LIME. 



LIME. 



lor 



It will be perceived by our readers that we have 

 been backward in recommeiidiiig the use of lime in 

 agriculture. It is a part of our system to recommend 

 to our brother farmers nothing but what we are fully 

 satisfied will prove useful. We have often expressed 

 an opinion that lime, in some cases, is beneficial, and 

 that one of those cases is when it is applied to a soil 

 tinctured with iron ore. Lime Is also useful to break 

 asunder clayey, tenacious soils, of which we have a 

 very small portion in all New England ; and here the 

 question arises, — will not sand answer the same purpose, 

 and at a much cheaper rate ? Lime, too, forms a com- 

 ponent part of the straw and of the grain of wheat ; and, 

 as we can raise this grain on any soil, it would seem 

 that all soils contain some lime, else the plant must draw 

 the whole from the manure ; and, to supply the defi- 

 ciency occasioned by this draft, it would seem proper 

 to scatter lime, in small quantities, on all lands that 

 produce this grain. 



Lime is found also to be beneficial Avhen mixed with 

 peat, and it is probably owing to the iron ore, or some 

 other acid contained in peat, for it is also useful for 

 soils filled Avith plants of an acid nature, as sorrel, <fec. 

 Q,uicklime may be very useful when applied to any 

 heap of clay, or of loam, for it operates like fire on 

 those articles ; and burnt clay, as well as burnt loam, 

 are known valuable manures, or ingredients, in Euro- 

 pean soils. 



These are all cases in which we agree that lime 

 may aid us ; but this is not sufficient to justify us in 

 advising farmers to purchase lime freely to improve 

 their soils. The cases in which lime aids us in New 

 England are only exceptions to our general rules of 

 husbandry ; for we can adduce fifty instances of loss 

 from the use of lime, where one can be shown of its 

 beneficial effects. 



