8 
GENERAL PROPERTIES OF LIME. 
Carbonate of lime, if obtained from pulverized limestone, would have nearly the same 
mechanical effect in soil as sand. It has but little affinity for water ; and hence so far as 
it exerts any mechanical agency, it operates like sand. In the soils of New-York, and 
more especially in those of the New-England States, the quantity of carbonate of lime is 
so small, that it has no perceptible mechanical influence. But there is another form of car¬ 
bonate of lime, which exerts a decided influence : this is marl, a carbonate of lime, which 
is in a state of fine subdivision, and is combined with 4 or 5 to 10 per centum of organic 
matter. This substance, which is esteemed highly as a fertilizer, is a powerful retainer of 
water : it even ranks higher than alumina. It truly deserves the reputation it has acquired 
as a fertilizer, though we doubt whether its real action in the soil has been understood. 
Carbonate of lime, then, in the form we should obtain it by grinding rocks of limestone, 
would operate only mechanically like fine sand, by giving more porosity to the soil. In 
the form of marl, however, it gives tenacity to soil, by increasing its retentiveness. 
Carbonate of lime, as a salt of the earth, owes its importance to the relations it sustains 
with organized bodies, as is shown by their analyses. It is almost always an element, and 
a most essential one, of the animal tissues. Thus in the lower orders of the animal king¬ 
dom, lime is necessary to form the shell, covering or habitation of the species; in the 
higher, the bones are composed of salts of lime, all of which are derived from the soil. So 
in the vegetable kingdom, salts of lime are abundant in the ashes of all kinds of woods, and 
especially so in that of bark. We may therefore regard this element as one of the most 
important, and one which must be present in all good soils. 
Carbonate of lime is insoluble in pure water, but the farmer is under no necessity to 
provide the means for its solution. Rain water carries down to the earth carbonic acid, 
the presence of which enables water to dissolve it. So probably the development of car¬ 
bonic acid in the soil itself may aid in giving solubility to carbonate of lime. I need not, 
however, dwell upon this subject, as, under carbonic acid and the organic matters of the 
soil, I shall have occasion to call the attention of the reader again to it. 
The salts of lime, found in soils, are the phosphate, crenate, apocrenate, carbonate, and 
perhaps the humate and silicate. In weak acids, lime is quite soluble, but they form salts 
with different degrees of solubility in water. These salts are never in excess in any of 
the New-York soils : indeed they are really deficient, and, in good husbandry, have to be 
added in forms which are considered as a manure. In fact, one of the great efforts of the 
farmer is to supply lime in sufficient quantity to meet the wants of his crops. 
Few subjects have enlisted the attention of agriculturists, so much as the use and effect 
of lime in and upon soils. The facts very generally go to prove its great value : its action, 
however, has not been so generally understood. A subject which involves many intricate 
questions can scarcely be expected to obtain for itself an uniform opinion, or a theory which 
all will readily adopt. Analysis proves the constant presence of lime in vegetables : hence 
there is no doubt that it should be present in all soils, to supply the wants of vegetation. 
But its use and functions do not terminate in supplying a material for nutriment : there 
are certain reactions of lime upon other elements in the soil, which equal in utility the one 
