Influence of Lime on the Absorptive Properties of Soils. 491 
2s. 4r/. per head per week ; the roots (estimated at 10s. per 
ton), Is. %d. Saj, for the first four weeks the cost was 5s. per 
head per week ; and for the next thirteen weeks 6s. 10c?. : when 
the animals were sokl. The account stands thus : — 
17 Hiillocks, prime cost £286 17 6 
Feeding 4 weeks, at 5s £17 0 0 
„ 13 „ at Gs. lOd. 76 1 0 
93 1 0 
£379 18 6 
They were sold for 386Z. 10s. 
The credit balance of 6/. lis. ^d. would be absorbed by the 
engine-power in cutting the chaff; and the manure represents 
the straw cut for litter. 
Tlie result, I think, shows that bullocks maybe fatted, in a reason- 
able time, at a less cost, and with a much less quantity of roots 
than are usually given, by the mode of feeding adopted, without 
actual loss. I may observe, too, in reference to this particular 
case, that, though beef during the year 1853 bore a good price, 
lean stock commanded a much higher proportional price in the 
market, 
Cirencester, Aug. 9, 1854. 
XXI. — On the Influence of Lime on the '•'■Absorptive Properties'^ 
of Soils. By John Thomas Way. 
There is in agriculture probably no one practice that is more 
general, or of which the beneficial effects are more clearly estab- 
lished, than that of the application of lime to the land. In almost 
every county and to almost every variety of soil, lime is applied 
with greater or less success, and so recognized an agent in the 
hands of the farmer has this substance become, that in the leases 
granted for farm property it is not unusual to insert a clause for 
the purpose of regulating its application. And yet who amongst 
us can say that he perfectly understands the mode in which lime 
acts? Certainly not the agriculturist himself; for although he 
sees what lime does, he cannot explain how it is done; and with 
equal confidence I would say that the conscientious chemist will 
not pretend to this knowledge. He may, indeed, suggest half a 
dozen ways in which lime affects vegetation, but they are only 
those which are referable to the known general properties of the 
alkaline earth. Lime sweetens the soil by neutralizing any acid 
character that it may possess ; it assists the decomposition of 
inert organic matters, and therefore increases the supply of 
vegetable food to plants. For both these reasons it is a very 
