1796.] 
perhaps, be extenfively applied, from the 
difference of fituation, of foil, of cli- 
mate, &c*, ' 
Befides, agriculture, as an art, can never 
be carried to perfeétion, until it be fudied 
asafcience. The farmer may colle& a 
multitude of facts, which have been afcer- 
tained by others; fome of thefe may, upon 
trial, be found to be applicable in his 
fields, while others are not. Philofophy 
muft ftep forward to explain the reafon, 
why the experience of others has failed, 
or been confirmed; the principles of the 
explanation can alone enable the farmer 
to adapt his meafures to the change of 
' ‘fituation., 
» The branches of philofophy which are 
related to agriculture, are not yet nearly 
perfected; the proper pabulum of vege- 
tables is ftill unknown, the phyfiology of 
them is yet in its infancy, and even the 
attainments in univerfal chemiftry, are 
mot great. In fuch circumftances, the 
application of philofophy to this art, is in 
danger of creating hypothefes, which are 
always injurious to true knowledge. 
But where the facts in philofophy are 
well afcertained, and are capable of being 
fairly applied to explain any branch of 
agriculture, we ought certainly to ufe 
them for promoting this valuable art: 
‘by this, we hall enlarge and eftablith the 
knowledge of the farmer, and teach him 
to employ the, encreafing light of general 
feience, for condu@ing him to higher at- 
tainments in his own particular branch. 
~ In confequence of the affiftance which 
thas already been derived from other 
feiences, the intelligent farmer is now 
preferved, in fome parts of his procefs, 
from acting fo much at random, as in 
former times; the truth of this may be 
‘dhown, from the manner in which lime 
thas been ufed as a manure. It was long 
employed by the farmer, before philo- 
fophy could give any fatisfa€tory account 
of its operation; it had often been ob- 
ferved to be ufeful, and frequently it was 
found to injure the land. The farmer 
“endeavoured to acquire a knowledge of its 
utility, by repeated and extenfive obfer- 
vations ; but in attempting to enumerate 
the feveral kinds of foil for which it was 
ferviceable, he was in danger of error and 
Confufion, in fpecifying the almoft end- 
lefs variety. When Sir John Pringle, 
ser rca TEUTAS ST ee cera ct es a 
* On thefe accounts, we are happy to learn, 
that an experimental fociety of agriculture is 
about to be eftablithed in the county of Durham, 
The plan of this excellent inftitution, we hope 
tho-tly to Jay before the public, Editor, 
Ufe of Lime 
wn Acriculture. 184 
by his experiments on feptic fubftances, 
a{certained, that lime ftrongly promoted 
the putrefaétion of thofe kinds of matter 
that were fubje€t to this procefs, philo- 
ophy foon carried the faét to the farmer, 
and taught him to account for one of the 
effects of lime in his fields. Philofophy 
has not yet explained how the vegetables 
grow; but it points out to him the fact, 
that corrupting vegetable and animal fub- 
flances are highly ufeful to vegetation, 
and informs him that the fields, whofe 
foil contains many uncor:upted vegetable 
fubftances, will be profited by lime: 
that in thofe fields where, from the na- 
ture of the foil, or heat of the climate, 
the putrefaction goes on with fufficient 
rapidity of itfelf, lime, and other feptic 
fubftances, are unneceflary; but, where 
this is not the cafe, they will be highly 
advantageous. 
Though the phyfiology of vegetables 
has fo lately begun to be ftudied by Gir- 
tanner and others, we already know fo 
much of it, as will, perhaps, enable us 
now to proceed much farther, in explain- 
ing the a¢tion of lime as a manure. 
‘There is reafon to believe, that a number 
of thofe ftimuli which affeét the living 
animal fibre, and excite it to ation, pro- 
duce a fimilar effeét on the fibres of vege- 
tables; as light, heat, electricity, &c. Now, 
as lime is a ftimulus to the animal fyftem, 
we may prefume, that it alfo excites vege - 
tables; and when this excitement is 
moderate, encreafes the action of the 
fibres. The farmer already knows, from 
experience, that when lime is laid on 
fome kinds of grafs land, it increafes vege - 
tation: but when he is taught that it 
acts by ftimulating the vegetables, he 1s 
difpofed to confider what fpecies, of foil 
requires this ftimulus to alliit vegetation, 
and is guarded agazinft the application of 
it, where the other ftimul already act 
with fufhicient force. We may, perhaps, 
advance a ftep farther, and upon thefe 
principles, explain the effects of lime 
upon a fpecies of foil, which contains 
only a fmall mixture of vegetable mould, 
or of undecayed fibres. The foil to 
which we refer, is a ftrong fliff clay, on 
which the effect of lime has always been 
more advantageous than could be ac-. 
counted for by its feptic power. This 
kind of foil is remarkably unfavourable to 
the {peedy corruption of the dead vege- 
tables which it contains, and, therefore, 
lime becomes peculiary neceffary to for- 
ward their putrefaétion; but befides this, 
all clay contains a very confiderable quan- 
tity of alum, which is known to aét asan 
Bobs aftringent 
