Alsoi-ptive Properties of Soils. 
495 
by any assistance which he can give. Altogether some ten or 
twelve samples of soil were collected, but only five or six have 
as yet been subjected to examination. The soils were very 
canifully collected, in April, 1852, in quantities of about 1 cvvt. 
each. The following is the account of them, with the remarks 
of Mr. Paine : — 
No. 1. Surface soil from loam of the tertiary drift, lying upon 
gravel, which rests upon the " lower green sand." This Soil is 
a friable loam of the very best description, and suited to the 
growth of every agricultural product. 
No. 2. From the same spot, 2 feet below the surface. 
No. 3. From the same spot, 4 feet below the surface, having 
a coarse and more gravelly appearance. W^orms had penetrated 
in abundance in this soil at the above depth, and it is naturally 
well drained. 
No. 4. Surface soil from the gault clay, being an undrained 
badly-managed meadow. 
No. 5. Gault clay, having been exposed to the weather after 
trenching about Christmas ; has had no manure for at least 
twenty years. 
No. 6. From the same spot 2 feet deep. 
No. 7. Ditto, 4 feet deep. 
No. 15. Top soil of London clay, from land between Farnham 
and Guildford. 
No. 16. The same, from 1^ to 2 feet below the surface. 
No. 17. Ditto, 3i feet deep. 
The first points to establish were the quantity of lime to be 
employed, and the mode of treating the soils with it. I was 
desirous in some respect of imitating the natural process of 
liming, at least in regard to the quantity of lime used. The 
practice of different districts, and of different farmers even in 
the same district, is so various that it is impossible to select a 
quantity which may be said to apply with correctness : but it 
was desirable to obtain marked results, and a full dose of lime 
seemed most likely to give them. 
The bushel of lime has a varying weight, according to the 
nature of the limestone from which it has been made ; but 
• assuming that the weight is three-quarters of a cwt. (84 lbs.), 
which is a convenient number, we may calculate wliat per- 
centage of the soil a given number of bushels will amount to. 
Thus, supposing the soil to be G inches deep (weighing 600 
tons), we shall find that 300 bushels, which weigh 225 cwt, 
will be at the rate of between li and 2 per cent. It will be 
found that in the following experime nts the quantity of lime 
was, in some cases, li, in others 2 per cent, of the soil operated 
upon. 
2 K 2 
