THE CULTIVATOR. 
93 
never be the proper sort to be sown on a poor black 
soil, such as Bagshot Heath, which of itself is incapa¬ 
ble of retaining or attracting moisture. But it will not 
be denied that if a red or coarse variety, equally pro¬ 
ductive as to quantity, though perhaps less iarinaceous, 
could be grown on such a soil, it would be an end great¬ 
ly to be desired, and of much national importance. An 
observation made by Col. Le. Couteur leads him to be¬ 
lieve that such will be the result. In a piece of land 
which had been ill prepared, and was poor and out of 
condition, a crop of white wheat had been sown; it 
scarcely grew three feet in height, but among it was a 
plant of fine, tall, rich, brown wheat, with a largeround, 
but rather coarse grain. It proved a highly productive 
variety. Had he happened to have sown the field with 
all such, instead of having only had twenty bushels per 
acre, subsequent experience has shown him that he would 
probably have had forty. 
In Colonel Le Couteur’s observations on the selection 
of seed grain, he remarks—“ It has frequently puzzled 
me much to imagine, upon what principle some writers 
have recommended for seed a sort of inferior grain, the 
refuse of a crop, after all has been sent to the market. 
How a principle so entirely contrary to the whole eco¬ 
nomy of nature could for a moment obtain it is difficult 
to conceive. For even from the finest of seed, after five 
years of experiments, I am persuaded that for a crop 
one-tenth of the best grain perishes, or is destroyed by 
birds, mice or insects; but from some sorts which look¬ 
ed sickley, and were purposely sown singly, grain by 
grain, in 1833, I found that a liver-coloured variety 
which, from the appearance of the ear, promised to be 
highly productive, though the grains were ill-grown, 
thirty-three grains out of seventy-two died, which induc¬ 
ed me to discard it as being too delicate, its grains being 
poor and lean, though grown on a rich and well prepar¬ 
ed soil. Another variety also from poor ill-fed wheat, 
lost forty-nine grains out of sixty-two. A sample of 
golden-drop, which I got at Mark-lane, tolerably well 
grown, had seven varieties in a handful, and thirty-four 
of these died out of seventy-two grains. Whereas from 
other healthy plump grains of several varieties, only 
nine, ten and twelve died out of seventy-two grains of 
each variety. In 1834, the “ Belle Vue Talavera,” was 
so well grown and plump, that of three rows of seventy- 
two grains each not one died; of No. 1, Danzig, only 
three to four in three rows of the same number; and of 
No. 2, “ Album Densum,” only eight from the same 
number died. From one hundred and forty-four grains 
of a new white Spring Wheat, a very rare, hardy and 
promising variety, only ten died. 
My general observations lead me to believe, that when 
wheat appears to grow lean and poor looking it should 
be discarded from the locality, after a fair trial—say af¬ 
ter the third year, as the second only might be the re¬ 
sult of climate, or the want of being naturalized to the 
soil. The first trial should be made from seed of the 
best quality: if this fails after the third year, it is evi¬ 
dently unsuited to the soil and climate, and a new sort 
should be introduced. It must be obvious that lean and 
shrivelled wheat is not so likely to nourish the young 
plant just starting from its embryo state into life, with 
a mere miserable skin of a parent to live upon, as the 
fine rich nutriment to be met with in a plump, round, fa¬ 
rinaceous grain, full of meal. 
