214 On Manures. 



latable grasses grew before (* c4 ). By the same means pastures, 

 instead of being ruined by fog, or yielding nothing but bent 

 and other inferior grasses, have been covered with herbage of 

 a more valuable description ( z 5 ). The utility of lime to tur- 

 nips is so great, that though in the same field where-no lime 

 had been applied, the crop died away ; yet in the limed part, 

 the turnips flourished with unabated vigour ( 3 6 ). On the 

 Mendip lands in Somerset, by the application of lime, the 

 value of land was raised from 4s. to 30s. per acre ; and dung, 

 which, previous to liming, had no sensible effect, operated, 

 after its application, as on other lands ( a 7 ). Macclesfield 

 Forest, in Cheshire, and vast tracts in the northern and more 

 elevated parts of Derbyshire, and the adjacent districts, have 

 been astonishingly improved by the same means ( a 8 ). The 

 rye lands of Herefordshire, in 1636, refused to produce wheat, 

 pease, or vetches ; but since the introduction of lime, they 

 have been so fertilized, as to be successfully applied to the 

 growth of every species of corn (* 9 ). By the application 

 of lime, a larger quantity of straw is produced, more dung 

 is procured, and the crop is less liable to be lodged. Its uti- 

 lity in effecting the destruction of worms and other vermin 

 in the ground, is well known. In newly cultivated soils of a 

 tolerable quality, the richest manure will not enable them to 

 bring any other crops than oats or rye, to maturity, where- 

 as, if they receive a sufficient quantity of lime, crops of 

 pease, barley, or wheat, may be raised with advantage ( ZI ). 

 The benefit resulting from the use of lime, has been indispu- 

 tably proved in the same farm ; for the richer parts that were 

 left unlimed, were uniformly inferior in produce to the poorer 

 that had been limed, during a period of not less than twenty- 

 one years, under the same course of management ( ait ). 



2. Disadvantages of Lime as a Manure. It must not be 

 imagined however, that the application of lime, can always 

 be made with profit. When either used in too great a 

 quantity at once, or too frequently repeated, it renders a soil 

 sterile. Hence the common remark, that where it is carried 



farthest, and, consequently, on an average of years used most 

 sparingly, it does most good. It only operates advantageous- 

 ly, when it has a superabundance of vegetable matter to act 

 upon ; and, as will afterwards appear, when it is applied, not 

 in a caustic, but in a mild state. On light soils, it is pecu- 

 liarly hazardous to repeat it too often, except in compost (* IZ ). 



3. The Principles on which Lime operates as a Manure. 

 Lime has no enriching qualities in itself that can promote 

 vegetation ; but it chiefly operates, by reducing the inert ve- 



