382 [Assembly 



would be to decompose the matters rapidly, and render them imme- 

 diately fit for the elaboration of the wheat plantj consequently the 

 growth would be quick, the season short, and the yield doubled. 



Its action would be most powerful on the organic matter, which 

 must be in immense masses in an undecomposed state in their rich 

 soils, and upon the obnoxious rooted fibrous plants, weeds, seeds and 

 innumerable insects, all of which would be dissolved and transformed 

 into valuable mould: many of their lands are sour, which evil would 

 likewise be at once corrected. The rich alluvial lands would be 

 made mellow by the fermentation which the lime would produce, and 

 all the inert matter would become nutritive. 



The first effect of caustic lime is to decompose all animal matter 

 and vegetable substances, accelerating their power to afford nutri- 

 ment to growing plants, and neutralizing all the acids which have 

 combined with the humus. The same effect is produced upon poor 

 soils; the action is so powerful that it at once exhausts the land, 

 and is consequently prejudicial to it in a great degree. It is very in- 

 jurious to the health of laboring men, who are employed to spread 

 it; they should always work on the windward side of their wagons. 

 The feet of farm horses used to draw it upon the land in a caustic 

 state, should not come in contact with water; if they do, the flesh 

 will corrode, and the animal becomes incurably lame; the dust of the 

 lime should be kept from their bodies by means of summer blankets. 

 If by accident your men or horses become burnt by the lime, wash 

 the part with sour milk, and it will cause the irritation to disperse. 

 After the lime has been spread a week, it will have no eflfect upon 

 the animals or men working among it, as by that time it will be- 

 come carbonate of lime. 



I have found by careful experiments, that lime in a caustic or 

 slaked condition, has no negative power, having often failed to grow 

 various plants and seeds in pots filled with lime. When well wa- 

 tered, I found they would start, and grow feebly for a few days, and 

 then die. 



You may be assured that no two men will find lime equally use- 

 ful to their different soils; to some it will be permanently beneficial, 

 to others partially" so, and to others still, inconceivably detrimental, 

 for the reason that different soils contain different properties, and 

 different limes unlike qualities. You must first ascertain the proper- 

 ties of your land; you will then be enabled to judge whether it re- 

 quires lime or not, and if it does, investigate the constituent parts 

 of the lime before you use it. 



