# 



oo8 A TREATISE ON THE CONNECTION OF 



t 



lime; in which case, the alkah would be disengaged. No 



injury will arise from the application of a superabundance 



of lime, provided that the soil contain a still greater 



proportion of vegetable matter; in which case, the alkali 



disengaged by the lime would adt upon the vegetable 



matter, and form a saline substance, similartothat which 



the .superabundant use of lime had decomposed. 



Ground of this description, to which lime has been 

 applied, will no longer have a tendency to promote the 

 growth of sorel in preference to other plants ; its next 

 spontaneous growth will, probably, be chickweed, which 

 is a certain indication of its being in a state fit to pro- 

 duce grain or other crops. 



Magnesia lias a greater affinity with the oxalic acid 

 than alkalis have, so that by the addition of earths, con- 

 taining magnesia, to ground producing a. crop of -sorel, 

 the acid will not only be neutralized, butthe oxalat of pot- 

 ash, the other component part of surcl, will likewise be 

 <lecomposed. By this means the alkali will be disen- 

 gaged, and put into a situation to ad; upon, and dissolve 

 j^ »the inert vegetable matter contained in the soil. The sal|; 

 ' formed 



