Ge Re | ; 2 : - a eae a Gf eo SAELES:
zz} cae gs ice oe

ae oe

Bl ee

ON THE

USE OF LIME AS A MANURE,

ee a ae
hein :

BY M. PUVIS.

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH
BY

E. RUFFIN, ESQ. Editor of the Farmer’s Register.

WITH AN

yy oe
4 INTRODUCTION.
: Pn
a aes OF THE PRINCIPLES OF AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY,

7

BY JAMES RENWICK, LL. D.

PROFESSOR OF NAT. EXP. PHILOSOPHY AND CHEMISTRY IN COLUMBIA COLLEGE,

NEW-YORK;

SCATCHERD & ADAMS, PRINTERS,
No. 38 Gold-street.

—e

1836,

t oe

EeHahi VAM WG OF LTT dire 1
*% ‘

1 eee

ft Fa eK

ce 2 ee

-

4

.

a

ON THE USE OF a AS A MANURE.

BY M. PUVIS.

EDITOR’S PREFACE.

Tue task of adapting an Introduction explanatory of the chemical principles most impor-
tant in agriculture to the Essay of Mr. Puyis, was undertaken at the instance of a valued
friend, James Wadsworth, Esq. of Geneseo. The translation which is employed was
liberally placed at my disposal by the very intelligent and practically skilful editor of the
Farmer’s Register. He has the merit of first bringing the Essay of Mr. Puvis before the
American public, and, taken in connexion with his own Essay on Calcareous Manures, he has
thus made us acquainted not only with-all that was previously known in the theory or practice
of the use of Lime in agriculture, but has added himself some most valuable theoretic views,
which he has also established by successful and judicious experiments on his own farm.

- James RENwIcK.

Columbia College, March, 1836.

; PREFACE
iN m OF THE TRANSLATOR.

Tue publication of the following communication to the Annales de l Agriculture Fran-
caise, was commenced in the February No. of that journal, (which was received here in
May,) and the June No. contains the end of the first part, “ On Liming,” and enables us to
offer the translation of that portion to our readers. Only a few pages of the next portion
of the series, ‘‘ On Marling,” has yet appeared, and not enough to permit a judgment to be
formed of its worth.

Though there are many deficiencies in this treatise on liming—and also opinions as to the
theory of the action of lime, in which we cannot coincide—still, on the whole, we consider
it as presenting far more correct views, and more satisfactory information, both on theory
and practice, than any other work on liming that we have before seen. In other points,
and those of most importance, the facts here presented (and now first learned from any Eu-
ropean authority) strongly sustain the views maintained in the Essay on Calcareous Ma-
mures. it would be both unnecessary and obtrusive to remind the reader of these points of
difference, and of agreement, whenever passages exhibiting either may occur. They will,
therefore, generally be submitted ir the author’s words without comment. A few exceptions
only to this rule will be made, in cases which appear particularly to call for them.

We have no information whatever of Mr. Puvis, the author of this treatise, previous to the
appearance of the commencement of the publication in the Annales. Buthe is evidently well
informed on his subject, and is stated by the introductory remarks of the French editor, to be
entitled to all respect, for his Jong experience, and his practical as well as scientific investiga-
tion of the subject. If, then, there remains no ground to distrust his judgment or his facts, the
statements made are most important to a very large portion of this country, which has hereto-
fore been generally supposed to be deprived of all possible benefit from the use of calcareous
manures on account of their remoteness and high price of carriage. M. Puvis states that
the most successful and profitable liming in Europe (for the expense incurred) is in repeat-
ed applications of very small dressings—making less, on the average, than four bushels of
lime to the acre, annually. This small amount, if really as efficacious as is alleged, would
cost so little in labor and money, that the limits of the region capable of being limed may
be very far extended. It would not matter though the applications should require to be re-
peated for eyer, provided the annual returns gave good profit upon the annual expenses ;
and far greater will be the profit, if (as we think) the soil ultimately will no longer require
such repetitions—or only at very distant intervals of time—and still be a highly productive,
because it has been made a calcareous and fertile soil.

1

ae

INTRODUCTION.

Tue Chemical facts and principles which
are applicable to Agriculture are neither nu-
merous nor complex. They are, however, to
be found only in works on General Chemis-
try, in which they are intimately associated
with laws and phenomena of a more abstruse
description, and in connexion with which they
constitute a science of which the most learned
are still students, and to attain which in its
existing form may require years of close and
attentive study. The language, too, of Che-
mistry, which, to those who study it in a re-
gular course, serves as an artificial memory,
and single words of which call up long trains
of thought and experiment, presents to the
uninitiated all the difficulties of a foreign
tongue.

