LIME. 



■produce the pfreatcft efFcA,— but upon wliiih lime, applied 

 in anv quantities, produced not t1u> fniallfft fenfible effert. 



Tlic author of Pliytologia fiiggclls the idea of its fupplying 

 aftual nutrition to vegetables, which fcoms probable, as it 

 contributes fo much to the melioration of the crops, as well 

 as to their increafe in quantity — wheat from land well limed 

 being believed by farmers, millers, and bakers, to be, as 

 they fuppofe, thinner (l<inned : that is, to turn out more 

 and better flour; which it is fuppofed is owing to its con- 

 taining more flarch and lefs mucilage. Hence is perceived 

 another very important ufe of lime in the cultivation of land, 

 tvliich may be owing to its forwarding the converfion of 

 mucilage into (larch, that is, to its forivarding the ripening 

 of the feed, which is a matter of great confequence in this 

 climate of fliort and cold fiimniers. Mr. Young, from 

 various minutes made in his Eaftern Tour, concludes, that 

 lime agrees with almoil all foils ; that it fails, however, on 

 a thin loam or lime-ftone ; that it feems inefficacious on old 

 patlure; that it has a ftrong cffeA in killing weeds; but that 

 the greateft cfTeft is on heath and moor-lands; where, as in 

 the peak of Dcrbyfhire, it converts walle foils into fine paf- 

 tures, without tillage : but the fort is a ttrong llonc lime, 

 burning foft and foapy, and the quantity laid on is very 

 great, rifing to three hundred .Tnd fixty or even one tlioufand 

 bufhels. There is great reafon to attribute much of the 

 benefit to quantity : in waUes efpecially, too much can 

 hardly be laid on, becaufe diffolving the roots of heath and 

 other fpontancous growth requires a powerful agent. Of 

 their Itrong lime three hundred and fixty bufhels are pro- 

 bably equal to five or fix hundred buflicls of chalk lime. 

 \Vhat then are five or fix quarters, which is no uncommon 

 quantity, laid upon an acre ? 



And the mode of uling lime, in improving their heaths 

 or moors, is firft to pare the ground in the beginning of 

 March, about an inch and- a half thick, to turn it about in 

 dry weather, when dry to gather it into heaps, and burn it 

 into alhes, to fprcad them even over the ground, to fet on 

 their lime, to fpread and harrow jj; altogether, to plough 

 the ground very thin, and to fow it with turnips or rape : 

 then the fpring following to fow with oats or barley, and 

 good grafs feeds : another good dreffing with lime after the 

 iirft crops of feeds is got ; and then it may lie for pallure. 

 Spreading the lime in a flaked ftatcis by far the belt method. 

 The fummer months are preferred, becaufe fewer coals are 

 necelTary for burning ; in other refpefts, the winter months 

 are julf as good for laying the lime upon the ground, provided 

 it be done in dry weather. 



But in its application upon fallows it is found to produce 

 the beft eflcfts when laid on early in tlie feafon, and well in- 

 corporated with the foil while it is dry and powdery. 



And the affiftance of this manure has been highly ufcful 

 in the cultivation of turnips; whole diftriAs, formerly ufc- 

 lefs, having been made to produce not only good crops of 

 them, but alfo valuable ones of corn and broad clover. Its 

 greatelt utility would feem to be upon light foils for thefc 

 crops ; as, where lime is the principal manure, they feldom 

 fow turnips, clovers, peas or beans, except upon lands that 

 have been previoufly limed. Inftances of this fort are often 

 met with upon the uplands ; where, if any of the broad- 

 leaved crops are fown, where a part has been limed, and a 

 part not, the parts where the lime has been laid will produce, 

 it is laid, a valuable return, while that which has been 

 dunged only will hardly repay the expence of feed and la- 

 bour. The methods of uiing lime upon turnip-lands are 

 various. Some farmers lay it on only before the lall plough- 

 ing, and plough it in without harrowing : they alio lay it 

 in heaps, hot from the kiln, without being flaked. But 



probably the fooner it is laid upon the land, and the more 

 perfeftly it is mixed and incorporated with the foil before 

 the feed is fpwn, the more certain and extenfive will its ef- 

 fefts be found. 



