ON THE USE OF LIME, MARL, AND SHELL-SAND. 39 



b. CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 



No. I. No 



Moisture 1'15 



Organic matter and water of combination 8 '45 



Oxides of iron and alumina -...'..., , ! - 8*47 



Carbonate of lime .. 2'47 



Magnesia and alkalies ' .. - 1*04 



Insoluble silicious matter.. 77*62 



II. No. III. No. IV 



14-90 11-68 



6-48 8-58 



22-65 24-11 



74 2-98 



1-01 1-45 



54-22 51-20 



100-00 100-00 100-00 



The first of these soils is reddish coloured, tolerably friable 

 soil, from the farm of Mr. Poole, near Bridge water. It contains 

 particles of lime, showing that it has been limed at some time 

 or other. 



No. 2, a red-coloured soil from the neighbourhood of Well- 

 ington, is very similar to the Bridge water soil, and bears a bad 

 character as a wheat-growing soil ; however, I believe unjustly so. 

 It is very poor in lime, and will no doubt be benefited by liming. 



The two last mentioned soils were sent to me by Mr. Watson 

 of Dorsely, near Totnes, who describes No. III. as a soil from a 

 field in good fertile condition, and No. IV. a soil from an adjoin- 

 ing field of precisely similar character, but not in such good 

 heart, having been more cropped of late years. Mr. Watson 

 further observes in his letter to me, " the soil is good for corn and 

 roots, but yet does not grow as much corn in proportion to the 

 bulk of straw as I fancy it should : probably climate may prevent 

 it. I have found superphosphate, guano, and bones, and also 

 oil-cake manure, all to have good effects. I have doubts, 

 however, on the question of the application of lime, and it is on 

 this point more particularly that I now beg your attention." I 

 give this extract of Mr. Watson's letter, because it is well 

 calculated to throw light on the use of lime on soils similar to 

 those in the neighbourhood of Totnes. 



It will be observed that the soil which is described as one in 

 rather exhausted condition contains nearly 3 per cent, of lime, 

 and No. III., described as a good fertile soil, only per cent. 

 Surprised at the result of my analyses, and fearing the boxes in 

 which the soils were sent had been mislabelled, I wrote to Mr. 

 Watson again on the subject, and learned from him that No. IV. 

 was well limed in 1843 and again in 1851, but No. III. had not 

 been limed since 1840. 



These are interesting facts, for they show us in the first place 

 that a soil may be in a good fertile condition, though it may 

 contain but f per cent, of lime, and secondly that Mr. Watson's 

 supposition respecting the use of lime was well founded, for No. 