The nice discrimination and care requisite to mature 
a pure and distinct variety of grain, is well exemplified 
in Colonel Le Couteur’s own practice; for in the pro¬ 
gress of dibbling out the grains of four ears of wheat 
which were selected to him by Professor Le Gasca, he 
remarked a great discrepancy in the grains of each ear ; 
they were not even of the same colour, and differed 
greatly as to form, some being round, some oval and 
peaked, some plump but very small, some more elongat¬ 
ed, some with the skin or bran much thicker than oth¬ 
ers; there were also, many with liver-coloured yellow, 
and dark grains among the white. Colonel Le Couteur 
therefore recommends the selection of a single grain of 
a pure and known variety, for the purpose of procuring 
a sort with a distinct character and of prolific habits; 
but this subject is so nice, and admits of so many dis¬ 
tinctions, that to arrive at this he believes it may be ne¬ 
cessary to destroy every female blossom, excepting one, 
on the plant, vvhich may be selected for impregnation or 
future experiment; and there can be no doubt that, with 
due attention, the practice can be established as satis¬ 
factorily, as the success that has been met with by those 
who have attended to the intercrossing of geraniums, 
now grown of all shades and colours, almost at will.— 
Indeed, the care which Colonel Le Couteur took in mak¬ 
ing his selections, and the great number of sorts he found 
of all shades and colours, forming varieties and sub-va¬ 
rieties, as they were termed by Professor Le Gasca, 
confirmed him in the opinion that the only chance of hav¬ 
ing pure sorts was to raise them from single grains or 
single ears. In reference to this matter, Colonel Le 
Couteur observes—“It is but fair to add, that even the 
pains I took in making these first selections amply re¬ 
warded my labours, as the produce of my crops was in¬ 
creased from an average of about twenty-three or twen¬ 
ty-five bushels per acre to about thirty-four; and since 
I have raised wheat from single ears or carefully select¬ 
ed sorts, 1 have increased my crops to between forty and 
fifty bushels the acre. Hence I have no doubt, that with 
extreme care in obtaining the best and most suitable 
sorts of wheat, that land, in high tilth, with fine cultiva¬ 
tion may be made to produce sixty or seventy bushels 
per acre.” Colonel Le Couteur further remarks, that 
“much has been judiciously written on the growth and 
cultivation of wheat, which has tended to a material im. 
provement in those farms where care has been taken, 
perceptible even to superficial observers; but no writer 
has yet called the attention of the agricultural world to 
the cultivation of pure sorts, originating from one sin¬ 
gle grain. It is contended that this has been the root of 
all the evil; many have attempted to begin well, but few, 
if any, have thought of commencing from the original, 
and persevering and keeping it pure. This idea struck 
the author so powerfully on the first conversation which 
he had with the Professor Le Gasca, that it has never 
quitted him. His project was considered visionary and 
unattainable. Old farmers said, that as no farmer in 
the world had ever thought of separating and classing 
wheat it could not be done ; it was impossible to get a 
pure crop ! The bees would mix the farina, mice would 
mix the grain, birds would do the same; if it had been 
feasible, it would have been tried before. Corn-factors 
assured him, that the climate of England was not calcu¬ 
lated for the growth of such fine skinned wheat as that 
of Danzig, Volhynia, and Sandomir. Professor Le Gas¬ 
ca alone perceived and approved of the author’s project. 
The learned Professor had been theoretically employ¬ 
ed in the classification and scientific examination of 
wheat as a plant, in the research and consideration of 
all its varieties; but it had escaped him to consider it 
in its properties, with relation to the good of man.— 
This practical view the author took of it, and he deter¬ 
mined to attempt to discover which were the most fari¬ 
naceous and productive varieties, by comparing their 
character and produce one with another. 
From the foregoing observations we will arrive at the 
following conclusion, viz.—That the wheat in this coun¬ 
try is much mixed, and therefore is rendered less pro¬ 
ductive than a variety or varieties with distinct charac¬ 
ters, distinguished for their suitableness for our diffe¬ 
rent soils and climates, and the practicability of obtain¬ 
ing such varieties is clearly demonstrated in the prac¬ 
tice of Colonel Le Couteur. Also, that when we pro¬ 
cure a pure and suitable variety of seed wheat it is ab¬ 
solutely necessary to guard against the admixture, and 
that this can only be accomplished by unremitting care 
and attention. 
It will farther be observed, that it is not enough to se¬ 
lect varieties that may appear valuable in the eye of the 
botanist, but that they must be tested and proved by 
actual experiment before their merits and qualities can 
be properly appreciated or understood, and that in fact 
the want of these practical tests have hitherto proved 
the root of all the evil. 
Lastly, although Colonel Le Couteur has directed his 
experiments solely to wheat, yet sufficient is known to 
render it probable that the different seeds and roots at 
present in cultivation in this country would be suscepti¬ 
ble of a like improvement, if subjected to a similar pro¬ 
cess and the test of experiment. 