Yet it cannot be doubted, that the practical
farmer may derive important benefit from ac-
quiring so much of this language as will ena-
ble him to understand the chemical explana-
tion of the numerous changes which are con-
tinually taking place in the natural actions
which it is his high privilege to call into his
service, to direct in part, and modify in de-
gree. So also are there certain chemical
elements and compounds, with the properties
of which he ought to be acquainted if he
wish to be able to direct his practical skill
with more effect, even in circumstances fa-
miliar to him, but which may be absolutely
necessary, or will at any rate save waste of
labour and loss of time, when the know-
ledge acquired by practice in one place is to
be employed in a new situation, and under a
change of circumstances.

It is the object of this introduction to exhi-
bit, in such form as may be intelligible to
those who have not made general chemistry
an object of study, a concise view of such of
the laws and facts of that science, as are ab-
solutely necessary for the agriculturist who
may wish to improve his practice, and which
are more particularly required by those who
wish to avail themselves of the knowledge
contained in the subjoined essay. To do
this has been found no easy task. It would
be in itself difficult, but to the author of this in-
troduction has been’ more particularly so, as
he has for years been in the habit of impart-
ing instruction to those whose habits of life
and thoughts are as remote as possible from
those of the practical farmer; persons to

whom the peculiar language of chemistry is
an aid instead of an impediment; and who,
with ample time at their command, have an
opportunity of pursuing the study of the sci-
ence step by step. Fully aware of these diffi-
culties, both general and peculiar, this attempt
would not have been made, and certainly
not persisted in, had it not have been for the
instances of an intelligent, scientific, and
successful farmer, who has urged the comple-
tion of the task as an object likely to be
beneficial to those, who, with perhaps equal
zeal and native powers of mind, have not
enjoyed, like himself, the advantages ofa sci-
entific education.

The atmosphere which surrounds our earth
is the first object to which our attention
should be directed. ‘This is the vehicle of
the moisture, which, whether it fall in the
form of rain or dew, run in streams or issue
from springs, is absolutely essential to the
success of the farmer’s labour. It is also,
as we shall presently see, important to him
on other accounts.

The greater part of the atmosphere is
made up of a mixture of substances, each
of which has the same mechanical properties
as the whole mass. These air-like substan-
ces are known to chemists by the name of
Gases.

Of these gases, two make up by far the
greater portion of atmospheric air, and exist
in it in the proportion of about four to one.
That which is the largest in quantity and
makes up nearly 4-5ths of the whole atmo-
sphere, is called, in the Essay of M. Puvis, by
the name of Azot, but is more usually known
in English by the name of Nitrogen.

This substance, although in the largest
proportion, is the least important of the gases
in its chemical effects. It does not aid in
supporting the life of animals, nor in main-
taining the burning (combustion) of inflamma-
ble bodies.

The part of the atmosphere which is abso-
lutely necessary for these purposes, is called
by the name of oxygen, and nearly makes up
the remaining fifth part of atmospheric air. In
its support of life it always, and in maintain-
ing combustion often, unites with a chemical
element, which is called carbon. This is
familiarly known as forming the principal
part of charcoal. In its union with carbon,

3

oxygen forms a peculiar gas known by the
name of carbonic acid.

Carbonic acid is always found in small
quantities in the atmosphere, to which it is fur-
nished by the breath of animals and the fumes
of burning bodies. It is, when in considera-
ble quantities, fatal to the life of animals, but
is prevented from accumulating to an inju-
rious extent in consequence of its being taken
up by water; it is therefore dissolved, in pro-
portions about equal to those in which it is
formed, by rivers, lakes, the ocean, and the
moisture of the soil.

Water exists in the atmosphere in the form
of vapour. The great source of this vapour
is the extended surface of the ocean ; and itis
governed by a mechanical law, by which it is
continually tending to distribute itself uni-
formly over the whole surface of the earth.
It may thus exist in as large quantities over
the surface of the dryest land as over that of
the ocean itself. This tendency to equal dis-
tribution is continually counteracted by the
changes in the sensible heat (temperature)
of the atmosphere, and of the surface of the
earth, which follow the alternations of day
and night, and the vicissitudes of the seasons.
By these alternations and changes, the vapour
is caused to fall (precipitated) in the form of
rain, snow, hail, dew, or white frost, accord-
ing to circumstances. As such changes of
temperature are more frequent on the land
than on the ocean, the water which falls on
the former in either of these forms is greater
in quantity than that which falls on equal
surfaces of the latter. Thus, by a wise and
benevolent provision of Providence, the water
of the ocean is continually furnishing vapour,
which is precipitated on the land for the sup-
port of vegetation and the supply of springs,
and whose excess is poured back into the
ocean in streams and rivers.

