54 THE PEACH 



salts producing evaporation and concentration of 

 the sap. On the black vegetable lands of southern 

 Maryland, with caustic oyster shell lime of forty 

 bushels to the acre, fifty bushels of corn can be 

 produced to the acre without using a shovel full of 

 other manure. The quick lime neutralizes the 

 acid in the sour vegetable soil sweetening it and 

 changing it into rich soluble food for the crop. 

 The cultivated plants which consume very much 

 lime in their development will naturally lead much 

 sooner to an exhaustion of the lime in the soil, than 

 those plants which use lime only moderately. 



These brief references to the chemical and me- 

 chanical operations of lime on the vegetable and 

 mineral substances in the soil, will give us some 

 idea of its importance in preparing the soil with 

 indispensible food to the healthy growth of plants 

 and trees. 



The questions as to the time, condition and quan- 

 tity in which this great corrective alkaline agent 

 should be applied to the soil to obtain the most 

 desirable results are of vast importance to the in- 

 terests of the country. Many an agricultural crop 

 has been lost and many an orchard has withered 

 and died for the want of a better knowledge of that 

 class of alkaline manures which make up so large- 

 ly the elements of vegetable growth. It will be 

 observed that the analysis has given us but three 

 of the ingredients, among the many, which go to- 

 make up the entire composition of the peach and 