A SCOTCH FARMER. 
On the Nature and Properties of Lime. 
Sir H. Davy says, that “quick lime (hydrate of lime) 
in the pure state, is injurious to plants; that when mix¬ 
ed with moist fibrous vegetable matter, there is a strong 
action between the lime and the vegetable, and they 
form a kind of compost of which a part is usually solu¬ 
ble in water; but that carbonate of lime is a useful in¬ 
gredient in soil, that it acts upon the decomposing vege¬ 
table and animal matter in the soil, so as to render it 
more fitted for the purposes of vegetation, that it pre¬ 
vents the two rapid decomposition of substance already 
dissolved, but has no tendency to form soluble matter.” 
Quick lime is a combination of lime with one-third of 
its weight of water, in which state it is called hydrate 
of lime; Avhen it is exposed to the atmosphere a suffi¬ 
cient time it reabsorbs from the atmosphere the carbonic 
acid gas Avhich it lost during the process of burning, and 
in this state it resumes all the properties it had before it 
was burnt. This effect is soon produced after it has 
been slaked and spread on the land in a dry state, and 
it has very little time in its caustic state of quick lime 
to effect any alteration on the soil; it must therefore be 
in its original carbonaceous comminuted state when in¬ 
timately mixed with the soil, that it can have any effect 
either on the soil or on the decaying vegetable matter 
therein. 
The effect Avhich it produces on the soil must there¬ 
fore be as an alterative in changing its texture by the 
addition of so much carbonate of lime to it in a very 
finely divided state. 
Dr. Anderson and Du Hamel are of the opinion that 
powdered marble or powdered limestone has a good ef¬ 
fect on grass land. 
Anderson says, “that lime is no sooner slaked than it 
immediately begins to absorb its air and return to its 
former mild state ; or in other words, it becohfhs.effete, 
in Avhich state it possesses the same chemical qualities 
in every respect as limestone. 
“ If this be spread out thinly upon the surface of the 
earth, it absorbs its air in a very short time. A few 
hours in this situation, restores a large proportion of its 
air; and in a day or two, at most, it becomes perfectly 
effete, as masons experience when they sweep together 
the scattered particles that have lain around their heaps 
of lime and attempt to use it in mortar by itself, for it 
is then no more coherent than sand or moistened earth. 
“Hence then it must folloAV, that in every case, lime 
is converted into the same state with limestone, in a few 
days after it is mixed with the soil; so that if it produ¬ 
ces any effect at all as lime, as a saline substance, it 
must only be at the very first, when it is applied, and it 
must act ever afterwards merely as powdered limestone. 
“But it is well known, that lime produces scarcely 
any sensible effect as a manure, at the beginning. Even 
the first year after it is applied to the soil its effects are 
inconsiderable, in comparison of \vhat it produces in the 
second and succeeding years. From whence we must 
conclude, that it operates upon the soil, merely as a mild 
calcareous earth; and that its calcination is of no far¬ 
ther utility in preparing it for manure, than as a cheap 
and efficacious method of reducing the limestone to a 
fine powder.” Other chemists say that it requires ex¬ 
posure to the atmosphere for a considerable time to ren¬ 
der it completely effete, or to receive its full quantity of 
carbonic acid gas. Kames, Young, Brown, and others 
say, that long experience has convinced them that lime 
is as efficaceous in its effete as in its caustic state, and 
Kames thinks it produces little effect on vegetables till 
it becomes effete; it therefore appears not only from 
their opinion, but also from the appearance of practical 
farmers, that the efficacy of lime on some land does not 
arise from any effect it may produce when in a caustic 
state, but from those qualities Avhich it possesses in com¬ 
mon with all other calcareous matter. It must be evi¬ 
dent that lime, in a dry, slaked, or pulverized state, can 
be more easily and intimately mixed with the soil, than 
Avhen it becomes wet, and in a state like mortar. 
