76 



fahmers' register. 



[No. 2 



nure, it seems only fair to infer, that the greater 

 the strenglh and vigor of such properties, the more 

 assuredly will they elTect ils purpose when in that 

 state, than alter it has been rendered cflele. 



Considerable judgment is however requisite in 

 this mode of ils apjjlication; for, although it pro- 

 moles putrefaction, and converts the pulj), or sapo- 

 naceous substance, of vegetable matter into the 

 food of plants, j-et, if too great a portion of lime 

 be added, it may have a contrary effect, and it al- 

 ways destroys, to a certain extent, the efficacy pf 

 animal manures, either by combining with certain 

 of their elements, or by giving to them some new 

 arrangement. It is necessary to the reduction of 

 carrion, or tor qualifying the noxious effluvia ot 

 night-soil; but is so injurious when mixed with 

 any common dang, that it tends to render the ex- 

 tractive matter insoluble*: thus if a sufficient quan- 

 tity of quick-lime be added to a heap of stable-dung 

 in a state of fermentation, it will set it on fire, and 

 the whole will be consumed. It shoidd never, 

 therefore, be mixed with farm-yard manure, un- 

 less a small quantity be found absolutely necessary 

 for the prompt destruction of seed-weeds, or the 

 decomposition of roots; but when laid upon the 

 land during the same season, the dung should be 

 ploughed down alone, and the lime afterwards 

 harrowed in with the seed-furrow. It may, in- 

 deed, be observed, that the dung dropped from 

 horses in their work about kilns is usually so com- 

 pletely destroyed by the lime which falls from the 

 carts in tilling, that it is generally found useless to 

 apply it to tlie land. It also consumes the grow- 

 ing herbage; but, if prudently used, it does not ap- 

 pear to reach the roots, as a fi:esh verdure soon af- 

 ter arises, and seeds which had previously lain 

 dormant in the soil are brought mto actionf. 



By neutralizing the acids combined with the 

 mould, this manure qualifies the vegetable and 

 other soluble substances also present in it, and oc- 

 casions the whole to be converted, by the influence 

 of the atmosphere and of water, into nutriment 

 for plants; but in poor soils, having less vegetable 

 matter to convert into mucilage, it acts so power- 

 fully as not only to exhaust such land by its final 

 effects, but to be prejudicial to the immediate 

 crops§. We have, indeed, the opinion of a very 



*Sir Humphrey Davy, Elem. of Agric. Chem., 4to., 

 p. 280. 



I A circumstance has been related of mild and quick 

 lime having been separately laid upon land, with the 

 following efi'ect: — the spot upon which the former was 

 laid was soon covered with white clover, but on that 

 on which the latter was left, no vegetation whatever 

 took place for a considerable tune, when it at length 

 produced conch-grass, which is accounted for by the 

 not lime having retained its causticity so long as to have 

 entirely destroyed the seeds of the clover, which are 

 generally diffused in calcareous soils, and consequent- 

 ly flourish through the application of mild lime; while 

 those of the couch were either more difllcult to eradi- 

 cate, or were spread from the adjoining land. — Sin- 

 clair's Code of Agric, 3rd edit., note p. 235. 



§ 'All the experiments yet made render it probable 

 that the food ot plants, as it is taken up from the soil, 

 is imbibed by the extremities of the roots only.— 

 Hence, as the extremities of the roots contain no vi- 

 sible opening, wo may conclude that the food which 

 they imbibe must be in a state of solution at first; and 

 in fact, the carbonaceous matter in all aclivo manure. 



experienced farmer, who is also well versed in 

 chemistry, 'that, should much rain immediately 

 succeed the ploughing, and any considerable por- 

 tion of sand be either in the lime, or in the soil, it 

 is almost a moral certainty that such soil will be in 

 a worse state than it was before the lime was put 

 on; because, the moisture being retained by the 

 lime and the soil, and the tenacity of the substra- 

 tum not suffering the superabundance to pass 

 (piickly away, it causes the whole to run together, 

 and form a compact and impervious bottom, which 

 before, however, miirht have been pervious in a 

 slow degree. That this must he the case is evi- 

 dent from this consideration — that quicklime, mix- 

 ed with a certain portion of sand, and duly mois- 

 tened, contracts and forms a substance wdiich we 

 call mortar, or cement; in proportion, therefore, as 

 the quality of these materials is more or less per- 

 fect, so does the substance become more or less 

 compact, hard, solid, and impervious: such must be 

 the condition of the soil; and it is but reasonable to 

 suppose that a great part of the seed sown upon it 

 must perish*.' 



It may indeed be alleged that the caustic action 

 of quick-lime can never be exerted to any great ex- 

 tent, as it attracts fixed air too strongly not to be- 

 come immediately slaked; but its efl'ects are found 

 to be powerful even in that short period, provided 

 that it be promptly and intimately mixed with the 

 soil, for though the land should contain an abun- 

 dance of vegetable matter, yet if it has been inju- 

 diciously cropped, or insufficiently manured, the 

 lime will only add to its infertility. 



As the dust of quick-lime is prejudicial to health, 

 care should be taken by those who spread it over 

 the land to work upon the windward side. Pre- 

 caution should also be used, when it is ploughed 

 in immediately after being spread, to do so when 

 the soil is quite dry, as well also as to prevent the 

 horses from passing through any wet places when 

 going to field; for though the powder of dry lime, 

 when in a caustic state, does not take any appa- 

 rent efTect on the skin, and the hands of a person 

 who has wrought in it are not in the least injured, 

 yet it very soon corrodes the hair and flesh, if it 

 has access to water, and horses have been thus 

 irrecoverably lamed. When unharnessed, they 

 should, therefore, be kept dry until thoroughly 

 brushed over, so to completely remove the dust 

 which may adhere to their coats, and more par- 

 ticularly to their feet and legs. They may thus 

 work without any danger; but, in case of accident 

 happening to either men or horses through being 

 scalded by the lime, the partaflected should be im- 

 mediately washed, either with vinegar or with ve- 

 ry sour milk, by which its irritation will be prevent- 

 ed. After the lime has been slaked, it will be- 

 come effete in about a week, and will then be as 

 little corrosive as any common kind of earth; so 

 that the horses may work among it with entire 

 salety: but if it has been sufl'ered to run into clods 

 before it vvas spread, these, if not broken into small 

 pieces, will be longer in absorbing a sufficient por- 

 tion of air, and therefore will remain longer in an 



is in such a state of combination as to be soluble in wa- 

 ter whenever a beneficial effect is obtained. — Dr. Tho- 

 mas Thompson's Chemistry, 8rd edit., vol. v. p. 376. 



* Malcolm's Sun-ey of Surrey and the Neighboring 

 Counties, vol. ii. p. 41 — 13. 



