THE NEED FOR LIME 255 



returns from the sale of milk as about 400 a year, 

 from sheep at about ,300, and from potatoes at 200, 

 these being the main sources of revenue, for the oats 

 grown were all consumed at home. The butter- 

 making leads to a certain amount of calf raising ; the 

 farmer we were visiting kept a pedigree bull and grew 

 on his calves indoors until they were about a year old, 

 when they were sold. His light land did not yield 

 particularly good grazing, so that he did not consider 

 he could grow on his own stores cheaply enough, but 

 preferred to buy Irish cattle in Carlisle market for 

 fattening. The crops in the valley, except on some 

 of the thinnest sandy soils beyond the Eden, had not 

 felt the drought, the effects of which were more to be 

 seen on the grass. 



Despite the occasional boulders of limestone in the 

 soil, the land was evidently very short of lime ; finger 

 and toe occurs in the turnips whenever they are grown 

 on a short rotation, and spurrey was observed to be 

 a common weed among the corn. The use of ground 

 limestone was beginning to be recognized as a most 

 valuable, indeed, necessary, amelioration for this class 

 of land, better than quicklime because not so burning 

 and more lasting in its action. Plenty of limestone 

 existed close at hand, and one or two firms had 

 erected grinding plant so as to secure from limestone 

 itself those advantages of fineness and easy distribution 

 which has hitherto only been obtainable by the use of 

 quicklime. As the material was novel to the local 

 farmers, one firm had begun to offer it at a price which 

 included application to the land, sending out a machine 

 for sowing and men accustomed to the work, and only 

 asking the farmer to supply haulage from the station 

 and the horses required for the machine. Such forms 

 of letting out particular jobs that are only rarely called 



