No. 10. 



Limp, as a Manure. 



317 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Lime as a Manure. 



I was a few days ago engaged in reading 

 an agricultural periodical of some celebrity, 

 and was rather surprised at the great variety 

 of opinions made public through its pages, 

 on the subject of lime as a manure. I have 

 for some years believed that its action is as 

 I shall hereafter describe it; and whilst I 

 offer no objection to the views of others, and 

 do not propose to enter into any controversy 

 in favour of my own, I indulge a hope that 

 when I add another to the numerous opin- 

 ons on the subject, it will not be found to be 

 the least worthy of belief, or most at vari- 

 ance with practical results. 



It is understood to be one of the laws of 

 nature, that when the principle of life has 

 ceased to exist in organized matter, animal 

 or vegetable, chemical action, till then sus- 

 pended by the power of life, resumes its 

 sway, the various parts of the organized 

 lifeless body, are acted upon by light, heat, 

 air and moisture; decomposition takes place, 

 and a large part of the substance in various 

 combinations, passes into the air in the gase- 

 ous form — of the carbon so passing off, either 

 as carbonic acid gas, or carburetted hydro- 

 gen, the atmosphere becomes the receptacle 

 where it remains in a state of mixture, the 

 carbon in the state of carbonic acid gas, 

 which, although specifically heavier than at- 

 mospheric air, and in a state of mixture 

 only, and not of chemical combination, is 

 found generally diffused in all situations, 

 and varying less from a constant quantity 

 than might be expected. 



When we remember that of animal and 

 vegetable bodies, the largest constituent 

 part is carbon, and that therefore new bo- 

 dies depend upon carbonaceous matter for 

 their growth and composition, it will be ob- 

 vious that if the carbon in the atmosphere 

 can be rendered available for the sustenance 

 of living vegetables, by any process that we 

 can make use of for that purpose, that then, 

 the most important operation in farming will 

 have been performed. 



I here premise, that the farmer does not 

 make the crop to grow: he destroys the 

 weeds, opens the ground to the proper 

 depth, sows good seed in proper quantity 

 and at the right season, covers it suffi- 

 ciently — mixes with the soil such sub-] 

 stances as are necessary for the growth of 

 the plant, and in such place that the living 

 plant can render them available to its 

 growth; the laws originally impressed upon 

 matter, and the blessing of Heaven produce 

 the result. 



Lime and magnesia were formerly consi- 



dered as alkaline earths, and as such I shall 

 here treat them ; both of them have so much 

 affinity for acids, that in nature I believe 

 they are always found combined with them ; 

 my recollection 13, that of the principal acids, 

 both lime and magnesia have the least affinity 

 for carbonic, and the greatest for sulphuric 

 acid; yet as the stronger acids are not found 

 in the atmosphere, whilst the carbonic acid 

 is always there present — both lime and mag- 

 nesia, when freshly calcined and in the states 

 known as quick lime and pure magnesia, and 

 exposed to the air, absorb carbonic acid gas 

 from the atmosphere and become carbonates. 



Thus far there appears to be an approach 

 to general agreement, viz.: 1. That vegeta- 

 ble and animal matter are formed in part of 

 carbon : 2. That in the decomposition of 

 vegetable matters, the carbon in part es- 

 capes into the atmosphere, combined with 

 oxygen, forming carbonic acid gas : 3. That 

 lime and magnesia, when in a caustic state, 

 as produced by calcination, and exposed to 

 the air, absorb the carbonic acid gas. There- 

 fore, when lime or magnesia in the caustic 

 state is reduced to an impalpable powder, 

 and thinly spread upon the surface of the 

 earth, it will rapidly become a carbonate; 

 and thus we shall have a carbonaceous com- 

 pound upon the surface of the earth, in such 

 a situation as to be accessible to the roots of 

 plants. I believe that many plants have the 

 power of separating the carbon of the car- 

 bonates of lime and magnesia, thus placed 

 within their reach, and appropriating it to 

 their own growth and increase; but the pro- 

 gress of the growth and development of 

 plants, being under the government of the 

 occult principle of life, our evidence.-, can 

 consist only of analogies — of probabilities 

 drawn from the known properties of chem- 

 ical substances. 



Can the roots of plants absorb carbon from 

 the carbonate of lime in the earth 1 



Certain plants do take up substances more 

 difficult of solution, and for which, I know 

 not that any plausible theory has been offer- 

 ed : thus, pure flint is found in the cuticle 

 of some plants: in the scouring rush, equine- 

 turn hyemale and pigeon weed, lithosper- 

 mum, arvense, plants of our district, it is 

 abundantly perceptible. 



The following paragraph is extracted from 

 the North American Review, for October 

 1842, stating a case wherein the roots of 

 living plants overcame an existing combi- 

 nation much greater than the case in ques- 

 tion. 



" It must have been in the observation of 

 many persons who cultivate ornamental bul- 

 bous roots in glasses, that the inner surface 

 of the glass loses its polish and becomes 



