Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 3, 1802).djvu/121

LIM 4tlivol. of Annals of Agiicuhurc. He directs about 140 loads (each containing 40 biashels), of moist ■dung to be heaped up in the month of December, when 200 bushels of lime are to be well incorporated. The whole is then suft'ered to lie •for three months, after Mhich the heap is to be well stirred : when the harvest is completed, the com- post is to be spread on a pea-stub- ble, and ploughed in for barley ; but, if the season should not favour the purpose, he dired-ts these la- l)ours to be performed after the iirst frost that occurs. Mr. An- drews farther observes that, in consequence of such manr.gement, his barley-crops have, upon an average of twelve years, amounted nnnually to four quarters and six bushels per acre. The advantages arising from this treatment, are, 1. The total de- Btruftion of the seeds of weeds, so that the land on which this mi.Kture had been spread, was uniformly the clearest : and, 2. The increased fermentation of the dung, by which its fertilizing properties are more speedily excited. Lastly, the ex- pence of the lime was to him 10s. per acre ; and its beneficial efFe6ts continued for four years. The soils peculiarly susceptible of improvement, by means of lime, are : 1 . Rich black or brown friable crumbling loams, which abound with vegetable matter : its general putrescency being accelerated by tl .e lime, such land is so greatly meliorated as to yield crops, which they could never have produced by the application of any other ma- jiure. 2. On low, rich, drained mea- dows, th.it have formerly been LIM [103 bogs, and the black soil of which abounds with vegetable fibres. 3. On old sheep-walks, heaths, and commons, which have been under grass for time immemorial, and are first to be converted into arable land 5 but lime will not be of any advantage, after they have been cultivated for several years. And, though such manure wilt prbduce favourable effects upon old Unj soils, abounding in vegetable particles, yet when tlie latter are putrefied by lirning, and exhausted by repeated cropping, it will be of no service. 4. On moory, boggy, moun- tainous land ; and, according to Dr. HuNTEK, on black peat-earth. In his opinion, lime prevents the spontaneous growth of heath, and produces a new family of vege- tables, especially white clover. He farther remarks, that the great- est improvements ever made oa moors, in any country, have pro- bably been effefted by means of lime. — There prevails, however, a diversity of opinion on this subjec't, which we arc unable to reconcile. — In the lO'th vol. of the Trcntiac- tions of the Society for the Encou- ragement of Arts, &c, Thomas Davis, Esq. (steward to the Mar- quis of Bath), states that, though lime is the only proper manure for such soil, which is thus qualified to produce crops of corn for the first 3 or 4 years, after converting it into arable or n)eadow land ; yet this manure loses its amelioratinf properties in the course of ten years ; and he never found a second lim- ing to be productive of any benefi- cial effecSl. 5. On all other waste soils that have been over-run for ages with furze, heath, broQm, fern, bushes, H 4 . or