40 CHRONICLES OF A CLAY FARM. 



* of Science that the mind outstrips the page, and 

 'one's assent to each proposition seems paid in 

 ' advance, before it falls strictly due ? Is science 



* intuitive ? then why is it MODERN ? Why have 

 ' centuries upon centuries sixty centuries passed, 

 ' and none till NOW ? Why NOW ? Could Liebig 

 ' answer that ? I'm afraid even his " Quantitative 

 ' Analysis," his grand discovery (for so it almost 

 'seems) of the magic residing in those words, 

 ' " Numero, Pondere, et Mensura" would be baffled 

 ' to resolve that problem. 



' This field for instance ! they never thought to see 

 ( it look like this : now, could they answer the 

 'question What does it yet want? Yes! the 

 ' instantaneous reply would be LIME. " Why ? " 

 ' inquires Theory ; " Because it would sweeten it " 

 ' would be the answer. But WHY ? Theory again 

 ' asks. Practice is silent. What ? silent, after 

 ' sixty centuries of " Experience ! " Can nobody 

 ' give us an answer the truth, and the whole truth 

 ' of the operation of Lime upon soils ? ' The Chemist 

 attempts an explanation. 



' Its effect arises from its avidity for combination ; 

 ' it searches out free acids, as a ferret does a rat, and 

 ' instantly closes with them. Sulphuric, phosphoric, 

 ' silicic, nitric, humic, and last not least, the " Great 



