76 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March, 



far as it may be demanded as a constituent of wheat. In 

 some plants, as 1 have said — in clover, for example — lime in 

 one combination, is found in abundance. But lime is one of 

 the most generally diffused substances in nature. The sea 

 abounds in it. The land abounds in it. The learned geologi- 

 cal surveyor states that lime in some form is to be found in 

 every soil which he has examined. We have other facts 

 which demonstrate its universal diffusion. Our wells abound 

 in it. The hardness of a large portion of our waters, which 

 renders them unfit for the purpose of washing, is commonly 

 owing to the presence of lime. The bones of all animals are 

 composed of fifty per cent, of the phosphate of lime. The shells 

 of birds and of domestic fowls are composed of lime. So that 

 in truth there is no deficiency ; and it seems an established 

 principle in chemistry, that lime, in whatever combination it 

 may be found, whether used as a carbonate, sulphate or phos- 

 phate, marl, plaster, or bone dust, acts always the same.* 



It has been stated on high authority, " that a soil is incapa- 

 ble of producing wheat of good quality, that does not contain 

 carbonate of lime." This position is at least questionable ; 

 since on the farm of Wm. Adams, of Chelmsford, Middlesex 

 county, where wheat has been successfully cultivated for many 

 years, it appears from a chemical examination of the soil, that 

 not a trace of lime in this form is to be found. In the report 

 of the Geological Survey of Maine, it is stated that forty-eight 

 bushels of wheat have been raised to an acre ; but it seems that 

 the carbonate of lime is not found in the soil on which this 

 wheat grew ; and in the form of a phosphate it was found, only 

 in the small amount of 1.5 in 100 parts. These cases, as well 

 established as any thing of the kind can be, seem decisive on 

 the point of its indispensableness in our soils to the production 

 of wheat beyond what is already found there. Of its general 

 usefulness in many soils, though its operation is as yet only 

 matter of conjecture, there can be no doubt. 



That the amount of lime required to produce an effect upon 



* See Second Report of Agriculture of Massachusetts. Appendix, p. 161. 



