568 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



witli the view of converting substances in the soil, to the pro- 

 motion of growth in plants, and counteracting the evil eifects of 

 noxious matters. Lime is particularly valuable when applied to 

 land recently plowed; where portions of the subsoil is brought 

 up, rendering its inert substance useful, and correcting its defects. 



Quick-lime should not be long exposed to atmospheric influ- 

 ences, from the fact that it absorbs water and becomes a hydrate 

 of lime; then carbonic acid gas, and returns to its original state 

 of carbonate of lime. It kills not only slugs, worms, but nume- 

 rous insects; and even destroys their larvae. Lime has a great 

 advantage over all other substances, to wit: Jts power of ex- 

 treme subdivision, and affinity for carbonic acid gas, which it 

 absorbs greedily, and although it passes rapidly from the state of 

 quick-lime into carbonate, still it acts upon the organic matters 

 it encounters, and decomposes them. Lime, after having been 

 placed upon a sandy loam, quickly divides into fine powder, 

 sinks into the soil and forms a layer of hard calcareous matter; 

 which, in course of time, becomes almost impervious to moisture. 

 These lime floors may be brought up by deep plowing, or by 

 sowing lucerne or clover; the roots of which penetrate the lime, 

 and return it to the surface through their stems. Lampadius 

 tried an experiment to discover whether lime disappears from the 

 soil, or not. He mixed 1.1 9 per cent with the soil, and analyzed 

 it four years successively. 



The first year it contained 1.19 percent of carbonate of lime; 

 the second year, 0.89; the third year 0.52; the fourth year 0.24. 

 Portions are removed by the plants, by descending below the 

 reach of the plow, and the roots of plants, and by rains. 750 

 pounds of water will dissolve one pound of caustic lime. Lime 

 causes loose soils to become stiff, and mellows stiff clays, so that 

 its action is good on either. 



It supplies inorganic food to plants, neutralizes poisonous and 

 other substances in the soil, transforms inert matter into fine soil, 

 facilitates all kinds of decomposition. I have used lime in vari- 

 ous ways advantageously; for instance, I have sowed two 

 hundred bushels to the acre on pasture land in the fall, and 

 plowed it in the spring after, and have found that it had passed 



