ON THE USE OF LIME, MARL, AND SHELL-SAND. 35 



General rules, however, cannot be laid down in this particular 

 any more than in many other agricultural practices, since many 

 circumstances as, for instance, the character of the land, the 

 nature of the crop intended to be raised, the previous application 

 of lime, the price and convenience at which lime can be procured 

 must necessarily exercise a great influence on the quantity of 

 lime most profitable to the land. 



Where lime is cheap and the soils very deficient in it, as in 

 many parts of Somersetshire and Devonshire, the quantity of 

 lime added to the land is naturally larger than in other districts 

 where the expense of hauling lime is very considerable, or upon 

 soils which, although benefited by lime, do not yield so large an 

 increase of produce as others. 



I shall have to notice presently the composition of several 

 soils in Somersetshire and Devonshire which are naturally de- 

 ficient in lime, and which but for the want of this element would 

 be extremely fertile. On land of that description, I believe, 

 according to many leases the tenant is obliged to put on his land 

 10 hogsheads of lime for every breaking crop. This is the usual 

 quantity of lime which the landlord requires his tenant to put 

 on the land on the Brandon hills, and about the same quantity is 

 used in some parts of Devonshire. Often, however, only 8 

 hogsheads are used every five years, to which practice no ob- 

 jection is made by a good landlord if the tenant can show that 

 he has purchased artificial manures for the money saved in 

 applying less lime to the land than required by the lease. 



In most districts of South Wales, where lime can be readily 

 procured, 4 loads of lime of 25 bushels each for every breaking 

 crop are considered a good dressing for light land, and 6 to 8 

 loads for heavy land. Often, however, lime is used in larger 

 quantities, to the injury of the land, upon which at first it ex- 

 ercises a wonderfully beneficial effect, the effect becoming less 

 perceptible and finally ceasing altogether if the application of 

 larger doses of lime is repeated too frequently. 



As it may be of some interest to farmers in the West to know 

 what quantities of lime are added to the land in other counties 

 where liming has been successfully practised, I subjoin a Table, 

 in which are considered the proportions usually added on some 

 of the best cultivated districts : 



Quantity of Lime applied per imperial acre in different districts. 



Bushels in 

 Bushels. Years. a Year. When applied. 



Roxburgh .. .. 200 every 19 or 10J To the fallows. 

 Ayr (Kyle).. .. 40 5 8 To the fallows or lea. 

 Carse of Stirling .. 50 6 9 Do. do. do. 



South Durham .. 90 12 8| Do. do. do. 



Worcester .. .. 70 6 or 8 10 Before grasses m;d tares. 



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