INFLUENCE OF MANURES ON MUTTON. B23 

has scarcely paid for the ton of ground lime, but it may 
safely be affirmed that the lime has already justified its 
application. 
The improvement in the pasture in the month of July was 
so marked that two additional sheep were put on the plot 
at the time of the second weighing, and so well did the land 
carry this extra stock that at the end of the season the 
average gain per head was greater than in the case of any 
other plot. 
By the salesman the sheep were valued at 39s., and, taken 
as a lot, they were pronounced to be the best, although so 
closely followed by the sheep from Plot 5 that no difference 
was made in the money value. Of the eleven, ten were fit for 
the fat market. 
Confirmation of the opinion that the ground lime has 
justified its application by its influence on the quality, if not 
on the weight, of produce is given by the salesman’s valua- 
tion. Adopting his estimates we find that the ground lime 
has already paid, for he makes the profit at the end of the 
fourth season to be 17s. 2d. on Plot 5, and 1gs. 1d. on Plot 8. 
pilots z and 8 present an instructive contrast. A dressing 
of 4 tons of ordinary burned lime applied to the former plot 
has in four seasons yielded a live-weight increase of 21 lbs. ; 
while one ton of ground lime on the latter has improved the 
meoutce by 61 lbs, over plot 5. Im the former case the 
visible improvement in the pasture is slight, in the latter it is 
striking. 
The main reason for this difference in the effect of lime is 
that where used alone its action is limited by the want of 
phosphates—in which the soil is very deficient—whereas in 
the presence of a phosphatic dressing it is able to exert its 
full, or nearly its full, effect. On the other hand, phosphates 
used alone have not been able to exercise their maximum 
influence because of the want of lime, though here the 
limiting action of a deficient supply of an essential element 
of plant food is not so conspicuous, simply because the 
deficiency is not so great. We have here an excellent illus- 
tration of the “Law of Minimum,” the leading principle of 
which is that it is useless to strengthen the manurial chain if 
we neglect to attend to its weakest link. 
xX 2 
