No. 7. 



Best Mode of SlaJdng Lime — Saltpetre. 



227 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Best Mode of Slaking Lime. 



Sir, — It is well known that lime, even 

 after an exposure of a whole winter, has 

 been found still unslaked ; and an opinion 

 exists tliat it requires the lapse, even of years, 

 to render it in a fit state to be applied for the 

 purposes of agriculture. This is now be- 

 lieved to be an error by those who have ap- 

 plied it in the only proper mode in which it 

 ought to be used, namely, by spreading it on 

 the surface of the land, and permitting it to 

 be operated upon by the influences of the 

 elements, and never by burying it with the 

 plough. Indeed, there is with me no longer 

 a question, that the proper mode of applica- 

 tion is that which is pointed out by your very 

 intelligent correspondent " Agricola," in your 

 last number, page 194. By that interesting 

 article, the " modus operandi" of lime seems 

 to have received a final settlement, and all 

 we have henceforth to do, is to " go forward," 

 the next desideratum being to know the best 

 mode of slaking it, as it comes from the kiln, 

 so that it shall be done speedily and effectu- 

 ally. 

 i On fallowed land this might be done by 



laying it in small hills, about a bushel in 

 each, at proper intervals, and covering it 

 with the surrounding mould, moderately 

 tliick, and clapped down with the back of the 

 spade, so as to exclude the admission either 

 of the air or rain, and prevent the escape of 

 heat and evaporation, and in a very few days, 

 if care be taken to keep the covering tight, it 

 will be found completely slaked, when it 

 might be spread, and harrowed in with the 

 seed — not ploughed under. For the cover- 

 ing of grass land, lime might be slaked in a 

 corner of the field, by first throwing off the 

 turf at the spot where it is intended to form 

 tlie heap, and pouring the water it is intended 

 to use in slaking, into the hole, and then 

 placing the lime, building the heap neatly, 

 covering the whole with the sods thrown off', 

 and others dug for the purpose, being careful 

 to put no water on the top of the heap of 

 lime, and seeing that the earth is replaced 

 as often as is requisite, so as to keep the 

 ■whole excluded from the air and rain. The 

 lime which lies on the wet surface of the 

 earth soon slakes, and the hot vapour which 

 rises therefrom, immediately penetrates the 

 whole heap above, and operates with the efi'ect 

 of boiling water, the heat still drawing more 

 moisture from the earth as long as the pro- 

 cess continues ; and no part of the steam 

 escaping, by reason of the covering of earth, 

 the whole mass will be found to have been 

 most completely slaked, in a surprisingly 

 short space of time, and be ready for applica- 

 tion. Let it be remembered, that to throw 



water on the top of lime, for the purpose of 

 slaking it, or permitting the turf to lie open, 

 thus exposing it to air and rain, is to retard 

 the process, as the heat which is engendered 

 flies off without penetrating at all the mass 

 of unslaked lime below, while that portion of 

 the lime which lies slaked on the top of the 

 heap runs together so closely as to exclude the 

 further passage of air and moisture; and thus 

 a great portion of the lime of those heaps left 

 exposed for a whole winter, have been found 

 to be but very partially operated upon, at the 

 time when they were required for use. 



The mode of dropping the heaps at regular 

 distances, and covering them with fine mould, 

 has been adopted on land planted with pota- 

 toes with the greatest advantage ; the lime, 

 completely pulverized, and lying on the sur- 

 face, after spreading, like so much Jine Jlour, 

 to be operated upon periodically by the rains 

 during the whole summer, the water there- 

 from gently percolating throucrh the pores of 

 the earth, and falling on the roots in that 

 state in which the lime can alone be taken 

 up — as lime-water, or lime in solution — 

 causing a growth and sweetness to the crop 

 that is truly surprising, and adding greatly 

 to its quantity and quality ; the crop coming 

 from the ground free from worms or canker, 

 bright and clean ; and, on cooking, will be 

 found far more nutritious than those culti- 

 vated with the aid of dung alone ; being more 

 dry and mealy, with thinner skins. 



I consider your correspondent's paper on 

 this subject as invaluable, and myself^ under 

 great obligation to him for the light which he 

 has thrown around it. I believe it to be the 

 truth, and that it will be found to hold good 

 to the end of the chapter. 



A Subscriber. 



P. S. I must compliment you on the em- 

 bellishments of the Cabinet — they far exceed, 

 in faithfulness and justness of execution, those 

 of any other agricultural periodical of the 

 country, and would form, at the end of the 

 year, a separate publication of interest and 

 value to the agricultural community. 



Saltpetre as a Manure. 



One hundred weight of saltpetre per acre 

 was sown by hand, on the 6th day of April, 

 on a crop of growing wheat, and to prevent 

 any error which might have arisen from a 

 difference in soil on one side of the field from 

 another, the saltpetre was carefully applied 

 to every two alternate ridges ; the two crops 

 were reaped, and threshed separately, the re- 

 sult being an increase of six bushels of wheat, 

 and upwards of two and a half hundred of 

 straw per acre, obtained at an outlay of 26.?. 

 sterling only. The effect on clover and other 

 lays is truly astonishing. — Eng. Paper. 



