74 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March, 



of the growth of the straw, even where no accident occurs^ 

 does not insure the crop. The growth of the straw, and the 

 iilhng or perfection of the grain, depend on different principles 

 or conditions, not yet understood. This is a subject which 

 deserves much investigation, but in regard to which we have 

 nothing more certain than conjecture to rest upon. 



Lime. — It is with some diffidence that I come in the next 

 place to speak of hme in its apphcation to the soil for wheat, 

 because I shall be obliged to differ in opinion from gentlemen 

 for whom I have the highest personal respect. But the object 

 of all sound and useful philosophy is truth, and no authority 

 whatever can rise above facts. 



It appears from the returns presented, that lime has been 

 frequently applied, but in no such form, as far as the informa- 

 tion given extends, to lead to any decisive inferences in its 

 favor. When lime is applied to a crop in conjunction with 

 mamire, unless comparative experiments are made under the 

 same circumstances, by which it can be decided whether it 

 were the lime or the manure which produced the effect, or 

 whether it were from the combination of the lime and manure, 

 no certain conclusion is reached. From personal inquiries 

 made in various parts of the State and among farmers of great 

 intelligence and observation, I have not found a single case 

 where any direct benefit has been traced to the application of 

 lime to the soil for wheat. I am not, however, disposed to 

 question its utility ; and while I care nothing for any purely 

 theoretical views, I shall proceed to state what I think may be 

 relied upon respecting it. 



It has been said that calcareous matter has been exhausted 

 from our soils by cultivation ; and this is the reason why our 

 wheat crops fail where they formerly succeeded. It is matter 

 of reasonable inquiry whether there is much foundation for 

 this opinion. It does not appear from any analysis of soils 

 which has been made, that there is more pure lime existing in 

 soils which are comparatively new, than in those which have 

 been some time cultivated. It does not appear that even on 



