372 [Assembly 



In Switzerland and Germany, I observed an entirely different 

 mode of management; there the farmers who had any reputation as 

 such, were supplied with cisterns, tanks, &c., into which all their 

 straw, litter, droppings from the cattle, and refuse of every kind 

 was daily raked; the tanks w^ere then partially filled with water, 

 and thus a large portion of the manure became liquid. After re- 

 maining for four weeks it was carried upon their fields in large 

 hogsheads, on carts drawn by oxen generally, sometimes by horses. 

 On some farms, I was informed that it was customary to clean their 

 cattle and horse stalls but twice a week; the litter taken from them 

 was thrown into the cisterns and washed. After all the particles of 

 manure were removed, the straw was taken out and placed in a 

 square pile to rot. The liquid was then immediately drawn upon 

 their grass fields, and gardens. The results thus obtained were mar- 

 vellous. I mention these facts to show that lime would be valuable, 

 even if it did not form a part of nearly all cultivated plants; inas- 

 much as it renders dry substances soluble. Lime attracts moisture 

 from the atmosphere; and thus it is of great importance to land du- 

 ring a drought. I tested its value in that respect, several years ago. 

 In the month of July, I placed around several thousand apple trees, 

 a peck of lime to each tree, and left it piled about the trunk until 

 the month of November, during which time the drought was exces- 

 sive, so much so, indeed, that the trees not limed turned yellow and 

 lost their leaves very early in the fall; the fruit dropped from them 

 prematurely ripe; whereas those that were limed remained perfectly 

 green, until late in the fall, and the fruit borne by them was magni- 

 ficent. At any time during the excessive heat in August of that 

 year, a person might moisten his hands by placing them, for an in- 

 stant under the small heaps of lime surrounding the trees. 



Professor Schubler, of Germany, found that 1000 parts of lime, 

 dried in a temperature of 212 deg., gained by exposure for three 

 hours to air saturated w^ith moisture, at a temperature of 60 deg., 

 11 parts; in 12 hours 26 parts; in 24 hours 31 parts; in 48 hours 

 35 parts; when it appeared to have become saturated with moisture; 

 for in 72 hours it had not again increased in weight. The nature 

 of lime w^as first demonstrated by Davy, in 1807; he showed that, 

 like the other alkalies, it was a metallic oxide. The metallic base 

 of lime he termed calcium; its equivalent is so, and lime being a 

 compound of one atom of calcium and one of oxygen, is represented 

 by the equivalent number 28; and hydrate of lime by 28 lime -\~9 

 water = 37. The salts of lime are obtained by dissolving carbonate 

 of lime in the respective acids; several of them exist native. Sul- 



