it 

 the virgin soil on which it rests; a practice, 

 that although eminently useful, most farm- 

 ers oppose. A superficial working of the 

 earth is more to their taste — by which pre- 

 dilection they lose this manure, that has 

 fallen some six inches or more out of their 

 reach, and we have little doubt some por- 

 tions of other dressings, that have subsided 

 until they came upon a compact inert sub- 

 soil, that did not allow of any further action. 

 Lime, as well as other manures, must be 

 near enough to the surface to be acted on by 

 the atmosphere, and where it has gravitated 

 towards the centre of our orb as abovemen- 

 tioned, it is beyond the influence of any 

 action or agent known to man. In the re- 

 marks that we have made,w'e have had to 

 encounter great varieties and great diflcr- 

 ences of opinion; in the few that now re- 

 main, there will probably be very little dif- 

 ference of opinion to reconcile. In the 

 application of lime, the first great and indis- 

 pensable end to secure, is its complete incor- 

 poration with the soil. To effect this tho- 

 roughly, the lime must be in a state of very 

 fine division, as chemical action takes place 

 only slightly and imperfectly, where the par- 

 ticles of bodies are not as minute as it is 

 possible to make them. The manner of 

 making the application is therefore of great 

 importance. Our mode of doing it is, it lias 

 appeared to us, somewhat too careless and 

 inartificial. The throwing it from a cart, 

 very often, as we have seen, in a high wind, 

 is a mode of distribution far too slovenly for 

 any one who wishes to attain the character 

 of a neat and careful farmer. It must in 

 this m.anner be far too unequally distributed. 

 The throwing it in heaps, and then spread- 

 ing, is no doubt far preferable; it may take 

 more time and labour, but does it not secure 

 the object every farmer has in view. But 

 what would be better than either of these 

 common modes of spreading this manure, 

 would be some machine on wheels, or at- 

 tached to a cart, that would dust our fields 

 as it moved along: an invention of tliis kind 

 would distribute it equally over the ground 

 and tell the farmer the exact quantity that 

 he had used. It seems a prevailing opinion 

 in parts of Europe, that lime is of much 

 more use when thrown on a fallow, than 

 when put upon the sod; and we have no 

 doubt that it effects one important object, 

 better in this way than in the other — that 

 of extirpating weeds. A good deal of labour 

 is necessary in this mode of cultivation; after 

 the land is fallowed and harrowed, and tho 