Water has been found by chemists to be a

-compound substance, made up of two ele-
ments. One of these, which forms 8-9ths of
its weight, is the gas already mentioned under
the name of oxygen; the other, a peculiar gas,
known by the name of hydrogen.

Hydrogen, when free, is the lightest of all
known bodies, rising and floating in atmo-
spheric air ; it not only combines. with oxy-
gen, to form water, but with carbon to forma
great variety of compounds—gaseous, liquid,
viscid, and solid. It also combines with nitro-
gen, and forms a gas known by the name of
ammonia, which is well known by the peculiar
smell it gives to spirits of hartshorn (liquid
ammonia).

Hydrogen also combines with sulphur,
forming a gas known by the name of sul-
phuretted hydrogen ; this exists in the atmo-

sphere, but in such small quantities as only to
be detected by the nicest chemical tests. It
combines in like manner with phosphorus,
forming phosphuretted hydrogen gas, whose
presence in the air is occasionally perceptible.

Oxygen, as we have seen, unites with car-
bon, to form a gas which we have called car-
bonic acid.

This receives the latter part of its name
from its similarity in properties to an ex-
tensive class of compound bodies, known
by the name of The Acids. The greater
part of these, like carbonic acid, are combina-
tions of inflammable bodies with oxygen., The
most important of these in reference to our
present object, are the sulphuric and phos-
phoric acids; named from the two sub-
stances (sulphur and phosphorus) which are
their bases. Muriatic acid may also be men-
tioned here, although its composition is of a
different character. Oxygen unites with other
bodies to form a class of compounds known
under the name of oxides.

The acids unite with earths, alkalis, and
metallic oxides, to form a class of compounds
known under the general name of salts.
These are named from the two substances
which enter into their composition: thus, the
salt formed of sulphuric acid and the earth
lime, is called sulphate of lime. The sub-
stances which unite with acids to form salts,
are called the bases of the respective salts.

Of these bases, the alkalis and earths are
the most important. Of the alkalis, it is only
necessary to know the names of two, namel
potassa and soda, and to be aware that their
distinctive properties, are : to possess an acrid
taste, a caustic operaticn, to render oils ca-
pable of mixing with water, and to neutral-
ize the properties of acids.

The earth which chemists call by the name
of silex or silica, is found almost pure in flint
and rock crystal; it is also almost pure in
sharp colourless sands, and is by far the
larger part of sands of every description.
So far as the farmer needknow its properties :
it is hard, rough to the touch, has no attrac-
tion for water, which it permits to filter
through, or evaporate from it, with the great-
est ease. Itis capable of uniting with the
otber earths in compounds which are called
silicates, andis the only earth which entersinto
the formation of soils uncombined with the
others or with other elements.

The earth which chemists call by the name
of alumina, is so named because it is obtained
by them in a pure form from the well-known
salt called alum, of which it is the basis.
Its most marked characteristic is plasticity :
that is to say, it may be formed into a paste
with water, will then easily receive any form

4

which may be given it, and retain that form
unaltered, even by violent heat. It never
exists in soils unmixed, but in intimate asso-
ciation, or more probably chemical combina-
tion with silica, it is the well-known substance
called clay, or argillaceous earth. | White
clays are this combination nearly pure, and
coloured clays often contain it with no other
addition than metalli¢ colouring matter.
Clay retains the plastic property of alumina;
it therefore causes soils to be retentive of
moisture ; and, when they dry, makes them
form tough clods or crusts, similar in charac-
ter to sun-dried brick.

Soils which contain clay are often also mix-
ed with sand, or with an excess of silica in
grains, which does not enter into the compo-
sition of the clay. Such a soil is less liable
to form a tough crust than a pure clay, butit
will require a very large proportion of sand to
destroy this property altogether.

Clay mixed with sandy soils renders them
more retentive of moisture. Sand and clay
have therefore been used as manures for each
other; but) it may reasonably be doubted
whether all the advantage that has been an-
ticipated by some from this process, can be
realized, as such a mixture will be merely
mechanical.

