338 



Report of the Committee on Agriculture. 



Vol. VIII. 



Report of the Committee on Agriculture, 

 relative to the Application of Lime to 

 the different qualities of Soil, and the 

 use of Calcareous matter for Agricuitu 

 ral purposes. 



Concluded from last No. p. 309. 



Of the effect of Lime upon the quality of 

 crops, and upon matters injurious to 

 them. 



The settled judgment of observant farmers, 

 both in Europe and our own country, seems 

 to be, that its application promotes the 

 growth and improves the quality of all our 

 grains and grasses, in all soils deficient in 

 calcareous matter, and by its neutralizing 

 effect upon our soils, frees us from any nox- 

 ious weeds and insects. Would not those 

 who seek to have the standard weight of 

 wheat reduced, find it to their interest to 

 increase both its aggregate and specific 

 weight by the application of lime and mar 

 to their lands, instead of looking to a reduc- 

 tion of the standard below 60 pounds to the 

 bushel? Let us not fall back in this enter- 

 prizing age. 



It seems to be universally admitted in 

 England, that lime tends to prevent smut in 

 wheat, when applied to the grain before 

 seeding. Being soaked a few hours in a 

 strong brine of salt and water, it is then 

 mixed with fresh slaked lime in fine pow- 

 der and sown. Lime as well as the alkalies 

 quickens the germination of all seeds, and so 

 hastens the coming up of all seeded and 

 planted crops. Acid substances injurious to 

 growing plants, are neutralized by lime. 



These acids often exist, more particularly 

 in newly drained marshy or boggy land. 

 Sulphate of iron or copperas, — very injuri- 

 ous to living plants, — is common in the 

 same kind of soil ; and when a sufficient 

 quantity of lime is applied and thoroughly 

 mixed with the soil, the hurtful compound 

 is decomposed, and an oxide of iron and sul- 

 phate of lime or gypsum is formed, both of 

 which are essential to plants. 



Having thus indicated some of the'most 

 important effects produced by lime in its re- 

 lations to agriculture, we proceed to con- 

 sider some of the modes of applying it to 

 the soil. 



Of the best modes of applying Lime. 



Unfortunately the great body of the agri- 

 culturists of our country, and indeed of the 

 world, have hitherto been too little disposed 

 to make themselves acquainted with the 

 fixed principles of the sciences appertaining 

 to their profession. Without some such 

 knowledge we are often liable to entertain 



wrong views, and be mistaken in matters of 

 fact coming under our notice. How often 

 do we find persons firmly adhering to false 

 facts, which a knowledge of the principles 

 involved, would have guarded them from? 

 Upon this subject we submit the following 

 observations. 



In the first place, we think it must be ob- 

 vious to every one who will look into the 

 subject, that to attain the greatest effect 

 from lime, it must be applied in a perfectly 

 fine powder or in solution, and be intimately 

 mixed with the soil to a proper depth. 



But bearing in mind its solubility, we are 

 warned by economy not to apply it much 

 below the surface, because it never ascends 

 unless brought up by the plough, but on the 

 contrary is incessantly descending deeper 

 into the soil. The more porous the soil the 

 more rapidly it will descend, and of course, 

 should not be placed so deep in a friable 

 soil, as it may be in a stiffer one. 



Besides being carried down by solution, 

 it is found to descend in powder by being 

 washed mechanically through the interstices 

 of a friable or recently cultivated soil. It 

 seems clear therefore, that lime should ei- 

 ther be laid on the surface as a top dressing, 

 or only mixed with the surface soil by the 

 harrow or cultivator. 



In eastern Pennsylvania, where the farm- 

 ers have long had experience in the use of 

 lime, it has been the practice of late years, 

 to spread it carefully upon their grass lands 

 at least two years before ploughing them. 

 The excellence of this system is sustained 

 both by theory and practice — because much 

 of the lime will be found to have sunk some 

 inches into the soil, but not below the reach 

 of the plough, which turns it up, and by sub- 

 sequent cultivation it becomes well mixed 

 through the soil. 



Quick lime and manure should not be 

 mixed together or applied about the same 

 time to the soil — the intervention of a year 

 would be better perhaps, for the reason, that 

 it very rapidly decomposes the manure and 

 liberates faster than is necessary the valu- 

 able gaseous matters, which should remain 

 in the soil as far as possible until the plants 

 absorb them. In hot weather this effect 

 would be more pernicious than when the 

 ground is cold. These objections to mixing 

 lime with manure do not apply to marl, 

 which acts very slowly upon manure. Lime 

 is useful in composts which contain little or 

 no stable manure ; in fact, both experience 

 and theory coincide in favour of the opinion, 

 that the most economical mode of using 

 lime, is by mixing with at least five or six 

 times its weight of earth, — which is the 

 better, if rich in vegetable matter, — the 



