566 H U S B A 
in Derbylhire by means of lime, without the plough 5 but 
this is no exception, he thinks, to what he has laid. The 
efrefts are flow, though certain. Thofe who inhabit coun¬ 
tries that admit of the plough, are often, he fays, advifed 
to lay lime upon the grafs, and are made to believe that 
their pafture will be inftantly mended by it, nearly in the 
fame perceptible manner as if it had been dunged. This 
he has tried, and has feen it tried by others ; but always 
found that the grafs for the firft year was rather hurt than 
benefited by it; nor was it fo much improved in fuc- 
ceeding years, as if the fame quantity of lime had been 
applied, and intimately mixed with the foil. In this 
mode of applying lime, it is long, he thinks,, before it 
yields a proper return ; and is not to be recommended to 
a poor man, unlefs where necefllty obliges him to praftife 
it. Anderfon's EJfays, vol. i. 
On thefe grounds it is likewife conceived, that lime 
may be employed much more advantageoufly, when made 
ufe of even in fmall proportions, than fuch calcareous 
fubltances as have been reduced into the ftate of powder 
without calcination. It is well remarked, however, by 
the fame author, that much muil depend on the mode in 
which the lime is applied. “ If,” fays he, “it is fpread as 
foon as it is flacked, while yet in a powdery ftate, a very 
Irnall quantity may be made to cover the -whole furface of 
the ground, and to touch an exceedingly great number of 
particles of earth ; but, if it is buffered to lie for l'ome 
time after flacking, and to get fo much moifture as to 
make it run into clods, or cake into large lumps, it can 
never be again divided into fuch fmall parts; and there¬ 
fore a much greater quantity is necefiary to produce the 
dame effect, than if it had been applied in its powdery 
ftate. But if the foil is afterwards to be continued long 
in tillage, (as thefe clods are annually broken linaller by 
the aftion of the plough and harrows,) the lime muft con¬ 
tinue to exert its influence anew upon the foil for a great 
courle of years; it will produce an effeft nearly fimilar to 
that which would be experienced by annually ftrewing a 
fmall quantity of powdered lime over the whole furface 
of the foil; but as the price of the lime muft, in the firft 
cafe, be paid by the farmer all together at the beginning, 
which only comes to be fucceflively demanded in the 
other cafe, this deferves to be attended to, as it may be¬ 
come a confideration of fome importance where lime is 
dear, and money not very plentiful.” 
There is another circumltance that requires to be con- 
fidered. in refpeft to the application of lime, which is, the 
quantity that may be necefiary to be employed. The opi¬ 
nions of practical writers are much at variance in regard 
to this point, l'ome contending that a fmall quantity can 
only be applied with fafety and advantage, while others 
maintain that fcarcely too great a proportion can be made 
ufe of. It is obvious, however, from the differences that 
take place in foils, that.no particular proportion can 
be fuitable in every cafe, but that it muft be varied very 
confiderably according to the circumftances that have 
been already ftated, as well as from the fituation or con¬ 
dition of the land on which it is laid, and the proportion 
of real calcareous matter that may be contained in the 
lime that is to be applied. As it has been Ihown that 
lime, when in its molt aftive ftate, foon becomes reduced 
fo as to be perfectly mild, by its property of abforbing 
moifture and the carbonic acid from the air, there can be 
little danger of injury from its caullic quality, though it 
jnay, on its firft application, have a tendency to unite with 
and deftroy fuch green or other vegetable productions as 
may be prefent. 
It is remarked, however, by a late practical writer, that 
“molt kinds of ftone-lime finould be applied with a fpa- 
ring hand, and with a conflderable degree of caution, as 
the cauitic quality is many times greater in this than in 
lime made from chalk.” He has had many opportuni¬ 
ties, he alferts, of feeing total barrennefs induced by a too 
liberal ufe of it; very generally at the feveral places wlier« 
N.DRY, 
the carts were flopped for the men to fpread It; at the 
bottoms of every heap; and once an entire clofe. Mid¬ 
dleton's Middlesex, p. 308. 
