LIME AS A MANURE. 217 



rotation adopted was, 1st clover, 2d wheat, 3d turnips, 4th barley, 

 seeded with clover. 



Now, you put on, say 150 bushels of lime for wheat. After the 

 wheat the land is manured and sown with turnips. The turnips 

 are eaten off on the land by sheep ; and it is reasonable to suppose 

 that on the half of the field dressed with lime there would be a 

 much heavier crop of turnips. These turnips being eaten off by 

 the sheep would furnish more manure for this half than the other 

 half. Then again, when the land was in grass or clover, the 

 limed half would afford more and sweeter grass and clover than 

 the other half, and the sheep would remain on it longer. They 

 would eat it close into the ground, going only on to the other half 

 when they could not get enough to cat on the limed half. More 

 of their droppings would be left on the limed half of the field. 

 The lime, too, would continue to act for several years ; but even 

 after all direct benefit from the lime had ceased, it is easy to un- 

 derstand why the crops might be better for a long period of time. 



" Do you think lime would do any good," asked the Deacon, " on 

 our limestone land ? " I certainly do. So far as I have seen, it 

 does just as much good here in "Western New York, as it did on 

 my father's farm. I should use it very freely if we could get it 

 cheap enough but we are charged from 25 to 30 cts. a bushel for 

 it, and I do not think at these rates it will pay to use it. Even gold 

 may be bought to dear. 



"You should burn your own lime," said the Deacon, " you have 

 plenty of limestone on the farm, and could use up your down 

 wood." I believe it would pay me to do so, but one man cannot 

 do everything. I think if farmers would use more lime for manure 

 we should get it cheaper. The demand would increase with com- 

 petition, and we should soon get it at its real value. At 10 to 15 

 cents a bushel, I feel sure that we could use lime as a manure with 

 very great benefit. 



" I was much interested some years ago," said the Doctor, " in 

 the results of Prof. Way's investigations in regard to the absorp- 

 tive powers of soils." 



His experiments, since repeated and confirmed by other chem- 

 ists, formed a new epoch in agricultural chemistry. They afforded 

 some new suggestions in regard to how lime may benefit land. 



Prof. Way found that ordinary soils possessed the power of sep- 

 arating, from solution in water, the different earthy and alkaline 

 substances presented to them in manure ; thus, when solutions of 

 salts of ammonia, of potash, magnesia, etc., were made to filter 

 10 



