American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1867-01-23
farmers 1epartmeitt.
Patent once Report, 1885.
CALCAREOUS MANURES,
81 CARBONATE OF LINE.
The Use ot Burned Lime as an ARph-
cation 10 the jSoik
{ (1ntinaed.0

causes, for instance, an unlocking of the
mineral constituents of the soil, the pro
ducts Of which (silica, potash, &c can
then be consumed as food by the plants
growing upon it. The experience that
lining pre- eminent favors the formation
Of haulp, and gives the straw Of the Ce-
reals great stiffness, is explained by this
in the most simple manner: 1t is not
the lime which produces this, but the
mineral substances rendered soluble aud
therefore assimilable by the lime above
all the silica The results Of these ex-
peTiments at the same time confirm the
correctness of the opinion that the far.
mer need not pay my attention to silica
in manuring, since it exists almost every
where in sufficient quantity in the soil.
but that he need only take care that
there shall not be deficiency Of its
solrents, and of the conditions which fa
vor its solution. Thus, lime is a power.
tul means of assisting the oxygenation,
or wea:hering, of stony and earthly cons
shtuents of the soil it, therefore, forms
an aid to those bodies, and forces such an
air, water, csrbonic acid, (humus,) heat
&C., which carry on this process of de-
composition everywhere in acting inde,
pendently of human interference. In a
heavy soil, this natural weathering can,
of course, only proceed slowly, because
the tenacity obstructs the access of air
and the production of carbouic acid from
humus. When, therefore, experience
says that lime proves far more favorable
in heavy than in light soils, it might GER
tainly be deduced from the preceding
statement, that its chemical acton, now
under consideration, may claim an essen
tial share in the beneficial effects in the
first case.
Lime forms necessary constituent of
ali plants: if not present in sufficient
quantity in the soil, the growth of veg>
citation is poor therefore, lime may act
favorably in certain cases by supplying
this deficiency. By far the majority of
soila contains lime abundantly sufficient
for .he requirements of the nutrition and
development of plants ard, if manur-
ing is performed regularly and properly,
there can still be want OF such kind,
since stable manure, alone, conveys into
the soil more lime than is removed from
it even in very abundant crops cultiva
ted soils rather grow continually richer
in limo, and plants, which consume very
much lime in their development, espec
tally if grown in frequent succession in
the same field, will naturally lead much
sooner to au exhaustion of the lime Of
the soil, than those plants which take up
lime moderately.
Carbonate Of lime is far less coherent
III texture, and is of no looser nature than
clay or loan, 80 that it has the power of
improving tenacious soils mechanically
by rendering them less tough and solid
and hence, more porous and open. Quick
lime changes into carbonate of lime by
degrees in the soil, and will then couse.
quentIy act in the same way. When
mixed with sand, on the contrary, it rem
ders this more coherent and close.
Lime also imparts mixtures of earths,
as is shown by saltpctre beds, the power
of converting nitrogen, ofputrefying and
decaying vegetable anu animal substan>
ces into nitric acid which enters into com
bination with the lime to form nitrate of
lime According to some experiments
made in England, lime is supposed to in
crease the power of earths to absorb am
monia from the atmosphere, and to con-
tribute indirectly, by the decomposition
uf ammoniacal salts in the soil, to fix
alton of ammonia by the clay anG silica.
Quicklime absorbs carbonic acid gas from
the atmosphere and from the soil, passing
in the operation into the mild condition
of carbonate of lime. Possibly, this
also may afford assistance to the growth
of plants.
Lastly, it has besn observed that the
development of plants proceeds somewhat
more rapidly in soils manured with lime
80 that they run more quickly through
the period from termination to maturity
on unlimed land. Such an action upon
the duration of vegetation would be a
recommendation of lime for agriculture
in northern, elevated and exposed dis.
tricts.
CHALK.
Chalk is another form Of carbonate of
lime that occurs very abundantly in many
countries, and which, from its soft, earthly
nature, has been extensively applied to
the land in many parts Of England with.
out buEning. 1t is usually dug up from |
the pits, toward the close of autumn or