100 A PRACTICAL TREATISE 



this, the evidence of Mr. Dawson, of Frogden, which, after the 

 experience of upwards of half a century, is too well known and 

 too highly appreciated to admit of doubt, that in every instance, 

 uj)on his own land, in which lime was only harrowed in, when 

 laid up for pasture, the ground not only continued, for upwards 

 of thirty years, to produce the fine g'rasses, but, when ploughed 

 down, those parts of the soil which were not sufficiently mixed 

 with lime, thoug-h sown with clover, became gradually covered 

 with bent; and he also adds his testimony, that, when properly 

 mixed with lime, the effects of dung are not only greater, but 

 much more permanent, whether under tillage or pasture. It 

 should, however, be observed, that the depth of the ploughing 

 may also be made to depend, in a great degree, upon the 

 quantity of lime that is used as well as upon the state of the 

 soil ; for not only is a less portion of calcareous manure requi- 

 site upon sands than upon clays, bat as it sooner sinks into the 

 former than into the latter, and the object is to keep a suffi- 

 cient quantity mixed with the surface, it cannot, in that case, 

 be ploughed with too shallow a furrow. 



This renders a clear and well-wrought -fallow absolutely 

 necessary ; but in this manner, if the lime be laid in the full 

 quantity upon the proper soil, and if the fi.iture cultivation and 

 manuring with putrescent matter be in all respects carefully 

 conducted, it will produce the expected effect upon the land, 

 the amelioration of which will last for a long series of years. 

 This mode of application is approved by the most enlightened 

 farmers; yet there are many who affirm that grass-land forms 

 the best bed for the reception of lime. When grass-land is 

 broken up, it is, however, very generally full of weeds, which 

 nothing but a complete summer fallow can thoroughly con- 

 quer ; but if the land be clean, and the lime can be got for- 

 ward in time, the application may in many cases prove suc- 

 cessful. 



Tiie application of lime to grass-land one or two years before 

 it is broken up, as inculcated by several writers upon hus- 

 bandry, is neither necessary to the soil, nor reconcilable with 

 economy: as, in case of any declivity in the ground, much of 

 tiie lime is washed off the surface by the rains, and lost before 

 the land can be ploughed. 



On the best consideration which we can apply to this im- 

 portant subject, we should say — Let the farmer, as a primary 

 ground for determination, well weigh the nature and the condi- 

 tion of liis land, as well as the amount of the cost, previous to the 



