AGRICULTURE WITH CHEMISTRY. ^g 



be preferred to those abundant dressings of lime usually- 

 given at one time, which cause an acTtion on the soil 

 more powerful and violent than is conducive to, or com- 

 l-)atible with a continued state of fertility. 



In short, lime should be considered in a chemical 

 and medicinal point of view, when so applied, ading 

 as an alterative, corrector, and a decompounder ; a disen- 

 gager of certain parts of the animal and vegetable sub- 

 stances contained in soils, and as a retainer and a combi- 

 ner with others ; and is not to be regarded by the prac- 

 tical farmer as a substance fit for the immediate food 

 and nourishment of vegetables, like dung, or decayed 

 vegetable or animal matters. For, although calcareous 

 matter, or lime, forms a component part of vegetable and 

 animal bodies, still the quantity that can be obtained from 

 the annual produce of most crops, from an acre of 

 ground, will not exceed eighty j^ounds weight. This fa6t 

 has been well ascertained, and if proper attention be 

 paid to it, in regulating the conduct of the agriculturist, 

 in the future ai^plication of lime, it will prove more sa- 

 tisfmilory than aUthe chemical reasonings adduced in this 

 Treatise. 



By 