Loamy soils are generally said to be mix-
tures of sand and clay; they undoubtedly
usually contain both, these earths, and -even
sometimes a large excess of sand. But we
shall give reasons for believing that loams owe
their peculiar value to a combination of clay
with another substance, by which a change is
produced in its chemical characters.

Lime is familiarly known to farmers by
the same name that is generally used by
chemists. Itis obtained by the aid of heat
from rocks which go by the name of lime-
stones. These are combinations of lime
with carbonic acid, which is fixed in them
by chemical attraction, but which, when
driven off by heat, takes the same form as the
air of the atmosphere, or becomes. a gas.
This gas from this circumstance has been
called fied air, by which name it is often
known when causing the sparkling and froth
of cider and beer. The principal part of lime-
stone is therefore called by chemists carbon-
ate of lime. Carbonate of lime is also found in
shells, both those of living animals and those
which exist in the ground in a fossil state.
In the former it is mixed with animal matter,
which is more or less separated from the lat-
ter according to the time which has elapsed
since the death of the shell fish.

Marl, in the sense in which the term is used
by chemists, is a mixture of clay witb carbon-
ate of lime. The English writers on agri-

culture have not observed this distinction,
and the term is sometimes applied by them to
a decomposed chalk, which may contain little
or no clay; and sometimes to clay which
contains no carbonate of lime, In fact, the
name is frequently applied by them to any
earthy matter found below the vegetable
soil, which is capable of increasing its fertili-
ty. From this misapprehension, the sub-
stances which go by the name of marl in New
Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia do not corre-
spond with the chemical definition, but are
generally beds of fossil shells mixed in vari-
ous proportions with earthy and saline mat-
ters of various kinds.

Lime is a substance very different in its
characters from the two earths of which
we have previously spoken. - When prepared
by heat from any of the original forms ofits
carbonate, it retains their shape unaltered,
but may have its colour changed, and always
loses considerably in weight. It is now acrid,
caustic, and corrosive, and has some pro-
perties in common with potash, which are
therefore alkaline. Of these the most im-
portunt is, that it unites with acids to form
compounds included in the general class of
salts. Of the salts of lime which are import-
ant to the farmer, the three principal are :
the carbonate, which, as we have stated, is
found in Jimestone, chalk, shells, and marl;
the sulphate, in which lime is combined with
sulphuric acid, and which in combination
with water is the substance so well known to
our farmers under the name of plaster of
Paris, or Jess familiarly by that of gypsum ;
the phosphate, which constitutes a large part
of the bones of animals.

Lime, when exposed to the air, attracts car-
bonic acid, which is always to be found in
the atmosphere ; it thus passes back to the
state of carbonate, but in so doing gradually
falls to powder, and is then said to be air-
slaked.
to a powder, which still retains the caustic

character of the burnt lime ; but this powder,

when exposed to the air, unites with carbonic
acid more rapidly than when in mass.

Lime, in its caustic state, has the property
of rapidly decomposing vegetable and ani-
mal substances, thus hastening the natural
processes by which they are finally destroyed ;
or, to speak more properly, have their ele-
ments resolved into new combinations. The
offensive and unwholesome gases, which are
given out by this composition, are absorbed by
the lime, and prevented from mixing with the
air. ‘The same property is possessed ina
less degree by the carbonate of lime, and
probably by its other compounds ; but in order

that either this earth or its compounds shall

If slaked with water, it also falls .-

6 east he

manifest this property, they must be in small
fragments, or, which is better, in fine pow-
der. ‘

Wet sand and plastic clay, and those soils
to which they give their characters, also pos-
sess the property of absorbing gases ; but
they have this in a very inferior degree to
lime and its compounds. As the gases gene-
rated by the decomposition of vegetable and
animal substances form a large part of the
necessary food of plants, it is obvious that a
soil which contains the carbonate of lime,
may retain and store them up for use, while
they will be lost in soils of a different charac-
ter. f

Carbonate of lime may also be made a
most important article in the preservation of
the most valuable parts of putrescent ma-
nures, until they can be applied to the soil.
In this way marl is applied toa great extent
in China; the night soil of their numerous
population is there formed into cakes like
bricks, with marl, and thus loses its offensive
smell ; but when these are applied as manure
to the land, they give out the gases again as
they are required for the nourishment of
plants. So also in Norfolk, the site for
dunghills is prepared by a layer of marl,
which is incorporated with the manure from
time to time, and retains the gases which
would otherwise be lost.

