1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



83 



information, state that li-om 80 to 180 bushels have 

 been laid upon light soils with very pal[)able bene- 

 fit, and that from 240 to 320 and even 400 bushels 

 have been successfully applieii to clays and stron<i; 

 ij;niss land. It lias indeed been ibund, that in mai- 

 den soils its use is so essential, on iis first applica- 

 tion, as to impart a permanent decree of Itirtility 

 which could not be obtained by any other species 

 of manure. In some parts of Scotland, which 

 have been only of late years brought under an im- 

 proved course of culture, and to which lime had 

 not been previously applied, it was observed that 

 the richest animal dung had but a weak effect upon 

 the crops of grain. Peas, barley, and wheat, at 

 first assumed the most jiromising appearance, bui 

 Avhen the peas were in bloom, and the corn put- 

 ting Ibrth the ear, it was Ibuml that thej^ dvvindled 

 away in nearly fruitless abortion — which, indeed, 

 so tiir as the peas are concerned, ought not to ex- 

 cite surprise, ibr it is well known that they will not 

 thrive in any soil which is not calcareois; yet the 

 same ground, alter getting a slight dressing of lime 

 brought any kind of crop, that was adapted to the 

 land and properly tilled, to full maturity.* Expe- 

 rience, indeed, proves that a certain portion of lime 

 is necessary to bring all soils into a due state of 

 IfTtility; bnt when they are once saturated with 

 lime, or have got a sufficient quantity, whatever 

 more is added only occasions useless expense. t — 

 INIany farmers have also learned, totheircost, that 

 land which has received a complete liming sfiould 

 be either rested from severe cropping, or, after 

 some short time, laid down to pasture. This, 

 however, being not ahvays convenient, the alter-- 

 nate system of husbandry should be adopted, even 

 with the addition of ji second year under clover, if 

 the land be poor, and the green crops expended on 

 the ground; and in no case should the soil be de- 

 prived of the usual dressings of dung.J 



In whatever (juantity it may be employed, it is 

 indispensable that every particle of lime be inti- 

 mately blended with the soil; for if that condition 

 be not complied with, its power upon the land will 

 be so far lost as that operation may have been inef- 

 fectually performed. Although specifically lighter 

 than any soil, it is, however, very commonly left 

 in small lumps, which then fall into the bottom of 

 the open furrow when the land is ploughed, and there 

 remaining below the staple of the land, it naturally 

 becomes useless for the purposes of the farmer; the 

 operation therefore demands the most minute at- 

 tention. When the lime, which may have been 

 spread upon the ground, has been either already 

 ploughed under, or only harrowed in, or both, it 

 should be again harrowed and afterwards ploughed 

 in. This must, however, be done as superficially 



* It has been stated, in the General Report of Scot- 

 land, that soils of tolerable quality, in Lammermuir, 

 only produce middling crops of oats and rye, and that 

 the richest dung does not enable them to bring any 

 other grain to maturity; yet the same soils, after being 

 limed well, uniler proper culture, ripen every species 

 of corn. — Vol. ii. p. 533. The same effect is stated to 

 have occurred on the Mendip hills, in Somersetshire, in 

 Hereford, and Derbyshire, and various other counties. 

 See the Reports of Somerset, p. 512; Hereford, p. 57; 

 and Derby, vol. ii. pp. 38, 401. 



t Bailey's Survey of Durham, p. 209. 



X General Report of Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 505 and 

 .5.34. 



as possible, in order to avoid burying the lime; and 

 perhaps the best implement for that purpose is a 

 scarifier, or one of the many scufflers now in use, 

 as they mix the lime with the soil more efi'ectually 

 than can be done by the plough. The land must 

 then be again harrowed and ploughed; but still 

 not to a great depth; and in this manner it should 

 get at least three ploughings and harrowings, if 

 the soil be light, and lour, or even five, accorTling 

 to the condition of the land, if it should be heavy: 

 but, we repeat, that in no case should the lime l)e 

 suffered to sink deep into the ground. We have 

 indeed, on this, the evidence of JVIr. Dawson, of 

 Frogden, which, alter the experience of upwards 

 of half a century, is too well known and too high- 

 ly appreciated to admit of doubt, that in every in- 

 stance, upon his own land, in which lime was only 

 harrowed in, when laid up lor pasture, the ground 

 not only continued, for upwards of thirty years, to 

 produce the fine grasses, but, when j)Ioughed 

 down, those parts of the soil which were not suffi- 

 ciently mixed with lime, though sown with clover, 

 became gradually covered with bent; and he also 

 adds his testimony, that, when properly mixed 

 with lime, the effects of dung are not only grea- 

 ter, but much more permanent, whether under the 

 tillage or pasture*. It should, however, be ob- 

 served, that the depth of the ploughing may also 

 be made to depend, in a great degree, upon the 

 quantity of lime that is used, as well as upon the 

 state of the soil; for not only is a less portion 

 of calcareous manure requisite upon sands than 

 upon clays, but as it sooner sinks into the for- 

 mer than into the latter, and the object is to keep 

 a sufficient quantity mixed with the surface, it can- 

 not, in that case, be ploughed with too shallow a 

 fiirrow. 



This renders a clear and well-wroughtfallow ab- 

 solutely necessary; but in this manner; if the lime 

 be laid in the full quantity upon the proper soil, 

 and if the future cultivation and manuring with 

 putrescent matter be in all respects carefully con- 

 ducted, it will produce the expected effect upon 

 the land, the amelioration of which will last for a 

 series of years. This mode of application is ap- 

 proved by the mdst enlightened farmers; yet there 

 are many who affirm that grass-land forms the 

 best bed for the reception of lime. When grass- 

 land is broken up, it is however very generally fiall 

 of weeds, which nothing but a complete summer 

 lidlovv can thoroughly conquer; but if the land be 

 clean, and the lime can be got forward in time, the 

 application may in many cases prove successful. 



Amongst numberless accounts of the effects of 

 lime upon a variety of soils, we extract the follow- 

 ing minute details of a series of experiments car- 

 ried on during a period of twenty years upon a 

 large farm in the north by a most intelligent man, 

 the" accuracy of whose statement appears to be 

 entitled to the most entire confidence, and from 

 which, if attentively considered, some useliil in- 

 formation may be gleaned. The several fields 

 thus operated upon were — 



No. 1.— Soil composed chiefly of thin clay, 

 some of it mixed with peat, and the whole incum- 

 bent upon a subsoil retentive of moisture: it had 

 been in grass for several years, but yielded very 

 poor returns. 



* Letter from Mr. Dawson to the Editor of the Far- 

 mer's Magazine, vol. xii. p. 69. 



