1797] Lime a a Manure... Manumiffion of Cottages. 179 
: 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SHR yt: 
MUCH has been written.in your ufe~ 
“ ful Magazine, upon the utility, or 
otherwife, of Lime, as a manure; but 
thefe writers, in my opinion, have not 
paid fufficient attention to the very great 
difference there is in limes of various 
countries: and yet, unlefs this is accu- 
rately done, no decifive opinion can be 
formed. 
I have tried the various limes in my 
neighbourhood, though upon a {mall 
{cale, and have found a very great differ- 
ence in their effeéts ;—fome kinds doing 
good, and others producing no alteration 
~whatfoever. Laft fummer, I paffed fome 
time about Buxton, and had the good 
fortune to meet. with a very intelligent 
practical farmer, of Yorkihire, from 
whom I gained much ufeful agricultural 
information :—Speaking of lime, he faid, 
‘- few people paid any due regard to the 
great difference there was in various lime, 
whereas this was the firft thing a farmer 
fhould know, before he laid out his money ; 
for (faid he) there is almcft as much 
difference in limes as there is between 
cloth and cotion.—Some lime burns the 
land, but other forts feed it.’’ He then 
told me, that he had tried all the limes 
in his neighbourhood, but found none to 
anfwer fo well as that in Middleton 
Dale* 5 and though it was eighteen miles 
from him, and he could buy lime enough 
at only fix miles’ diftance, yet he prefer- 
red, and always ufed, the Middleton 
lime. “This lime, he faid, was of great 
fervice, and where the heap was made in 
the field, before the {preading, the corn 
was a very deep colour, and remarkably 
ftrong: whereas, where heaps of other 
lime happened to be laid, the ground was 
burnt, and produced nothing but twitch 
grafs for feveral years after. He alfo af- 
{ured me, that all his neighbours had 
tried the fame experiment, with the like 
refult. 
I have fent you the above facts, 
_ thinking they may difpofe fome of your 
chemical readers to turn. their attention 
to the fubjeét. It would bea great point 
gained in rural economy, if fome eafy, 
practical, and decifive tefts could be dif- 
covered, by which the farmer might be 
enabled totell, whether or no the lime 
he was about to ufe, would do him the 
fervice he expected, or not ; at prefent, 

* This beautiful romantic dale is well 
= Known to all who have vifited Buxton or Mat- 
lock. , 
MonTHty Mac. No. XV.- 
he does all by guefs, and more frequent- 
ly fails than fucceeds. \ Your's, 
H—, Lancafbire, fan. 24. *¥eB—B. 

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
ae obfervations of your correfpond- 
ent H. B. (in your i3th Number) re- 
lative to the amelioration of the condi- 
tion of that oppreffed clafs of the com- 
munity, the cottagers, whofe caufe he 
has efpoufed, with a benevolence and 
goodnefs of heart, which does honour to 
his charaéter, afforded me a real pleafure ; 
but I grearly fear the adoption of his plan 
would be attended with great difficulty, if 
not be wholly impraéticable.—In the firft 
place, there is a probability, that the 
demands of the lords of manors to their 
copyholders for lives, for the manumif- 
‘fion of cottages, would be too exorbi- 
tant for their intereft, were they to em- 
brace them ; or if they did, there is con- 
fiderable danger that they would put fo 
high a value on the houfes, as would de- 
ter the cottagers from fufficiently prac- 
tiling that induftry and fobriety, which 
_could alone be the means of enabling 
them) to perchafe them : if fuch were 
the cafe, their condition would be even 
worfe than it is at prefent. ! 
With regard to manumiffion, a quef- 
tion arifes, which is in fome meafure in- 
volved in,politics, namely, Whether, in 
order to obtain it, an aét of the legifla- 
ture would not be neceffary ; as the num- 
ber of freeholds, and, confequently, the 
number of freeholders and voters, would 
be materially increafed ?—This, perhaps, 
your corre{pondent may be better able 
to decide upon, than | confefs myfelf toa 
be. If, indeed, the power of manu- 
miffion refts folely with the lord of the 
manor, 'as under the feudal fyftem, of 
which manorial rights are certainly: re- 
liques, I fhould be one of the firft to 
ufe my utmoft endeavours to promote the 
defirable end H. B. has in view: but I 
conceive, that as by cuftom, which has 
varied within aferiesof years, villenage, 
from whence copyhold tenures fprung, 
hes been, in great meafure, deftroyed, this 
power of manumiifion is alfo deftroyed; 
and that, although the holders of copy- 
hold eftates are fubjeét, in certain re- 
{pects,’ to the‘lord of the manor, yet it 
can only be by an aét of the legiflature, 
that fach manumiffion can be effected. 
If in this | am miftaken, I hepe fome 
of your correfpondents will correét me. 
* The other favours of this correfpondent 
have not reached us. 
Aa No 

