No. 1. 



Lime Stone. 



tested, or may hereafter test, the theory by 

 experiment, to furnish us a statement of the 

 result for publication. We shall also be much 

 obliged to Mr. Partridge for a continuation 

 of his favors, 



Te the President of the Lyceum of Natural 

 History. 



Sir, — In a conversation I had with you on 

 board a steamboat on the North river, some- 

 time during the summer of 1835, relative to 

 lime, as applied agriculturally, I mentioned 

 the advantage of using it generally in a 

 ground state, as plaster is now used, instead 

 of burning it. You informed me, subsequent- 

 ly, that your farmer had applied some on 

 your land in a state of powder, and found it 

 decidedly beneficial. I then promised to 

 send you my written opinion on the subject, 

 and now beg leave to fulfil that promise, with 

 an apology for delaying it so many months. 



It is well known, to every intelligent agri- 

 culturalist, that soils covering lime-stone rocks 

 are the most productive of any on the globe. 

 I know of but one exception, when the lime- 

 stone is too highly charged with magnesian 

 earth. Our country attbrds many tacts in 

 proof of this assertion. I shall refer to two 

 locations as all sufficient for my purpose. 

 The state of Kentucky has a bed of lime- 

 Btone running underneath its whole surface, 

 and its natural soil has been produced, and is 

 still producing by the abrasion of those rocks. 

 The superior productive powers of the soil of 

 the State is well known to every intelligent 

 farmer in our extensive country, and is 

 spoken of in terms of admiration by the Eu- 

 ropeans. That part of Pennsylvania extend- 

 ing from the Lehigh Water Gap to Easton, 

 is a lime-stone country, and affords another 

 instance of its highly productive powers. 



In England, the soil deposited in valleys at 

 the foot of lime-stone hills, are equally pro- 

 ductive. The valley running from the city 

 of Bristol, to the city of Worcester, is of this 

 description, and there is no soil more produc- 

 tive in Great Britain. There are more than 

 twenty spurs of hills bounding that valley, 

 each containing large bodies of lime-stone 

 rock, and the springs flowing from them, are 

 BO charged with lime-stone, as to incrust 

 every thing lying in them. When the 

 springs issue from the rocks high up the 

 hills, they are much used for irrigating the 

 higher lands, and the beneficial eflects are 

 visible to every observer. 



Lime, in the state of Chalk, is also used 

 very generally on land near to the Chalk 

 Mountains in England. 



The lower part of this State abounds in 

 primitive lime-stone, and the preceding ob- 

 servations were made with a view to apply 

 the facts to rectify a material error commit- 



ted, as I conceive, by the farmers in using it 

 on their land. They burn the lime-stone at 

 considerable expense, and in that state use it 

 for agricultural purposes. I would suggest, 

 as a far better general application, that the 

 lime-stone be merely ground, and in that state 

 applied to the land. As this may be a new 

 mode of application, 1 shall endeavor to show 

 wherein it is preferable to the present. 



I have been frequently informed by farmers 

 who use burnt lime on their land, that they 

 keep it some months before using, and that 

 then the good effects are not observable the 

 first year. We have only to ascertain what 

 these facts prove, and the whole mystery will 

 be instantly solved. In burning lime-stone 

 two materials essential to agricultural pro- 

 ductiveness are driven off, its water and its 

 carbonic gas. In its nati'.ral state it is a car- 

 bonated hydrate, when burnt it is caustic 

 lime (oxide of calcium) made so by the heat 

 driving oft' its water and carbonic gas. Why 

 does the farmer delay putting it on his land, 

 but for the simple reason that it is too caustic 

 for vegetation. Why does it require to lie 

 in the soil one year before producing any 

 visible fertilizing effect] it is for nothing 

 more than to give it time to return again to a 

 state of carbonated hydrate, the same condi- 

 tion it was in before burning. 



I have said that lime-stone merely ground 

 is the best general mode of applying it to 

 agricultural purposes, there are some excep- 

 tions to this rule. When a soil contains 

 " hard roots, dry fibres, or other inert vegeta- 

 ble matter, a strong decomposing action will 

 take place between burnt lime, and the vege- 

 table matter, rendering that which was be- 

 fore comparatively inert, nutritive." Where 

 this is the case, it would be well for the 

 farmer to use one-third burnt lime, and two- 

 thirds of ground lime-stone, or any other pro- 

 portion he may find most efficacious. For 

 stiff heavy soils use the lime-stone coarsely 

 powdered, for in this state, after being well 

 ploughed and harrowed, so as to mix tho- 

 roughly with the soil, it would so lighten it 

 as to enable the sun and air to penetrate to 

 the roots of its vegetation, thereby rendering 

 the future crops more productive. For 

 lighter soils it cannot be ground too fine. 

 Our primitive lime-stone rocks are peculiar- 

 ly well calculated for this purpose, as the 

 particles are held together by a loose aggre- 

 gation, and therefore easily reduced to small 

 pieces, or to a fine powder, at the option of 

 the operator. 



The question was asked by a writer in a 

 late New York Farmer, " if it be possible 

 that ground lime-stone can answer the pur- 

 pose of plaster of Paris." I should say that 

 it can, and it may be, eventually, a better 

 purpose. The fertilizing property of plaster 



