182 



How ?nuch Lime should be applied to an Acre ? Vol. VIII. 



year, according to the length of the rotation. 

 In the former case, from 40 to 50 bushels 

 are applied per acre ; in the latter, from 10 

 to 12 bushels every third year. In both 

 modes of procedure, the quantity of lime 

 applied by the year, is nearly tlie same — 

 between three and a half and four bushels 

 per acre. These quantities are very much 

 less than those employed in our island, but 

 the soils are also greatly lighter, and the 

 climate, as well as the general treatment of 

 the land, very different. 



We may consider it, therefore, as a prin- 

 ciple recognised or involved in the agricul- 

 tural practice both of our own and of foreign 

 countries, that nearly the same annual addi- 

 tion of lime ought to be made to the land, 

 whether it be applied at long intervals or at 

 the recurrence of each rotation. There is, 

 therefore, on the whole, no saving in the 

 cost of lime, whichever method you adopt. 

 A slight consideration of the subject, how- 

 ever, may satisfy us that there is a real dif- 

 ference in the comparative economy or protit 

 of the two methods. 



Let us suppose two acres of the same 

 clay land to be limed respectively with 200 

 bushels each, and that the one is cropped 

 for twenty years afterwards without further 

 liming, while the other at the end of every 

 five years, is dressed with an additional dose 

 of 40 to 50 bushels. In both cases the land 

 would have attained the most productive 

 condition in five or six years. Let us sup- 

 pose that in this condition it produced annu- 

 ally a crop of — or equivalent in nutritive 

 value to — 30 bushels of wheat, and that on 

 neither acre did a sensible diminution appear 

 before the end of ten years. Then during 

 the second ten, the crops would gradually 

 lessen in the one acre, while, in consequence 

 of the readdition of the lime as it disappears, 

 the amount of produce would remain sensi- 

 bly the same in the other acre. Suppose 

 the produce of the former gradually to di- 

 minish from 30 to 20 bushels, during these 

 ten years, — or that while the one has con- 

 tinued to yield 30 bushels during the whole 

 period, the other has, on an average, yielded 

 only 25 bushels during the latter ten years 

 If now the second large dose of 200 bushels, 

 be added to this latter acre, the cost of liming 

 both will have become sensibly the same, but 

 the amount of produce or of profit from the 

 two acres during the second ten years, will 

 stand thus : — ten crops, of 30 bushels each, 

 amount to 300 bushels. Ten crops, of 25 

 bushels each, amount to 250 bushels, — 

 Difference in favour of frequent liming, 

 50 bushels per acre, or nearly two whole 

 crops every lease of twenty years. 



Thus it appears : 



1°. That, according to the practice of dif- 

 ferent countries, the quantity of lime which 

 ought to be added, and consequently the cost 

 of adding it, is very nearly the same, whe- 

 ther it be applied in larger doses at longer 

 intervals, or in smaller doses more frequently 

 repeated. 



2°. That, after the first heavy liming, 

 the frequent application of small doses is 

 the more natural method — and 



3°. 'I'hat it is also the most economical 

 or profitable method. 



It is possible that other considerations, 

 such as the tenure by which your land is 

 held, may appear sufficient to induce you to 

 depart from this method ; but there seems 

 every reason to believe that it will best re- 

 ward those who feel themselves at liberty 

 to follow the indications at once of sound 

 theory and of enlightened practice. 



One thing, however, must be borne in 

 mind by those who, in adopting the best 

 system of liming, do not wish both to injure 

 their land and to meet with ultimate disap- 

 pointment. Organic matter — in tlie form of 

 farm-yard manure, of bone or rape dust, of 

 green crops ploughed in, or of peat, and 

 other composts — must be abundantly and 

 systematically added, if at the end of 20 

 or 40 years, the land in which the full sup- 

 ply of lime is kept up is to retain its origi- 

 nal fertility. High farming is the most pro- 

 fitable — for the soil is ever grateful for skil- 

 ful treatment — but he who farms high in 

 the sense of keeping up the supply of lime, 

 must also farm high in the sense of keeping 

 up the supply of organic and other manures 

 in the soil — otherwise present fertility and 

 gain will be followed by future barrenness 

 and loss. If this is not to be done, it were 

 better to add lime at long intervals, since as 

 the quantity of lime diminishes, the land be- 

 gins to enjoy a little respite, and has had 

 time in some measure, to recover itself — the 

 cropping in both instances, being the same — 

 before the new dose is laid upon its surface." 



The idea held up in the last paragraph, is 

 I think, an important one — indeed it is now 

 cenerally considered so. The farmer who 

 limes, if he would make his liming the most 

 available, must also manure his land by the 

 application of organic matter — that is barn- 

 yard manure, green crops, bone-dust, or 

 something of a similar character: it will 

 not do to depend upon lime alone. M. L. 



Darby, Pa. 



He that buys what he does not want, may 

 soon want what he cannot buy. 



