TABLES FOR LIME. 
79 
well as a stimulating application ; and a top-dress¬ 
ing of earth and lime or even of good earth alone, 
will be found to have nearly the same beneficial 
effect that lime always produces on a stronger and 
deeper soil. 
Some persons think, from witnessing its first 
effects, that they can always have recourse to lime 
with the same success; hut in this they will as¬ 
suredly be disappointed; once in five, six, or seven 
years, according to the nature of the land, is as 
often as lime can be applied with advantage. 
Experience proves, that if lime be frequently 
used, it must be applied as manure, and not singly as 
a stimulant; and to this end, it must be compounded 
with earth, clay, and other matter, to which it com¬ 
municates its stimulating qualities, whilst its ferti¬ 
lizing effects are thereby augmented. In this state 
it will act powerfully as a manure, and be a valua¬ 
ble auxiliary in the hands of the farmer. 
Most varieties of subsoil strata make good com¬ 
pounds with lime. Sand and lime, with peat or 
turf, if it can be obtained, should be mixed for a 
clay soil; and subsoil clay and lime, for sands, 
gravels, loams, and peaty lands. No farmer need 
complain of want of materials to make fertilizing 
compounds, since every sort of soil may be used 
for this purpose; and not only is immediate fertility 
produced thereby, but there are few districts in the 
country, however barren, that may not be improved, 
or brought into a fertile state, by dressing with a 
well-proportioned mixture of earth, clay, sand, and 
lime. Care should be taken, however, to propor¬ 
tion the quantity of lime according as the land is 
light or heavy, cold or warm. Light soils have 
been hurt by too abundant applications of lime; 
and while one part of lime to from six to ten parts 
of earth may do for light soils, one part of lime to 
two, three, or more parts of earth, will be required 
for heavy soils. 
The application of lime alone to land long under 
tillage, is often found not to be beneficial; but if 
the same quantity of lime had been applied in a 
compound state, with sand, turf, earth, clay, or 
vegetable mould, good effects would have resulted. 
On deep loams, lime may be applied in a caustic 
state, more frequently than to most other soils; but 
the testimony of experience is in favor of its being 
used in a compound state. 
The most valuable variety of lime for agricultural 
purposes is that obtained by burning oyster-shells, 
and allowing it to remain exposed to the air a few 
hours in order to allow it to slack. Quarry lime is 
not so good on account of the magnesia which it 
often contains, and from its small quantity or total 
want of phosphoric acid. It should be used soon 
after burning, when, if it occurs in a powdered 
state, it may be air-slacked in the same manner as 
the oyster-shell lime; but if it occurs in stony 
lumps it must be slacked by sprinkling water upon 
it, and as soon as the particles fall asunder it should 
be immediately used. 
Rat Charmers. —It is said there are men in Lon¬ 
don who possess the art of enticing rats from their 
holes, and constraining them, in broad day, to enter 
into rat-traps. The charm consists in some of the 
straw, placed in the trap, saturated with the oil of 
anise, and of cummin. 
USEFUL TABLE FOR APPLYING LIME, 
CHARCOAL, &c. 
Persons unaccustomed to the application of lime 
or charcoal to land, by sowing or spreading them 
upon the surface, are often at a loss to know how 
thick a coat to put on in order to dispose of a cer¬ 
tain number of bushels to the acre. We therefore 
show at a glance, in the following table, the depth, 
to the nearest 1000th part of an inch, that a given 
number of bushels will cover an acre of ground, 
assuming the bushel to contain 2150.42 cubic 
inches; also the number of bushels necessary to 
cover an acre of land to a required depth :— 
Bushels 
Depth. 
Depth. 
Quantity per acre. 
per Acre. 
Inch. Decimals. 
Inch. Tenths. 
Bush. Dec. 
20 
— 
0.007 
1.0 
2916.937 
30 
— 
0.010 
0.9 
— 
2625.243 
40 
= 
0.014 
0.8 
~ 
2333.550 
50 
— 
0.017 
0.7 
— 
2041.856 
60 
= 
0.021 
0.6 
= 
1750.162 
70 
— 
0.024 
0.5 
= 
1458.469 
80 
== 
0.027 
0.4 
1166.775 
90 
p 
0.031 
0.3 
p 
875.081 
100 
0.034 
0.2 
— 
583.387 
200 
— 
0.069 
0.1 
— 
291.694 
300 
— 
0.103 
04 
= 
145.847 
RENOVATION OF OLD GRASS-LAND. 
Will you inform me through your useful 
paper what quantity of bone-dust should be applied 
to the acre, the land having been mowed for many 
years ? The soil consists of a yellow loam, and is 
covered with a stiff, heavy sward. 
Stephen R. Gray. ; 
Instead of employing bone-dust the first year, we 
would recommend a top-dressing of 30 to 50 or even 
100 bushels of partially slacked lime per acre, and if 
this could be incorporated with 20 or 30 loads of 
rich earth or muck, and the whole spread together, 
it would be still better. This will cause the coarse 
grass and weeds to disappear, and a rich sward of 
the swmeter herbage to rise spontaneously. The 
second or third year 10 to 15 bushels of bone-dust 
may be sown broad-cast to an acre, the stimulating 
and beneficial effects of which will be visible for 
several years. For further remarks on the applica¬ 
tion of lime to grass-lands, see our remarks on the 
preceding page. 
To remove Incrustations from Boilers.— One 
of the greatest impediments met with in employing 
hot water as a heating medium, or for the purpose 
of generating steam, is its tendency to incrust the 
interior of the' apparatus with carbonate of lirrle. 
In order to remove this difficulty, it is only neces¬ 
sary to add one ounce of sal-ammoniac (muriate of 
ammonia) to every 90 gallons of water with which 
the apparatus is filled. The acid, which holds in 
solution the lime, unites with the ammonia, while 
the carbonic acid of the carbonate of ammonia 
combines and falls down with the lime ; but, upon 
the water being heated, the precipitated carbonate 
of lime combines with the salt of ammonia, is re¬ 
dissolved, and the carbonate of ammonia is formed 
and escapes with the vapors of the boiling water. 
Gardeners, cooks, and engineers, who are obliged 
to employ water charged with lime or salt, may 
learn a lesson from this, if they wish to keep their 
hot water apparatus in working order, 
