68 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
of the ridge upon which the sole of the plough moves, and that subsoil 
rendered smooth by the lower edge of the furrow slice, being cut clean 
with the near approximation of the points of the coulter and sock, the 
surface water that at any time might reach the subsoil, would pass 
easily off to the drains in the furrows. 
Having contemplated the evils arising from water becoming stagnant 
under arable soil, let us now contemplate the reverse of the picture, 
the pleasing and valuable effects of draining. The existence of moisture 
being most easily known by its effects on the crops which are commonly 
grown on the fields, the benefits of draining are also first exhibited by 
them. The straw of white crops on thoroughly drained land shoots up 
strongly from a vigorous braird, is thick, long, and, at the same time, 
so stiff, that the crop is not easily lodged. The grain is plump, large, 
bright coloured and thin skinned. The crop ripens uniformly, is bulky 
and prolific, is more quickly won for stacking after being cut, is more 
easily thrashed out, winnowed and cleaned, and produces fewer small 
and light grains. The straw, also, makes better fodder for live-stock. 
Cutting clovers become strong, rank, long, juicy, and the flowers, 
though fewer, very large and bright of colour. The hay is heavy for 
its bulk. Pasture grass stools out in every direction, covering the 
earth with a thick mass of rank vegetation, which produces fat and 
milk of the finest quality. Turnips get large, plump as if fully grown, 
juicy, with the skin smooth and oily. Potatoes are long, and strong in 
the stem, with tubers large, with skins easily peeled off, and mealy 
when boiled. Stock of every kind thrive, become gentle tempered, and 
fatten easily, particularly sheep, which improve both in mutton and 
wool. Land is less occupied with weeds, the luxuriance of the sown 
crops choking their growth. Summer fallow is then easily cleaned, 
when practised on strong soils, and much less work is required to put 
the land in proper trim for the manure and seed. All manures quickly 
incorporate with soil when drained. These all are symptoms of good 
land, observed on the same soil which formerly exhibited symptoms of 
bad; thus proving that by draining is derived the same results from 
bad land, (that is, from the natural surface, whatever may be its com¬ 
ponent parts, when it rests on a subsoil, naturally so retentive as to de¬ 
tain the surface water which reaches it, until it stagnates,) that are de¬ 
rived from good, (that is from the natural surface, whatever may be 
its component parts, when it rests on a subsoil naturally pervious to 
surface water.) Can facts stronger than these be adduced lo recom¬ 
mend the adoption of draining ? Can statements stronger than these 
be produced on any subject, to make out a clearer case in its favor, 
than have been now produced in favor of draining, as a fertilizer of the 
soil ? To hesitate, therefore, to drain land, is willingly to hesitate to ! 
confer benefits on one’s self. None need urge the plea of inability | 
from want of capital, to undertake even the expensive operation of: 
draining, since its effects are immediate as well as compensative. Eve-1 
ry one can do a little to begin with; and every year thereafter, the! 
draining, however small, will increase the means proportionately to! 
extend similar operations in future. Besides, let a farmer think of the ! 
happiness which he is daily storing up for himself, in the contempla-i 
tion of the enlargement of his means, from the judicious application of; 
his skill and industry on that soil which is the source of his existence. 
ON THE USE OF LIME AS A MANURE—By M. Puvis. 
Translated for the Farmers’ Register from the Annales de l’Agriculture Fran- 
raise, of 1835.— ( Continued from page 44.) 
OF SOILS SUITABLE FOR LIMING. 
6 . Lime, as has been said before, suits such soils as do not contain 
it already. To distinguish these soils from others, chemical analysis 
is, without doubt, the surest means; but it offers often too many diffi- 
cuties, and lime may be met with in a soil in proportion great enough 
to exert its power on vegetation, without producing effervescence with 
acids. But visible characters may furnish indications almost certain. 
The soils where the cow wheat, (tnelampyre,) rest-harrow, ( Vononis 
ou arrete-bceuf) thistles, colt’s foot, ( tussilage ,) and red poppy, spring 
spontaneously—which produce well in wheat, legumes, (or plants of 
the pea kind,) and especially sanfoin—where the chestnut succeeds 
badly—which shows but little of dog’s-tooth, ( chiendent ,) volunteer 
grasses, or common weeds, ( grammines adventices,) except of the small 
leguminous kinds—soils which, after being dry, crumble with the first 
rain—all these are almost certainly calcareous, have no need of lime, 
nor its compounds,* and would feel from their use rather ill than good 
effects. 
