crop of white clover has afterwards occupied its place. On 

 grass land the Lime ought to be applied in a partially effete 

 or mild state, otherwise it will injure the vegetation. Quick 

 Lime should not be applied simultaneously, or mixed with 

 any manure containing the salts of ammonia; for it has so 

 much greater an affinity for the acids than ammonia, that 

 immediately on their coming in contact, the ammonia is set 

 at liberty and dispelled. The application of Lime to land 

 ought, therefore, to be ten days or a fortnight previous to 

 the manure being introduced, by which time the Lime, if 

 well spread and harrowed into the soil, will have become 

 sufficiently a carbonate not to affect the ammonia. From 

 the foregoing considerations, and from an analysis of com- 

 mon yellow clay made for us by Mr. Haywood, by which 

 he found that one ton of clay contained fourteen pounds of 

 caustic potash, and an appreciable quantity of phosphoric 

 acid, I imagine that Unslaked Lime, as it comes from the 

 kiln, and clay, laid up, layer upon layer, would form a good 

 compost, particularly for the lighter soils. My observations 

 have hitherto been mainly confined to the action of Lime 

 when in its quick state — in which only it is thought by many 

 farmers to be effective aud valuable. But this is quite a 

 mistaken notion : — its virtues last for years, and continue 

 so long as any remains in the land. In the caustic state 

 it renders other things into manure, and after it has accom- 

 plished that object, it becomes itself food for the plant. As 

 the Carbonate, or Mild Lime (which state it shortly assumes 

 after its application), it renders the corn crops better and 

 finer in the skin — causes them to come earlier to maturity — 

 corrects acidities and impurities in the soil, thereby sweet- 

 ening the herbage — is a great absorbent of moisture — and 

 has not only a chemical, but also a mechanical effect upon 

 the soil, by lightening that which is too stiff, and stiffening 

 that which is too light ; in fact the value and virtues of 

 Lime are not yet sufficiently and extensively known. 