Lime may therefore be applied in its
caustic form in some eases in Agriculture,
for it will hasten the decomposition of animal
and vegetable matters which might otherwise
be inert ; it will also neutralize acids, which
experienced farmers well know to exist in
many soils, which they in consequence call
sour. But the latter purpose will be answer-
ed as well by the carbonate of lime, which
may be applied as it exists in marl or shells,
or as it may be prepared by grinding lime-
stone. Caustic lime is also dangerous in its
application, for it will corrode and destroy
living vegetables, and hasten the decomposi-
tion of the vegetable matter of the soil to such
a degree as to injure its fertility. Except
upon turf-bogs, and land loaded with timber
not wholly decomposed, quick or caustic lime
ought not to be used; but to burn lime, and
then by slaking to reduce it to the form of
fine powder, which is speedily carbonated by
exposure to the air, is a more ready, and ge-
nerally acheaper mode of obtaining the carbon-
ate in a convenient form, than to grind lime-
stone to powder in mills. Yet for many of
the most valuable uses of lime in agriculture,
the latter method, if as cheap, would answer
as well.

Lime slowly combines with the earth silica,
and produces a compound very different in

5

character from either. It is this, to cite a
fact in proof of our statement, which gives the
hardness and solidity to ancient mortar. The
carbonate of lime will serve to form this com-
pound ; and thus, when it has had time to act
upon sand, it renders a silicious soil more re-
tentive of moisture ; while, if applied to clay,
by combining with its silicious matter, it
renders it more friable } and it is to the forma-
tion of this compound by slow degrees, that
we are inclined to ascribe the valuable me-
chanical properties of loamy soils, and the
gradual amelioration produced by the use of
lime, marl, and shells as a manure.
Besidessilica, alumina, and lime, anearth call-
ed magnesia is likewise found in some soils.
It is also, in the form of carbonate, a frequent
constituent of limestones. This earth has
many properties in common with lime ; like
lime it is capable of neutralizing acids; and
when deprived of carbonic acid by heat, cor-
rodes vegetable substances. It probably
also hastens putrefaction, and both it and
its carbonate are capable of absorbing the
gases let loose in that natural process. It is,
however, of little interest in agriculture, except
as a part of some of the limestones which are
used as manure. These, if applied in large
quantities, are sometimes very injurious to
vegetation ; the reason of this is, that magne-
sia does not repass to the state of carbonate
as rapidly as lime, and therefore retains its
corrosive quality long after the lime has again
become mild by its union with carbonic acid.
In less quantities, however, the magnesian
limestones may serve as a manure, but their
application requires great caution, particular-
ly when the quantity of magnesia amounts to
25 per cent. :
All of the simple substances we have men-
tioned, except perhaps the last, either separate
or in various states of combination, ex-
ist in plants. The manner and character of
the combination is influenced by the vital ac-
tion of the plant, which causes them to form
compounds, often in direct opposition to th
manner in which the ordinary laws of chemis-
try would direct. It thus happens that so
soon as the plant ceases to live, these chemi-
cal laws, being no longer impeded, begin to
exert their influence ; and if it be in such a
state as will admit of the several elements
acting readily upon each other, a decomposi-
tion, more or less rapid, of the vegetable
structure ensues. Itis a law of chemistry,
that its action is always aided by the bodies
being in a fluid state, and the action is often
impossible when the bodies are perfectly free
from moisture. Hence the direct chemical
action, and consequent decomposition, takes
place with greater certainty and more rapidi-

ty in green juicy and succulent vegetables,
than upon those which have been deprived
of moisture either naturally or artificially.
Thus grass, if heaped upina recent state, de-
composes, and if but partially dried, is heated,
and may even take fire, by the chemical ac-
tion of its elements ; while, if dried by expo-
sure to the sun and air, and then laid up ina
dry place in the form of hay, it is almost in-
destructible. A moderate degree of heat and
access to air are also necessary to promote
the chemical action by which decomposition
is effected. This decomposition is often at-
tended with motion among the parts; and
always, if the mass has a liquid form, as in
the expressed juice of vegetables, or in
the steeps employed by distillers and brew-
ers ; it goes in general terms by the name of
fermentation. When the vegetable matter
abounds in starch, the first change is the con-
version of this principle into su Sugar,
if thus formed, is next converted into alcohol,
as it is, if it previously existed in the plant.
The presence of alcohol gives the liquid in
which it exists the character of vinous liquors,
and if these are permitted to remain in a
turbid state, a farther fermentation converts
them into vinegar; and finally vinegar is
farther decomposed, and the vegetable mat-
ter, giving out an offensive smell, is said to
putrify. Ifthe substance be not an express-
ed juice or liquid steep, these several stages
offermentation ensue with rapidity, may be
going onat the same time, and are sometimes
sospeedy intheir course thatno other actionbut
the putrefactive fermentation can be detected.
Animal bodiesare subject to the samelaws, and
go through the same stages of fermentation,
but the rapidity which they run into putrefaction
is even greater ; still there are some cases,
as in that of milk, where the vinous stage can
be occasionally, and the acetic distinctly, ob-
served. Thus, a vinous liquor is prepared in
some countries from milk, and the sour taste
which appears in it when kept, arises from
the presence of vinegar.

