ON THE USE OF LIME, MARL, AND SHELL-SAND. 33 



cally, clover or rye-grass without a heavy dose of lime ; and land 

 which previously to liming was quite unfit for the cultivation of 

 these crops, after the addition of a good dose of lime, has given 

 a heavy produce of superior quality. 



On limed land, moreover, clover is less exposed to the failure 

 which is known under the term of clover-sickness. Although we 

 would not in every instance ascribe the cause of land becoming 

 clover-sick to its deficiency in lime, I have no hesitation in 

 asserting that in many cases the failure of clover can be traced 

 to the want of lime in the soil upon which it is attempted to be 

 grown. 



On natural grasses, especially on benty grass, the best farmyard 

 manure often produces little improvement until a dressing of 

 lime has been applied.* 



In arable farming, where the land remains in pasture two or 

 three years, the liberal use of lime is attended with the greatest 

 benefits. Lime destroys the coarser grasses and favours the 

 growth of a sweeter and more nutritious herbage. The superior 

 quality of limed pastures has long beon known to practical men ; 

 and this superiority is fully accounted for by the effects of lime 

 in changing the natural produce of the land. 



Old pastures are best limed in the beginning of the winter ; 

 the lime will then be washed into the soil, and come in reach of 

 the roots before the new growth starts. 



Lime kills moss, heath, feather grass (holcus mallis], soft meadow 

 grass (liolcus lanatus), and other plants, characteristic of peaty 

 land, and is therefore a valuable means for improving peaty or 

 mossy meadows. 



Peas, beans, and vetches grow much more luxuriantly in limed 

 than in unlimed land, and yield a larger crop of grain as well as 

 of straw. Peas grown on newly limed land are excellent boilers, 

 and more pleasant to the taste than when grown on unlimed land. 

 By the application of a heavy dose of lime to clay land on which 

 peas or beans did not succeed the produce has been doubled in 

 many instances. 



Sainfoin and Lucerne are also materially benefited by a dose of 

 lime, as they are plants which like peas and beans require a 

 larger proportion of it than most other plants. 



Lime also exercises a highly favourable effect upon turnips, inas- 

 much as it improves both the quantity and quality of this crop. 

 It is most efficient when applied in the compost form, and when 

 the land is already rich in organic matters, and should be laid 

 on when the ground is prepared for the reception of the seed. 



* This result has been singularly verified on an Exmoor farm, the action of 

 farmyard manure being found threefold after a dressing of lime. R. S. 



D 



