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But this I cannot conceive to be the case, as it is contrary 

 to the order of affinities, the acid having a greater affection 

 for the soda than for the Lime. Professor Graham, whom 

 I had lately the pleasure of meeting in London, informed 

 me that if the compound be kept in the state of a paste for 

 some time, and then dried, there certainly is a sublimation 

 of carbonate of soda, but only in a trifling degree. The 

 two substances are good in themselves, and might be applied 

 with equal effect separately. When applied to clover leys 

 previous to being ploughed up for wheat, both seem to 

 answer the desired purpose, in destroying the wire worm 

 or other ravaging insects ; as may be shown by an experi- 

 ment which we lately tried, where on one part of a field 

 we laid five cwt. of salt per acre, at a cost of 6s., on 

 another we put one ton of Quick Lime per acre, at a cost 

 of 10s. 6d. ; and on the third we did not apply anything: 

 the wheat was equally good on the two portions treated with 

 salt and with Lime, but on the other, where nothing was 

 applied, the crop failed so grievously that we had to sow 

 it over again. 



Lime is extremely congenial to clover, and I believe that 

 if one ton per acre of that fertilizer were applied, along 

 with half a hundredweight of nitrate of potash, common 

 salt and gypsum, (half a hundredweight of each,) the 

 failure of the clover crop so frequently complained of, 

 would only occasionally occur, and that chiefly from the 

 injurious effect of frost ; for I cannot but consider that 

 the failure arises in most cases from a deficiency in the 

 soil of proper and quickly available food for the plant, — 

 clover requiring a considerable quantity of Lime, potash, 

 soda, and sulphuric acid. I have frequently observed in- 

 stances on the moors in Craven, where, after the plentiful 

 application of Quick and Caustic Lime, in the course of 

 a few months the heath has all disappeared, and a luxuriant 



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