No. 129.] 267 



Chairman. The subject for this day is the use of lime in 

 agricukure, proposed by Prof. James J. Mapes of New- Jersey, 

 who has not arrived. We shall be glad to hear Dr. Antisell on 

 the subject. 



Dr. Antisell. I cheerfully comply and will call the atten- 

 tion of members to the clear proof of the necessity of the pre- 

 sence of phosphate of lime in soils. We observe that when ani- 

 mals pastured on meadows fall off in flesh it is ascertained to be 

 owing to the fact that the meadow has been exhausted of its 

 phosphate of lime. A large animal takes from the pasture an 

 hundred pounds of it to construct his bones. This eminent loss 

 must be supplied or the meadow loses its value. So that is the 

 business of an intelligent farmer to attend to this or let his land 

 go to unfertility. We should apply in this case urine, calcined 

 or raw bones, salt, or phosphoric acid. In a lake in Thibet 

 there is contained so much phosphoric acid that being used on 

 the meadows it continually fertilizes them. All classes of plants 

 are benefited by it ; all the cereals, grapes, sugar cane, seeds or 

 the sugar in them, the potato, tuberous plants, and almost all 

 plants. My experience has found the important part it performs 

 in vegetation. In Ireland, some years ago, I was applied to for 

 instruction how to raise large crops of turnips on a particular 

 farm of thirty-five acres. I analyzed the soil ; it was rather 

 good clay ground, drained and wanted nothing, for any ordinary 

 crop, but for a prize crop, I recommended one hundred and five 

 pounds weight of crushed bones per acre , for a turnip crop, 

 ground ploughed twice and the bone spread broad-cast. .That 

 land had commonly yielded from twenty -five to thirty tons of 

 tui'nips per acre, and now gave fifty-two tons oj titrvips per acre, 

 and it gave wheat in increased amount afterwards. Phosphate 

 of lime increases the power of plants to fill their grain with 

 more gluten — ^nutritive matter. When well applied to wheat land 

 the wheat will be found to contain seventeen per cent of gluten, in 

 place of the common proportion of twelve per cent. Both 

 quantity and quality of the flour are gained. A like benefit 

 is found in grasses which are duly supplied with this phospliate. 

 Animals fed on these grasses soon show their great improvement 

 by arriving at maturity a year sooner, and of better flesh. Fifty 



