American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1867-02-06

fects are slow and more lasting than
lime that has been burned. 10 has
not the solvent activity of quioklime,
however, nor the absorbing power of
chalk; nor has it the minute diyis-
ion of mild lime mixed with earth,
while in an impalpable power.
In q district where fuel is scarce,
and limestone, or marble, plentiful,
it might be cheaply crushed into a
powder by means of water, steamer
animal power, and thus be economi-
eally prepared for improving most
kinds of soil which are deficient in
lime. But no lands in which calca-
reous matter naturally abounds, nor
those containing large proportion
imperfectly- y-decomposed vegetable re
mains, such as bog roots, moss, &C.,
can receive much if any immediate
benefit by the use of unburned lime,
unless it be to render clayey soils
mechanically lighter and boggy ones
more firm,
p The benefits derived from burning
lime for agricultural purposes are
partly chemical and partly mechaniN
cal for, while in a caustic state, it
acts more promptly in producing
those chemical changes, which follow
from mixing it with the soil. Even
in half-caustic state of spontaneously
Stacked lime, its effects are more rap
id and more quickly seen, than when
it is entirely in carbonate or un-
burned state. But the principal ben
efts arise from the minute state of
division into which the lime is brought
by burning and Stacking, When the
burned limestone is Stacked, if it is
tolerably pure, the lime falls,o crum-
bles to powder-finer, probably,
than any which could be produ ed by
mere mechanical neans-fner, GER
tainly, than any to which the farmer
could bring it, by any crushing ma
chine he could afford to employ.
The chief advantages to be deriv-
ed from this fine state of division of
lime, first, it may be dilfused more
equally and more perfectly through
the soil and thus 60 much further il
improving it. Secondly, it more read
lily combines with ACID substances in
the soil, and therefore sweetens it
more rapidly and more quickly. And
thirdly it comes into closer contact
with the organic substances in the
soil, such as roots of grass, straw,
leaves, &C., and consequently pro
notes more fully those chemical chan
ges which are constantly going on
in every fertile soil, to produce which,
is one of the useful purposes for
which lime is added to the land.
The above remarks are not intend
ed to apply to such beds of impure
limestone as may be employed for the
manufacture Of cements and hydrau-
lie mortars for these, when burned
and ground to powder, cannot be
applied for the improvement of land
in the usual way, without combining
with the water or moisture in the soil,
and shortly after become as hard as
stone.
In countries abounding in lime
stone, there often exist scattered here
and there, in the hollows and in the
hillNsides, banks and heaps of sand
and gravel, in which rounded parts
cles of limestone are found. These
are distinguished by the names of
limestone sand and gravel, and are de-
rived from thedecay Or wearing down
Of the limestone and other rocks bv
the action of water. Such accumu-
lations are frequent in Ireland.-
They are inoeed extensively diffused
over the surface of that island ,as we
might expect in country abounding
so much in rocks of mountain lime
stone. In the neighborhood of peat
bogs, these sands and gravels arc
real blessing. They are a ready, |
most useful, and largely employed |
means of Improvement, producing
upon arabic land the ordinary effects |
of lining, and, when spread upon
boggy soils, alone, enabling them to
grow sweet and herbage, aud afford
a nourishing pasture. The proper,
tion Of carbonate of lime these sands
and gravel contain is very variable.
A sample of yellow sand, examined
n = I