But the application of this fubftance upon clover-ley for 

 oats is a mode of praftice which ought not to be attempted. 

 It is generally laid on in this way in the autumn, and 

 ploughed down in the fpring, but the crops feldom repay 

 the expence. 



This fubftance is alfo ufed as a top-dreiring in fpring 

 upon grals, or wheat and other grain ; but upon the httter 

 it is faid to be dangerous, uiikfs tiie lime be made into a 

 compofl with dung or earth ; in this form it will not only 

 be fafe but highly ufeful, except upon coarfe meadows 

 abounding with ruflies, and other trumpery, which it de- 

 llroys by abforbing the fuperabundant moiflure which fup- 

 ports them. 



But upon light foils, if fcveral white crops be taken in 

 fncceflion after hiniiig, the land will be worn out ; a white 

 and green crop (hoald be taken alternately. Upon clay 

 lands a fummer fallow is fometimes indifpen fable ; in that 

 cafe the lime fliould be laid on in .July or Augull, and com- 

 pletely harrowed in before ploughing : two or three plougli- 

 ings at lenlt are required to incorporate it well with the loil, 

 and a fuitable harrowing after each (hould likewife be 

 given. 



However, about Perth in Scotland, according to the 

 Report of that county, the quantity laid on llifT land, by 

 ficilful improvers in the low country, is from forty to fifty 

 bolls to the acre; on light land, with a gravelly fubfoil, ' 

 thirty or thirty-five bolls are accounted a fiifficient dofe. 

 In fome parts of the carfe or clay land, which is not caiily 

 ftimulated, they lay on eighty or ninety bolls. It is fome- 

 times laid on fallows, immediately before the feed furrow ; 

 on barley and grafs feeds, either before or after the barley 

 is fown ; and in fome cales with the preceding crop, where 

 turnips are cultivated, to prepare the ground for barley. 

 Lime is in fome inllances mixed in compoil dung-hills, in 

 others it is fprcad on the green fward, before the land be 

 broken up from grafs. One infallible maxim with regard 

 to lime is, that the longer it is kept near the furface, at 

 lead within reach of the plough, until it be intimately 

 mixed with the foil, and its virtues imbibed, fo much the 

 better. The firft liming ot land has always a more power- 

 ful effeft than it has at a future but no dillant period, 

 the quantity being equal. Quick lime intended for wheat, 

 after a fallow, or for barley and grafs feeds, might be 

 ploughed in with a very fliallow furrow, before the feed 

 is fown : for oats after ley, it ought to be laid on during 

 the preceding autumn ; and for palhire or a top-drefling, 

 early in the fpring or autumn, rather than in fummer 

 or in winter ; becaufe, if the fummer be dry, the grafs is 

 burnt up by the lime, and in winter its virtues are leflened 

 by the froU, nor does it fo powerfully attracl the influence 

 of the air. It is common, but perhaps difficult to be ac- 

 counted for, when lime is fpread on fliort heath or other 

 barren ground, which has a dry bottom, to fee white clover 

 and daifies rifing fpontaneoufly and plentifully, the fecond 

 or third fpring afterwards, where not a vellige of either, 

 nor even a blade of grafs, could be difcovered before it was 

 applied. Dr. Darwin remarks that he has been informed, 

 that if a fpadeful of lime be thrown on a tuffock, which 

 liorles or cattle have rcfufed to eat for years, they will for 

 many fucceeding feafons eat it quite cluie to the ground ; 

 which is owing, he fufpefts, to the grafs containing more 

 fiigar in its joints, or to the lefs acidity of all itsjuices. 



Where lime is to lie in a heap for any length of time, it 

 7 fhould 



