68 
ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. 
of mowing or pasture land, and remain there until it is 
ploughed up for tillage, even though this should be several 
years afterward. The lime in this case quickly sinks into 
the soil, and, acting upon it, prepares it for crops when it 
is again tilled. 2. It may be spread upon the ground, and 
covered by the plough, just after a crop of any kind has 
been gathered. In this case, it prepares the soil for the 
succeeding crops. 3. It may be spread upon the surface 
even when plants are growing. This practice, however, 
though sometimes convenient, is rarely to be imitated. 
4. It may be and is most frequently applied during the 
season when the land is in fallow, or in preparation for 
what are termed fallow crops. 
27. That lime may produce an immediate effect, it 
must be thoroughly mixed with the soil; and this is why 
it is generally put upon a fallow, a year or more before it 
is broken up. There is a very simple machine now in 
use, called a lime-spreader, that is attached to the tail of 
an ordinary cart, which spreads the lime very evenly. 
28. The effect of lime is sometimes not perceptible 
until the second or third year ; this is when the mixture 
with the soil has not been properly effected. It is very 
important that land should be well drained before being 
limed, because lime improves only such as are moist by 
nature, and not by position. 
QUESTIONS. 
1. What is the action of lime upon land ? 
2. What are the other effects ? 
3. Why prefer quick-lime to carbonate of lime 1 
4. Before liming, what is it necessary to know ? 
5. On what generally depends the quantity of lime to be employed 1 
6. Which soils require the most lime ? 
7. In what quantities is it applied ? 
8. How is the spreading best effected ? 
9. What should be done to enable lime to produce an immediate effect 1 
10. Is a soil in a wet situation improved by liming ? 
