HOME MAJEURE. 79 



tion and texture of the soil. Small dressings at frequent 

 intervals are now the rule. Instead of applying four to 

 eight tons per acre once in fifteen or nineteen years, as 

 formerly, it is considered more economical, on land 

 which has been previously limed, to apply it every six or 

 eight years in quantities not exceeding one to two tons 

 per acre. 



Where the opposite course is adopted there is consider- 

 able waste and a gradually diminishing effect. A certain 

 quantity of the lime is dissolved and removed by drainage 

 waters, and the remainder in a few years sinks below the 

 cultivated depth ; or chemical changes take place which 

 render it effete. On arable land the plow for a season 

 or two brings it back to the surface; but after a time it 

 gets beyond the depth of the plow, and is as much lost 

 as if the land had not been cultivated. This strong ten- 

 dency of lime to sink into the subsoils ought to teach us, 

 when liming land, not to plow the lime in, but to keej) it 

 as near the surface as possible. The land should be 

 plowed first, then the lime sj^read, and simply harrowed 

 in. 



Evidence recently supplied shows that the effect of 

 lime is most durable upon pastures that are grazed : it 

 lasts longer upon good than upon bad land; and longer 

 uj)on clays and heavy loams than upon light land. On 

 the same authority we are told that a full dressing of 

 lime endures frome seven to thirty years. This is not 

 very definite, but with the liability to so many conflicting 

 influences, these extreme differences are easily accounted 

 for. 



On arable land the lime should be applied during the 

 fallow year. It matters little whether this is done in au- 

 tumn or in early spring. Convenience of carting, and 

 opportunity for getting the lime on the land will be the 

 chief guides here. The lime slakes best and quickest 

 when laid down in small heaps and slightly covered with 