In the several stages of fermentation, parts
of the vegetable assume the form of gas or
vapour, and are given out to the air. The
gases which have been detected, are carbonic
acid, a gaseous compound of carbon and hy-
drogen, and in some instancesammonia. The
vapour is that of water, which escapes in
greater quantities than it would under ordina-
ry circumstances, in consequence of the
heat with which the process is attended. If
exposed to rain, soluble salts, with earthy and
alkaline bases, are washed from the mass.
Finally, a mass of earthy consistence alone
remains, which on examination is found to
be made up of earths, insoluble salts, and

6
carbon, being, in fact, identical with vegetable

mould.

We may hence infer that the following ele-

ments exist in vegetable bodies :

1. Oxygen, developed in the carbonic acid
and water. 3

. Hydrogen is in the water and carbu-

rets of hydrogen.

. Carbon.

Earths.

. Alkalis.

. Nitrogen, occasionally developed in the
form of ammoma.

7. Acids, remaining in the insoluble, or
washed away in the soluble salts.

The chemical examination of vegetable

bodies ought of course lead to similar re-
sults. This examination has been conduct-
ed in three different ways.

-1. With the view of discovering the nature
of the compounds, called vegetable
principles, which exist ready formed
in plants.

2. For the purpose of discovering the che-
mical elements contained in these
principles.

3. By the destructive action of heat, under
which some of the elements are whol-
ly separated, and others enter into
new combinations.

Oankw ww

In the first of these methods there have —

been detected :

I. Certain peculiar acids, of which we may

cite
(1) Acetic acid, which, mixed with water,
forms common vinegar ; :
(2) Citric acid, which is found in the
lemon and orange.
(3) Malic acid, which exists in the apple;
(4) Tartaric acid, in the juice of the

grape 5
(5) Oxalic acid in the wild sorrel.

II. Certain substances of alkaline charac-
ter, found principally in medicinal
plants, to which they give their pecu-
liar virtues.

III. Gum, resin, oils, sugar, starch, and
two substances approaching to animal
matter in their characters, namely, al-
bumen and gluten; the former of
these has a resemblance to the white
of eggs, the latter to animal jelly or
glue.

Many other principles are separated by the
same method in different plants, but need
not be enumerated by us.

The basis of this method consists in act-
ing upon vegetables by water, ether, or recti-
fied spirits (alcohol), and the principles above
enumerated are either simply, or in the state
of combination in which they exist in plants,

soluble in at least’one of the liquids we have
named.

In all cases some insoluble matter is left,
and this is known by the name of the woody
fibre.

When these principles are treated by the
second method, oxygen, hydrogen, and car-
bon, are the uniform results, but in different
proportions in the different cases; nitrogen
is also detected in some of them, as, for in-
stance, in the alkaline principles and in gluten.
This method does not appear to be adequate
to determine whether earths and alkalis are,
or are not, parts of these vegetable princi-
ples. From the very remarkable fact, that
some of those substances, which are very dis-
similar to each other, yield exactly the same
proportions of oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon,
we may fairly conclude by chemical analogy,
that one or the other, or perhaps both, contain
some substances which have escaped the
analysis. As an instance we may cite starch
and sugar, whose characters are so dissimilar
that no danger can exist of mistaking the one
for the other ; and yet their analysis by the
second method gives identical results.

The third method may be understood by
comparing it with the process used in making
charcoal. If this be so far altered that the
heat employed shall not arise from the com-
bustion of a part of the substance to be ex-
amined, but from one merely used as fuel,
and if the matters which escape in smoke are
condensed and collected, we shall have
that employed occasionally on a large
scale by operative chemists. In this way
charcoal will be, as usual, obtained in the
solid form. The condensible products will be
water, tar, turpentine, or resin ; and the acid
which gives that character to vinegar, but
which in the present case, in union with the
tar and water, is called pyrolignous acid.

