NO. 4. 



THE FARMKHS' CABINET. 



53 



Umo as Ji ITIaMiii'o. 



[The following conmninication is from a sub- 

 scriber revsicling in Hopewell, Cuinherland 

 County, New Jersey. In rep^ard lo the use 

 of lime as a manure, we possess but little 

 practical knowledge — on this point we de- 

 sire information for ourselves as well as 

 for the Agricultural rommiinity, and we 

 hope that some of our practical farmers 

 who have been in the habit of applying 

 lime as a manure, will furnish us with the 

 information sought for by our correspond- 

 ant.] 



Sir. — As the season of the year in which 

 the farmers of this portion of the country 

 usually apply manure, is near at hand, any 

 information on the subject of manures would 

 h be gladly received, particularly I>ime. Lime 

 has been used in some parts of this county, 

 latterly, and is, by some farmers, considered 

 a valuable manure ; whilst others considered 

 it of no value, and some think it decidedly 

 injurious to the soil. This difference I am of 

 opinion, is occasioned by the ditTerent metii- 

 ods of applying it ; and as lime has been used 

 in Pennsylvania as a manure for many years, 

 you may perhaps be enabled to give inLrma- 

 tion from practical farmers as to the best 

 method of applying it. Whether lime is of 

 itself a marmre, and what vegetr.ble matter 

 makes the best green dressing with it. — 

 Whether it should be spread on the green 

 crop sometime before ploughing.nr be plough- 

 ed under immediately — whether the seed 

 should be sown immediately after plough- 

 ing, or the lime suffered to decompose the 

 green crop first. A Subscrider. 



Lime was thought to be a simple sub- 

 stance, until it was decomposed by Sir H. 

 Davy, who found it to consist of oxygen and 

 a metallic base, which he denominated cal- 

 cium. Quicklime in its pure state, whether 

 in powder, or dissolved in water, is injurious 

 to plants. Grass is killed by watering it 

 with lime water. But lime in its state of 

 combination with carbonic acid, is a useful 

 ingredient in soils. Calcareous earth is 

 found in the ashes of the greater number of 

 plants; and exposed to the air, lime cannot 

 long continue caustic, but soon becomes uni- 

 ted to carbonic acid. When lime, wiiether 

 freshly burnt or slacked, is mixed with any 

 moist fibrous vegetable matter, aiul 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 oxygen abound in all vegetable 

 matters, it becomes at the same time con- 

 verted into carbonate of lime. 



Mild lime, powdered limestone, marl, or 

 chalk, have no action of this kind on vegeta- 

 ble matter : by their action they prevent the 

 too rapid decomposition of substances alrea- 



|dy dissolved ; but they have no tendency to 

 jform soluble matters. It is obvious from 

 j these circumstances, that the operation ol 

 'quicklime, and marl or chalk, depends on 

 principles altogether dilT-'rent. Quicklime, 

 in the act of becoming mild, prepares scduble 

 out of insoluble matter. It is on this cir- 

 cumstance that the operation of lime in the 

 preparation for wheatcrops depends ; and its 

 efBcacy 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, de- 

 pends on the (luantity of inert vegetable mat- 

 ter than it contains. The solution of the 

 question, whether marl, mild lime, or pow- 

 dered limestone ought to be applied, depends 

 on the quantity of calcareous matter already 

 in the soil. All sulids are imjiroveii by mild 

 lime, and ultimately by quicklime, which do 

 not effervesce with acids; and sands more 

 than clays. When a soil, deficient in calcare- 

 ous matter, contains much soluble vegetable 

 manure, the application of quicklime should 

 always be avoided, as it either tends to de- 

 compose the soluble matters by uniting to 

 their carbon and oxygen so as to become mild 

 lime, or it combines with the soluble matters, 

 and forms compounds, having less attraction 

 for water than the pure vegetable substance. 

 The case is the same with respect to most 

 animal manures ; but the operation of the 

 lime is different in diflTerent cases, and de- 

 pends on the nature of the animal matter. 



Lime should never be applied with animal 

 manures, unless they are too rich, or for the 

 purpose of preventing noxious effluvia. It is 

 injurious when mixed with any common 

 dung, and tends to render the extractive mat- 

 ter iiisoluijle. In those cases in which fer- 

 mentation is used to produce nutriment from 

 vegetable substances, linse is always effiea- 

 cious, as with tanner's bark. 



The lime that is used in agriculture, is 

 that which has been slac'ied by air; un- 

 slacked lime if not combined with manures 

 which moderates its action, or with such bod- 

 ies as can furnish enough carbonic acid to 

 saturate it, will, according to Chaptai,, 

 prove hig'ily injurious to vegetation. Lime 

 and plaster in conjunction, possess the most 

 advantageous effects — the lime actina-as food 

 for the soil, and the plaster for the plant — 

 the one in meliorating the soil, the other in 

 exciting it to action. I am well satisfied 

 says Cooi'ER, from experience of 22 years, 

 of ashes and lime as manures, and from what 

 I have seen for the last eighteen 3'ears, and 

 experienced for five years, that lime is much 

 cheaper and more durable Cm grain or grass 

 than any other manure that I have a knowl- 

 edge of. I am, however, fully satisfied that 

 it would be better to procure either, than to 



