Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1820-11-21
the application of clay or sand is recon.

Calcarious matter is an essential COM
ponent part of all lands naturally fertile.
Should there be deficiency of this in
gredient, lime is useful to supply the de-
feet and thus to improve the constitu-
ton of such a soil. The benefit of lime,
in such a case, is from the calcarious
matter it contains. And the benefit of
the calcarious matter is from the car
bonic acid gas with which it is combined.
Carbonlc acid gas is compound fluid
consisting of charcoal dissolved in oxy-
gen. In It's operation as manure, this
compound is decomposed by the process
OF vegetation, its charcoal i. G.. its carbon
is absorbed by the plant and becomes
constituent part OF it. 1t hence would
appear, as necessary corollary, that
the carbon of carbonic acid gas is the
ingredient by virtue of which lime is
manure.
The beneficial effect of csrbonic acid
gas on vegetation, is illustrated by the
experiment of infusing it INTO waler.-
lmpregnated with this element, water
acquires vast accession Of nutritious
virtue, and when applied to the roots Of
plants is most powerfully efficacious.
The powder Of limestone, pounded by
any kind OF mechanical means, retains
the carbonlc acid gas, which the stone
originally contained. 1t consequently
by virtue of this gas has an Immediate
operation as manure. But limestone,
when reduced 10 powder by burning,
loses, for time, this nutritiye ingredi-
ent. In consequence OF this loss it is,
that quicklime is in all soils, with the
two exceptions hereafter stated, preiu-
dicial to vegeyation.-Nay, water, in
which quickllme has been dissolved is
SO injurious to plants as to kill grass
watered with it, Nor does this lime be-
come a manure, until it has gained
anew The carbonic acid gas of which it
had been deprived by the process of
burning. This principle ii, in due time,
does regain by absorbing it from the at
mosphere and from all vegetable and
animal matters with which il may come
In contact.
BY the chemists, however, it has re-
Gently been discovered, that the quantity
oil carbonc acid gas in the atmosphere
Is very small and that therefore this es-
sentlal ingredient is drawn principally
from the vegetable and animal matters
In the soil. This discovery may serve
to explain the common practice of ap-
| plying large quantity OF quick lime to
rich land and small quantity to poor
land.
A rich soil abounds with various
vegetable and animal matters, with
which the lime lies in contact and from
which 1t absorbs the carbonic acid gas.
In proportion to the richness of the land,
will be the abundance OF these vegetable
and animal matters; in proportion to
such abundance will necessarily be the
supply Of carbonic acid gas, and, Of
course, in such ratio ought to be the
quantity OF lime lied to the land. As
poor land contains little .lor no such
vegetable and animal mates, lime used
thereon will have to absorbthe requisite
carhonic acid gas almost altogether from
the atmosphere; and as the atmosphere
affords but a very small supply, lime,
applied IN large quantity, to such a
soil, must necessarily remain for con-
siderable period OF time before it can be
saturated with this ingredient. Daring
the whole period otsuch deprivation, it
will be injurious TO vegetation. If, then,
the vegetable and animal matters in the
soil should be SO scanty as furnish car
bonic acid gas sufficient, for example, to
saturate only one tenth part the lime ap-
piled 10 the land, the other nine parts OF
such lime would be prejudicial, and thus
the soil by this application would be in
jured i'll the ratio of nine to one. And
such lime would, moreover, continue to
be preludicial, more or less, until i,
should be duly impregnated with this
essential gas from the small supplies
slowly afforded by the atmosphere.
In the use, then, of quicklime, as a
manure, it is desirable TO apply only as
much as will be speedily saturated with
carbonic acid gas from the vegetable and
animal substances contained in the soil.
AS this cannot be ascertained with pre-
cision, it is advisable not to incur the
risk of applying, at one time very large
quantity. A small portion occasionally
repeated would be the safest course
And the quantity, each time, ought to be
regulated by the estima ed quantity of
vegetable and animal substances in the
soil.
If, however, the lime should have been
exposed, previously to its application, so
long as to have become perfectly mild,