If the charcoal be burnt in a current of air,
all its carbon is converted, by union with the
oxygen of the atmosphere, into carbonic acid,
leaving a residue familiarly known as ashes.
The ashes are made up partly of soluble
and partly of insoluble matter. The soluble
matter is separated by the familiar process
of making ley, and the ley, if evaporated,
leaves the solid substance so well known as
potash.

Potash is principally composed ofa carbon-
ate of potassa, but contains, besides silica,
rendered soluble by the alkali, sulphate and
muriate of potassa, and a peculiar acid known
by the name of ulmic, which is a compound
of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. ‘The inso-
luble part is made up of carbonate of lime,
sulphate and sometimes phosphate of lime,
silica. The carbonate of lime has probably

7

in no case existed in the living plant, but
arises from the destruction by heat of the pe-
culiar acid of the plant; as, for instance, the
citric, the oxalic, or the tartaric; all of which
are by fire converted into carbonic acid.

The quantity of ashes is extremely various,
as is their proportion of the several soluble
and insoluble substances, we have mention-
ed. Thus the ashes of the stalk of Indian corn
yields 123 per cent. of ashes, while the soft
woods do not furnish more than two partsin a
thousand. The proportion of the sulphate and
phosphate of lime is even more various.
Thus, in some cases the presence of the
sulphate is hardly perceptible, while of the
ashes of clover it forms a large proportion of
the whole weight. Phosphate of lime is found
in the proportion of fifteen per cent. in the
grain of wheat,

Water is not only one of the principal
component parts of all plants, but is also
the sole vehicle of their nutriment. At each
extremity of the small fibres into which the
roots of plants are divided, is an opening
through which that fluid enters; and it ap-
pears that, except in the case of a plant hay-
ing lost its vigour by continued drought, it is
only through this channel that water. can en-
ter. By a powerful action inherent in living
vegetables, water, which with all the mat-
ters it is capable of holding in solution, be-
comes the sap,* is raised to the highest parts
of the plants, and forced to their most distant
extremities. It has been ascertained that:
plants do not possess the power of rejecting
even those substances which are most nox-
ious to them; it is therefore probable that the
character of the fluid admitted is the same in
all the plants which grow upon the same soil.
Whether it undergoes any change in the root
does not appear certain, but it has recently
been maintained that every description of
plant throws off by the surface of its roots
such matter as, if retained, would be injurious ;
but this opinion does not appear to be well
established.

The sap, when carried up to the leaves, un-
dergoes an important change, principally ow-
ing to the action of solar light. When ex-
posed to light, the leaves of plants give out
oxygen in considerable quantities. This
proceeds from a decomposition of the water
and carbonic acid, the remaining elements of
which two substances and a portion of their
oxygen enter into new combinations. These
combinations have different characters in dif-
ferent vegetables, but are most familiarly
known inthe shape of gum andresin. These
still contain the earthy and saline matter carried

+ See Roget's Bridgewater Treatise.

up by the sap, and after they are formed re-
turn downwards towards the roots. In their
descent they deposit the several parts which
minister to the growth of the plant—the leaves,
the bark, and the woody fibre. They also
appear to be forced with powerful energy
into the flower and the growing fruit, and in
these a still more important action is carried
forward, by which the reproduction. of the
species is ensured.

‘The matters which the water that enters by
the root may hold in solution, are either de-
rived from the atmosphere or from the soil.
In its passage through the air it will carry
with it a considerable proportion of carbonic
acid, and all the sulphuretted hydrogen it
meets with. It will also take up a small
quantity of oxygen, and of carburetted hy-
drogen, anda still less quantity of nitrogen.
From the soil it will take all the more solu-
ble salts, small quantities of sulphate, phos-
phate, and carbonate of lime, provided they
be present, and silica. So also if the soil
contain animal matter, or vegetables of which
nitrogen forms a part, the ammonia generated
by their decomposition will likewise be dis-
solvedby the water. Inlike manner the carbon-
ic acid, which has arisen from the decomposi-
tion of vegetable or animal matter, and has
not yet escaped, and the soluble compounds
of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, which are
generated by the same process, will have been
taken up, and carried by the water into the
root of the plant. It will thus appear that,
contrary to the opinion of Mr. Puvis,the atmo-
sphere furnishes butlittle of the fixed elements
of plants, with the exception of sulphur and
carbon ; and that even if the growth of plants
were to depend wholly upon the carbon obtain-
ed in the form of carbonic acid from the atmo-
sphere, their growth must be slow and feeble.
It will also appear, that if lime do not exist in
the soil, but few plants can find nourishment ;
and that for the ripening of the seeds of grain
phosphorus must be furnished also. The
latter substance may be absorbed in small
quantities from the phosphuretted hydrogen,

8

which is occasionally present in the atmo-
sphere ; but a more certain supply ought to be
sought in putrescent manure, and particularly
in that of animal origin.

