376 [AssEJOi.-? 



thrown out, rather than lose the time requisite to reclaim it. Mr. 

 W. thought otherwise, and determined to lime it, although the land 

 was exceedingly wet. Mr. W. ordered the lime to be carried on in 

 baskets. It w-as spread over the field and hoed in, the rice was then 

 sown and cultivated in the usual manner. The result w^as fift}--six 

 bushels of rice per acre, a larger yield than was usually obtained on 

 any other part of the domain. That piece of land contained all the 

 chemical requisites, eleven in number, except lime; the consequence 

 was no crop could be grown upon it, and it was considered barren; 

 whereas, by the application of perhaps $2 worth of lime per acre;, 

 it was rendered highly fertile, and capable of yielding a fine crop of 

 rice; proving what I have repeatedly asserted, that if one of the eleven 

 chemical substances contained in all cultivated crops, be entirely ab- 

 sent from a soil, that soil is incapable of producing those crops, and 

 to all intents and purposes is a barren soil. 



Thousands of acres of choice land are now deserted in the South- 

 ern States, and hundreds in our own State, which might probably by 

 the application of lime alone, be made to yield 50 bushels of wheat 

 to the acre. I mention lime particularly, because it is used by all 

 plants in larger quantities than either of the other chemical ingredi- 

 ents, and consequently the soil is deprived first of it. • 



Sulphate of lime is another most important manure, and especial- 

 ly beneficial to grass crops, for the reason that it adds to the soil one 

 of the indispensable eleven, viz: sulphuric acid, which is just as ne- 

 cessary to the growth of plants as lime, and without which no crop 

 cm possibly grow. It consists of 



Sulphuric acid, 32 parts in 100 



Lime, 30 do 



Water, 33 do 



Liebig says, that 100 pounds of gypsum, or sulphate of lime, give 

 as much ammonia to the soil as 6,250 pounds of horse urine would 

 yield to it; four pounds of gypsum, he affirms, increase the produce 

 of the meadow 100 pounds. The decomposition of gypsum is very 

 slow, and consequently its action lasts many years in the soil. Al- 

 though sulphuric acid is required by nearly all plants, still it is on- 

 ly required in small quantities; therefore, when a man spreads a 

 quantity of plaster over his fields, the eflfects last for several years. 

 I have frequently heard farmers say, that they did not consider plas- 

 ter of any service, except the first year, when the results were great, 

 that they had continued to put it on in quantities, year after year- 