It has been employed in different proportions, from one 
to fix or feven hundred buihels on the acre, on various- 
forts of foil, by fome very accurate agricultors, under fimi¬ 
lar circumftances, with benefits in proportion to the quan¬ 
tities applied in augmenting the fertility of the foil. And; 
accidental experiments have demonftrated that it may be 
ufed in ftill larger proportions with advantageous effefts. 
In fhort, it is concluded by Anderfon, .that, “ on foils 
which do not naturally abound with chalk, or other cal¬ 
careous matter, there is lefs danger in giving too much- 
lime than in applying too little, except in thofe cafes 
where an over-luxuriance is dreaded.’’ EJfays , vol. i. 
The duration of the beneficial confequences of the ufe 
of lime in promoting the growth of vegetable-crops muft 
be different, according to the differences of circumftances 
in the land to which it is applied; the proportion of it 
that is employed, the kind of crop that is cultivated, and 
a variety of other caufes of the lame nature. But it is 
evident from the faffs that have been ftated by praftical; 
writers, in refpeft to its continued powers of predifpofing 
lands on which it has been laid to the growth of particu¬ 
lar forts of crops in preference to others; of rendering- 
the operation of other- kinds of manure, and other me¬ 
thods of culture, moYe effeftual than where it has never 
been ufed; that it muft produce very ufeful permanent’ 
changes in the foils to which it is applied. An additi¬ 
onal proof of this is likewife met with in the well-known- 
circumftance of the quality of the grain from fuch lands as 
have been limed being much improved, having a thinner 
Ikin, and yielding much more flour than from ground 
where it has never been made ufe of; which is ingeni- 
oully fuppofed, by an able author, to proceed from its 
containing more ltarch and lefs mucilage, on account ofi 
the tendency of the lime to promote the converfion of the 
latter lubftance into the former, by battening the ripen¬ 
ing of the feed. Darwin's Phytologia, p. 220. 
As there are conflderable differences in refpeft to the 
purity or goodnefs of lime-ftone, or other calcareous- 
matters, it is obvious that there muft be much variety in. 
regard to the lime that is produced from them. Where 
it has been prepared from the purer kinds, when brought 
into the ftate of powder by being faturated with water, it 
is perfeftly foft, fmooth, and impalpable ; while in other- 
cafes it feels coarfe and gritty, according to the different 
degrees of impurity. In general, fo far as the purpoi’es 
of agriculture are concerned, that lime which has the 
greateft levity, is the fofteft and fmootheft to the touch,., 
and has the whiteft colour, is the moft advantageous. 
In the carriage of lime for the ufes of the farmer, it 
may lometimes be necefiary, where the distance is confl¬ 
derable, to pay attention to the nature or ftate of it; as, 
without that, much expence may be incurred to no pur- 
pole. When the lime is pure, it will be the moft econo¬ 
mical method to convey it in the ftate of Ih-ell, as by that 
means nothing will be carried but what is ufeful; where¬ 
as, if it were carted in a flaked condition, a large propor¬ 
tion of water, and other matters, muft be conveyed with 
it. But where lime is impure, and adulterated with 
other fubltances, or imperfeftly prepared, it may be a 
more faving method to carry it in the ftate of powder ; 
otherwife much matter may be conveyed that will never 
flake or fall down into lime. 
Dr. Aaderfon is very copious upon the fubjeft of lime, 
both as a cement and a manure, in his Elfays relating to 
Agriculture. It is remarkable that Mr. Miller has not 
mentioned lime as an article of manure; though Moits* 
mer and other old authors on hnlbandry have written 
fenfibly about it. 
Lime-flone, and other hard calcareous fubftances, with¬ 
out being fubjefted to the procefs of calcination by heat, 
may,, in many cafes, as where fuel cannot be procured to 
bum 
