[0.8. 



Lir. 



259 



Dung and inexperienced farmer astray; for 



he (Joes not fairly recommend a preference 

 ir mag'nesian lime, he is certainly very in- 

 fferenl about the mixture. From lonrr ob- 

 >rvation upon the effects of lime in tanning, 

 1 building, and in the manuring of land, 1 

 ive discovered a great difference in its qua- 

 ties, and from recent experiment, I am sa- 

 sfied that those different results proceed 

 om the foreign substances attached to the 

 me, and not from any peculiarity in the lime 

 self. Most of the lime that comes to our 

 larket from the great valley of Lancaster 

 id Chester county, is very soluble in water, 

 iixing with it quickly, and forming a sub- 

 ance like milk or cream, and is the best so- 

 ition known for the preparatory operations 

 ' morocco-dressers and tanners of leather, 

 hree bushels of such lime is quite equal to 

 ur and a half from the quarries about New 

 arden and London-grove, in Chester county; 

 it the latter lime is as much superior for 

 lilding as the former is for tunning. Bricks 

 id with this caustic lime set quickly, and 



will temper 50 percent, more sand than 

 le valley lime. But in this kind of lime 

 lere is a difference for building, proportioned 



the quantity of sand contained in the Jime. 

 at for land, I prefer lime as pure as it can 

 ; obtained. Within a few years past a great 

 iriety of opinions have sprung up about the 

 •oper quantity of lime for an acre of land, 



order to insure the best success in agricul- 

 ire. Similar experiments in different Conn- 

 ies have produced very different results. 

 I England the experiments are in favour of 

 ur, five and six hundred bushels to the acre. 

 1 France from 30 to 50. In Chester county 

 le opinion is gaining ground that 50 bushels 

 •8 as good as 100. An intelligent farmer 

 om that neighbourhood informed me, that 

 few years ago he limed over one of his 

 sids at the rate of 60 bushels to the acre, 

 id then limed a strip of land across themid- 

 e of the field at the rate of 60 bushels more, 

 il he had never been able to obtain any ad- 

 intage from tiie additional quantity. On 

 le other hand, some of the New .Tersey 

 .rmers, who obtain their lime from the 

 chuylkill, have increased their experiments 

 onj .'")0 bushels to 200 with the most flatter- 

 ig success. But I understand that those 

 xperiments have been made with the purest 

 ualities of lime. On this point many of the 

 irmers in Delaware are very particular; one 

 r them informed me, that some of the 

 chuylkill lime is so impregnated with mag- 

 esia that it is not worth buying, and other 

 inds so pure that you cannot buy too much 

 Fit; and this I hold to be the true nature 

 r the case everywhere, as Tillet, Tenant, 

 nd other agriculturists have shown in Eu- 

 3pe, " that magnesian lime is exceedingly 



injurious to land." This view of the subject 

 accounts for the entire want of confidence 

 that some people have in the use of lime as 

 a manure ; they say it is good for nothing ; 

 and having applied more magnesia than lime, 

 it is not only good for nothing but worse than 

 nothing. 



Magnesian lands produce no vegetation : 

 the earths found in soils are mostly silex, 

 clay, lime and magnesia, and where magne- 

 sia predominate.s, the land is always barren. 

 One of my neighbours spread at the rate of 

 1000 bushels to the acre on his garden, and 

 the produce was exceedingly great and ex- 

 cellent in quality. As for pure lime, I do 

 not know the quantity that would be injuri- 

 ous to vegetation. 1 have seen 400 bushels 

 of it applied to an acre of corn-land, and the 

 rich green colour of the plant, with its great 

 produce, sufficiently indicated the experiment 

 to be in the right course. But as to magne- 

 sian lime, I have no doubt of its being dele- 

 terious to vegetation, and think it should not 

 be purchased in any case where purer lime 

 can be obtained. 



In the fall of 1834 I bought a vessel load 

 of lime from the Schuylkill ; it was not sub- 

 jected to any chemical operation, but it had 

 the appearance and character of a good qua- 

 lity. It was deposited on the field all in one 

 place, where it was intended as a top-dress- 

 ing for grass. The spring work came on, 

 and the spreading was not finished until the 

 season had considerably advanced. In conse- 

 quence of this delay, and working at it at in- 

 tervals it was littered about and trampled 

 into the earth, and the sod not being taken 

 up, a great quantity must have remained on 

 the ground, but it never appeared to have 

 any other effect than to increase the imme- 

 diate growth of the grass ; but I bought, the 

 same winter, .500 bushels of magnesian lime, 

 that destroyed every vestige of grass wher- 

 ever a load of it was deposited. In 1825 I 

 tried an experiment with unburnt lime of a 

 very pure quality ; I ground 60 bushels in an 

 old-fashioned tanner's mill, and spread it on 

 an acre of land across the middle of a corn- 

 field; the effect was visible at a distance by 

 a greener colour, and a more luxuriant 

 growth ; it continued in the wheat crop, and 

 for many years after could be seen in a closer 

 and better quality of grass. Lime prepared 

 in this way is very heavy, about 120 pounds 

 to the bushel, and I am not sure but the mode 

 of application is better than to burn it. The 

 carbon that escapes by the action of the fire 

 has to be returned to the earth, before it is 

 useful to vegetation, but whether the ground- 

 lime will attract as much ammonia from the 

 atmosphere as the burnt lime, is a question I 

 arn unable to solve. The effect produced by 

 the ground lime was very great, for the sam- 



