50 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. 



sandy land. Fifth. It aids and promotes the produc- 

 tion of nitric acid, and forms the soluble nitrate of lime. 

 Sixth. It hastens the maturity of crops. Seventh. It 

 is supposed to form combinations in the soil which at- 

 tract nitrogen from the atmosphere probably silicate 

 of lime. 



Notwithstanding all these advantages the truck-farmer 

 will rarely have recourse to lime. Near the city his large 

 supply of manure will render its use unnecessary. Only 

 in case of an emergency, an unexpected lack of manure, 

 and on heavy land, would he be warranted in bringing 

 out the latent power of his soil by a heavy application. 

 Small quantities might be desirable occasionally. Its use 

 must impoverish the soil to the extent of its decomposi- 

 tion, and, if persisted in, the complete removal of organic 

 matter and of ammonia; and the gardener who farms 

 with less stable-dung, or near the coast, rarely gets a 

 sufficiency of vegetable matter incorporated with his 

 sandy soil. 



" Lime and lime without manure 

 Will make both land and farmer poor." 



Neither lime nor ashes should ever be mixed with dung, 

 Peruvian guano, poultry manure, or any other organic 

 fertilizer upon the soil, unless there be present sufficient 

 muck or earth to arrest and absorb the escaping am- 

 monia. 



Lime is applied at the rate of from twenty-five to two 

 hundred bushels per acre. One hundred bushels would 

 add about one half of one per cent, to a soil six inches 

 deep. 



COMMON SALT. 



Chlorine and soda are more or less the constituents of 

 every plant. Salt (chloride of sodium) is a combination 

 of chlorine and the metal sodium. Soda is a compound of 

 oxygen and sodium. Common salt is the source of the 



