No. 8. 



Masrnesian Lime. 



237 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Magnesian Lime. 



Mr. Editor, — On re-perusing the pages 

 of the back numbers of the Cabinet, a custom 

 to which I confess I am much addicted, I find 

 an article at page 389 of the 5th volume, on 

 " Magnesian Lime," which I would wish to 

 notice, for the purpose of drawing from the 

 writer farther information on a topic which 

 still agitates the minds of some of our prac- 

 tical friends, although to him this must ap- 

 pear strange, after what he has said to settle 

 the question by a verdict which would seem 

 to admit of no appeal : but as facts are stub- 

 born things, and eye-testimony goes a good 

 way with a class of persons who are accus- 

 tomed to judge pretty much by the light af- 

 forded by that mode of reasoning, I have 

 wrought myself up to the point of encounte^:- 

 ing from your correspondent a withering 

 glance that may possibly render me incapable 

 from ever looking into the subject again ; and 

 yet that would be a pity, for how could such 

 as I come to a knowledge of the truth, if we 

 were to give up one of our seven senses, and 

 consent to be led by the doctors, seeing, as 

 we do, that none are more apt to differ than 

 they? 



That the presence of magnesia in lime was 

 once believed to be injurious to vegetation, 

 cannot be denied. That it is now by many 

 considered rather advantageous than other- 

 wise that it should contain a certain por- 

 tion of magnesia, would also appear to be a 

 fact; while others there are who look upon 

 its presence as neither beneficial or hurtful, 

 farther than robbing the lime of just so much 

 carbonate — to which state it returns on ex- 

 posure to the atmosphere — as it is found to 

 contain on analysis. Now which way lies 

 the truth 1 And after Mr. Kinser has an- 

 swered this question, I would ask why is it 

 that lime, when quite pure from magnesia, 

 can be applied in almost any quantity to land 

 in almost any state, whether of poverty or 

 fertility, without injury to the crop, while 

 that which contains magnesia, to the amount 

 of about 40 per cent, cannot be used on the 

 same soils and under the same circumstances 

 to a greater extent than, say from 40 to 60 

 bushels per acre without manifest injury 1 

 We are told that in England lime is given 

 with impunity, even to the amount of 500 

 bushels per acre — what would be the result 

 if such excess were indulged in here with 

 lime containing 40 per cent, of magnesia ] 

 It may be said the difference is in the cli- 

 mates of the two countries, but I must be per- 

 mitted a difference of opinion. In the third 

 volume of the Cabinet, pp. 14, 17, there is re- 

 corded a series of experiments, the correct- 

 ness of which I was informed by the then 



editor of the Cabinet might be implicitly re- 

 lied upon, as they had been copied from a 

 diary or journal that had been kept by the 

 writer while in the management of certain 

 estates in Wales, upon which they had been 

 most carefully conducted, for the purpose of 

 ascertaining the value of lime in agriculture, 

 and where occasions had offered to prove that 

 its application, even to the extent of more 

 than 500 bushels per acre, had been attended 

 with the most beneficial results; but there 

 the limestone — a pure black marble — con- 

 tained, by analysis, 98 per cent, of carbonate, 

 with not a trace of magnesia. If the readers 

 of the Cabinet, having the 3d volume, would 

 turn to these pages, I think they would be 

 much interested with a perusal of their con- 

 tents. 



At page 275 of the 4th volume of the Ca- 

 binet is a letter on this subject from Mr. 

 Mahlon Kirkbride, of Morrisville, Bucks Co., 

 which shows conclusively — at least tome, 

 who saw and examined the land upon which 

 the lime had been used in the way that he 

 states, and found it comparatively barren, the 

 year after the time when he wrote — that the 

 injury had been caused by the lime, which, 

 it is admitted, contained magnesia in its com- 

 position. He says, " my father had a field 

 of 2.5 acres of as good wheat soil as could be 

 found — a deep loam. Its produce for years 

 stood almost unrivalled ; he, wishing to make 

 it still better, applied to a part 50 bushels of 

 lime to the acre, to the balance (excepting 

 half an acre) about 65 or 70 bushels to the 

 acre; the result was as follows: in 1837, 

 wheat crop not much more than the seed ; 

 1S38, corn, about 10 bushels per acre on the 

 heaviest limed part, on the other 40 bushels ; 

 1639, oats good where there was the least 

 lime, on the other part 15 to 20 bushels per 

 acre. The half-acre above alluded fo received 

 50 bushels, and the result was, of wheat not 

 a handful; of corn, some stalks three feet 

 high and two bushels of nubbins ; of oats, a 

 growth of straw 16 inches high, whicli re- 

 fused to show any symptoms of ripening, and 

 was cut to get it out of the way." It must 

 be added, the spot on which the lime had 

 been deposited when taken from the canal- 

 boat, and from whence it had all been remo- 

 ved with the most scrupulous care, had not, 

 three years after, produced a single trace of 

 herbage, not even a weed — would Mr. Kirk- 

 bride be pleased to inform us the present state 

 of that portion of his land 1 At page 55 of 

 the 5th volume of the Cabinet, notice is taken 

 of Mr. Kirkbride's communication by a wri- 

 ter who has had great experience in the use 

 of lime, and it is to be regretted that he did 

 not give us the analysis of that which he ap- 

 plied so unsparingly and profitably. 



Now I am sure I have no private interests 



