270 



An instance of the injurious effects of a deficiency of 

 Lime, is cited by a writer in the last number of the Quar- 

 terly Journal of Agriculture, where he says that during the 

 late dry summer he observed that many of the grass fields 

 in the neighbourhood of Liverpool were covered with sorrel, 

 being quite red with that sour plant in seed. On chemically 

 examining the soil, he found that it contained an excess of 

 humic acid, and a deficiency of Lime. An application of 

 the latter would have neutralized the bad effects of the 

 former, and rendered the land incapable of luxuriantly pro- 

 ducing so acid a plant as sorrel, which would have given 

 place to clover and other sweet herbage. Sir John Sinclair 

 mentions, that on the Mendip Hills, in Somersetshire, by 

 the application of Lime, the value of land was raised from 

 4s. to 30s. per acre ; and dung, which previous to Liming 

 had no sensible effect, afterwards operated as on other soils ; 

 and the rye lands in Herefordshire, which formerly refused 

 to produce wheat, peas, or vetches, have, since the intro- 

 duction of Lime, been so fertilized by its application, as to 

 render the soil capable of producing every species of corn. 



In the former part of this paper I mentioned that there 

 is found another description of Lime in the neighbourhood 

 of Castleford, and also at Conisbro', near Doncaster, which 

 may truly be designated by the term Magnesian, as it con- 

 tains from 30 to 40 per cent, of carbonate of magnesia. 

 This sort of Lime has been found to be injurious to land 

 for some time after its application in the quick state, except 

 when very sparingly used ; and the reason is, that the 

 magnesia which it contains is so long in imbibing sufficient 

 carbonic acid to neutralize its causticity, that it burns up, 

 as it were, all growing vegetables with which it comes in 

 contact. The real and pure Lime which this stone contains 

 has a greater affinity for carbonic acid than the magnesia, 

 and it, therefore, first appropriates all the attainable acid, 

 until it is satisfied, before the magnesia obtains any, during 