Is lime only a stimulant exerting its influence on 
something that is already in the soil ? and if so, does its 
influence tend to exhaust this something? or, is it an 
enriching manure which gives nourishment to plants ? or 
does it, by becoming a portion of the soil, improve its 
texture and composition by making the soil more capa¬ 
ble of supplying the food necessary for the production 
of vegetables? Dr. Anderson says, “Writers on agri¬ 
culture have been long in the custom of dividing manure 
into tAVO classes; viz. enriching manures, or those that 
tended directly to render the soil more prolific, however 
sterile it may be. Among the foremost of which Avas 
reckoned dung, and exciting manures, or those that were 
supposed to have a tendency to render the soil more pro¬ 
lific, merely by acting upon those enriching manures 
that had been formerly in the soil, and giving them a. 
new stimulus, so as to enable them to operate anew up¬ 
on that soil, which they had formerly fertilized, in 
which class of stimulating manures, lime was always al¬ 
lowed to hold the foremost rank.” 
“ In consequence of this theory, it would follow that 
lime could only be of use as a manure, when applied to 
rich soils; and, when applied to poor soils, Avould pro¬ 
duce hardly any, or even perhaps hurtful effects.” “ I 
will frankly acknowledge, that I myself was so far im¬ 
posed upon by the beauty of this theory, as to be hur¬ 
ried along Avith the general current of mankind, in the 
firm persuasion of the truth of this observation; and 
for many years did not sufficiently advert to those facts 
that were daily occurring to contradict this theory. I 
am now, however, firmly convinced, from repeated ob¬ 
servations, that lime and other calcareous manures, pro¬ 
duce a much greater proportional improvement upon 
poor soils, than on such as are rieher; and that lime 
alone, upon a poor soil, will, in many cases, produce a 
much greater and more lasting degree of fertility than 
dung alone. 
“ In direct contradiction to the theory, I must add, that 
I never yet met Avith a poor soil in its natural state 
Avhich was not benefitted in a very great degree by cal¬ 
careous matters when administered in proper quanti¬ 
ties. 
“ But I have met with several rich soils that Avere 
fully impregnated with dung, and therefore exactly in that 
state in which the theory supposes that lime would pro¬ 
duce .the greatest effect,—but upon which lime, applied 
in any quantities, produced not the smallest sensible ef¬ 
fect.” 
And again, in another place he says:—“ I have often 
heard it urged, as an objection to the use of lime as a 
manure, that although it does indeed promote the ferti¬ 
lity of a soil, in a higher degree at first, yet, in the end, 
it renders it much more sterile than formerly. 
“ This, like many other objections to useful practices, 
takes its rise entirely from the avarice and unskilful¬ 
ness of those who complain. It is chiefly heard of in 
those part of the country, Avhere it is not uncommon for 
a farmer, after once liming a poor soil, to take fifteen or 
sixteen crops of oats successively, without any other 
dressing or alternation of o ops. It must be a good ma¬ 
nure that enables these soils to produce such a number 
of successive scourging crops of any sort; but it would 
be a marvellous onejindeed, if it should prevent those 
fields from being exhausted by them. 
“ But is it not Avell known, that in all the richest and 
best improved parts of the country, lime has been long 
employed as a'manure?—yet so far are these soils from 
being rendered sterile by it, that it is doubtful if any art, 
without the assistance of lime or some calcareous mat¬ 
ter, could ever have brought these fields to their present 
degree of fertility. Those, therefore, who complain of 
the hurtful effects of lime as manure, proclaim what they 
ought to conceal, that they have had in their possession 
a treasure, which might have enriched their posterity, 
but which they have idly squandered aAvay in their own 
lifetime.” Although lime produces a great effect on cer¬ 
tain poor land which has been in a state of nature, yet 
where lime is applied to poor worn out arable land 
which has been limed and exhausted by severe cropping, 
it has, from practical experience, no effect whatever. 
If lime be a stimulant, there are roots in the soil of 
poor land in a state of nature for it to act upon; but in 
poor worn out land exhausted by severe cropping, there 
are none. 
Again, suchAvorn out land may, from the very circum¬ 
stance of its worn out state, be so loosened, that an ap- 
