40 Improved Limekilns. 



A very considerable lime-work is carried on 

 by Mr. Monteith, within a mile of the house ; 

 this was the second object of our attention. The 

 Kilns are of an improved construction, the top 

 being covered in by a cast iron top, with fold- 

 ing doors, by which the draft is capable of being 

 increased or lessened at pleasure. At the bottom 

 is a contrivance for separating the ashes from the 

 lime, which furnish a great source of manure to 

 the proprietor, and may be considered as so much 

 actual gain. A road has been constructed from 

 the kilns through Mr. Monteith's grounds, nearly 

 to the top of the adjacent mountain. Many 

 hundred acres, which a few years since were 

 covered only with heath, have been brought 

 mto cultivation by means of lime, and are now 

 clothed with luxuriant crops of grain. The 

 more elevated lands have been reclaimed by 

 paring, burning, ploughing, and then sowing 

 down with grass seeds. The holcus lanatus 

 thrives prodigiously ; it is suffered to shed its 

 seed the first year, sheep not being turned into 

 it until about Christmas. The second year it is 

 cut for hay, and afterwards fed again with 

 sheep. The third year it is grazed with cattle. 

 Wherever the surface is of a friable nature, and 

 of a peaty description, it would be adviseableto 

 avoid ploughing. Harrowing in the seeds with 

 the lime and ashes would, in my opinion, be a 



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