On the contrary, all soils composed of the moulderings ( debris ) of 
* Though both the truth and the usefulness of this passage in general, are 
admitted, yet it is incorrect, in the position that none of the “ compounds of 
lime” would be advantageously employed on calcareous soils. On the con¬ 
trary, the sulphate of lime, (gypsum,) the most important compound as a ma¬ 
nure, next to the carbonate, is most effective where the land has lime in some 
other form: and, indeed, (as has been maintained elsewhere,) it seems gene¬ 
rally inert and useless on soils very deficient in lime .—Essau on Calcareous 
Matures, pp. 50, 92. 
granite or schistus, almost all sandy soils; those which are moist and 
cold of the immense argilo-silicious table lands (plateux argillo-sili - 
cieux) which separate the basin of great rivers; those where rushes, 
(petit ajonc r ) the heath les petits carex blancs, the whitish moss spring 
spontaneously—almost all the soils infested with avoine a chapelets , 
with dog’s tooth, with bent grass, ( agrostis ,) red sorrel, and the little 
fever-few—that soil where, unless so clayey as to offer great difficulty 
to cultivation, only rye, potatoes, and buckwheat, can be made to grow, 
and where sanfoin and the greater part of the crops of commerce can¬ 
not succeed—where, however, trees of all descriptions, and especially 
of the resinous kinds, the wood-pine, the sea-pine, the larch, the northern 
pine, and the chestnut, thrive better than in the best land—all these 
soils are without the calcareous principle, and all the improving ma¬ 
nures in which it is found, would give to these the qualities of, and 
nourish the growths peculiar to, calcareous soils. 
But there, more than elsewhere, it is especially necessary to avoid 
too much haste. Liming upon a large scale ought not to be done, until 
after having succeeded in small experiments on many different parts of 
the ground designed to be improved. 
EXTENT OF SURFACE TO WHICH LIME IS SUITABLE. 
7. A great proportion of the soil of France does not contain the cal¬ 
careous principle. The country of primitive formation—the mountains 
of which the rock is not calcareous—many soils even, of which the sub¬ 
soils enclose calcareous formations—the great and last alluvion which 
has covered the surface, and which still composes it wherever the re¬ 
turn waters have not carried it off with them—also extensive surfaces, 
in the composition of which the calcareous principle had not entered, 
except in small proportions, and which small amount has been worn out 
by the successions of vegetation—all these kinds of soil, which comprise 
at least three-fourths of the surface of France, to be fertilized, demand 
calcareous manures. If it is admitted that one-third of all this space 
has already received aid from lime, marl, ashes of wood or of peat, of 
bones, burnt or pounded, there will still remain the half of France to 
be improved by such means; an immense task, doubtless—but of which 
the results will be still more prodigious, since it will cause the products 
of all this great space to be increased one-half, or more. 
OF THE VARIOUS MODES OF APPLYING LIME TO THE SOIL. 
8. Three principal modes of proceeding are in use for applying lime. 
The first is the most simple, and is the most general wherever lime is 
obtained cheaply, and where culture is but little advanced in perfection, 
and manual labor is dear. This consists in putting the lime [the burned 
limestone] immediately on the ground, in little heaps at 20 feet average 
distance, and each heap containing, acccording to the rate of liming, 
from a cubic foot of the stone, to half that quantity. When the lime 
has been slaked by exposure to the air, and has fallen into powder, it 
is spread on the surface so as to be equally divided. 
9. The second mode differs from the first in this respect: the heaps 
of stone are covered with a coat of earth, about six inches^thick, ac¬ 
cording to the size of the heap, and which is equal to five or six times 
the bulk of the lime. When the lime begins to swell, by slaking, the 
cracks and openings in the heap, are filled with earth: and when the 
lime is reduced to powder, each heap is worked over, so as to mix 
thoroughly the lime and the earth. If nothing hurries the labor, this 
last operation is repeated at the end of fifteen days—and then, after 
waiting two weeks more, the mixture is spread over the soil. 
10. The third process, which is adopted where culture is more per¬ 
fect, where lime is dear, and which Combines all the advantages of lim¬ 
ing, without offering any of their inconveniences, consists in making 
compost heaps of lime and earth or mould. For this, there is first made 
a bed of earth, mould or turf, of a foot or thereabouts, in thickness. 
The clods are chopped down, and there is spread over a la 3 'er of un¬ 
slaked lime, of a hectolitre* for the 20 cubic feet, or a ton to the 45 cu¬ 
bic feet of earth. Upon this lime, there is placed another layer of earth. 
If the earth is moist, and the lime recently burned, eight or ten days 
j will suffice to slake it completely. Then the heap is cut down and well 
mixed—and this operation is repeated afterwards before using the ma¬ 
nure, which is delayed as long as possible, because the power of the 
effect on the soil is increased with the age of the compost; and espe¬ 
cially if it has been made with the earth containing much vegetable 
mould. This method is the one most used in Belgium and Flanders : 
it is becoming almost the exclusive practice in Normandy: it is the only 
practice, and followed with the greatest success in La Sarthe. Lime in 
compost is never injurious to the soil. It carries with it the surplus of 
alimentary manure which the surplus of product demands for its sus¬ 
tenance. Light soils, sandy or gravelly, are not tired by repetitions of 
this compost. No country, nor author, charges lime, used in this state, 
with having been injurious to the soil. In short, this means seems to 
* The hectolitre contains 6102.8 English cubic inches, or is equal to 2.82 
(or about 2.6-7) Winchester bushels. Therefore, the hectolitre is rather more 
in proportion to the hectare, than our bushel is to the acre. The decalitre is 
the tenth of a hectolitre, and of course the “double decalitre” is the filth.— 
Translator. 