The uses of lime in agriculture, as will ap-
pear from the foregoing remarks and the
reasoning of the essay, are as follows :

1. When a soil contains inert animal or
vegetable matter, their decomposition may be
promoted, and it may be rendered fit for the
food of plants, by the addition of caustic lime.

2. If the soil contain acid, that may be
neutralized either by caustic or carbonated
line, and besides, the organic matter whose
decomposition may have been prevented by
the acid, will be permitted to putrify.

3. Soils containing too much silica, or in
other words those which are sandy, are made
more retentive of moisture by the addition
of lime or its carbonate.

4. Clays, may be rendered less retenti
of moisture, and more friable by the same
means.

5. The gases which escape when vege-
table or animal matter putrify, are retained in
the soil by means of lime or its carbonate ;
and thus a given quanity of manure, or the
original vegetable matter of the soil, will re-
tain its efficacy longer. By a recent disco-
very, it has also been ascertained that the
decomposition of plants yields a peculiar acid,
called the humic, which forms with lime a
salt sparingly soluble in water. The gene-
ration of this salt also serves to render the
neutriment contained in the soil more lasting. *

6. Lime and its compounds are absolutely
necessary, as constituent parts, to the growth
of many plants. The sulphate is essential to
the growth of clover, and the phosphate to
that of wheat. Hence the efficacy of plaster
of Paris and crushed bones as manures.

7. If lime or its sulphate be employed as
the means of raising green crops, which haye
but small exhausting powers, the fertility of a
soil may be maintained by ploughing them
in, or increased by using them to feed cattle
whose manure is applied to the ground.

-

On the Different Modes of Improving the

oul,

To improve the soil is to modify its composi-
tion in such manner as to render it more fertile.

This definition, which might be extended to
manures charged with vegetable mould [hu-
mus | or animal substances, which also modify
the composition of the soil, is limited by
French agriculture to substances which act
upon the soil, or upon plants, without contain-
ing any notable proportion of animal or vege-
table matter.

Itis said that manures, [ putrescent or en-
riching,| serve for the nutriment of plants.
But it is the same as to substances improving
to the soil, which furnish to it matters which
it needs to be fruitful, and which furnish to
vegetables, the earth and saline compounds
which enter as essential elements in their
composition, their texture, and their products.
Such improving substances may well be re-
garded as nutritive.*

Thus lime, marl, and all the calcareous
compounds employed in agriculture, since
they furnish lime and its compounds, which
sometimes form half of the fixed principles of
vegetables, ought also to be considered as ali-
ments; or, what comes to the same, as fur-
nishing a part of the substance of vegetables.
Thus again, wood-ashes, pounded bones,
burnt bones, which furnish to vegetation the
calcareous and saline phosphates which com-
pose a sixth of the fixed principles of the
stalks, and three-fourths of their seeds, ought
well to be considered, and surely are, nutritive.

What, then, particularly marks the distinc-
tion between manures which improve the
soil [amendemens] and alimentary manures,
[engrais] is, that the former furnish, for the
greater part, the fixed principles of vegeta-
bles, the earths, and salts, which are abun-
dantly diffused throughout the atmosphere,

-* The two classes of manures which are described
aera above, are conveniently designated in

rench each by a single word. “ Engrais,” which
we can only translate as manure, is limited in signifi-
eation to such substances as directly enrich soils and
feed growing plants—and “amendemens,” signifying
substances which alter and improve the constitution,
texture, and indirectly, the fertility of soil, but the ope-
ration of which is not to furnish food to plants. In
speaking of the action of these different classes, the
sense may be rendered, though not very precisely, by
the words “ enrich” and “improve ;” but there 1s no
one English term that will convey the meaning of
either class of substances. ‘“ Alimentary manures”
will be used for the first class, and “ manures improv-
ing the constitution of soil,” or some similar awkward,
but descriptive phrase, can only render the meaning
of the word “amendemens,” unless “improvers”
could be tolerated as a substitute for convenience. Tr.

9
ON THE USE OF LIME AS A MANURE, BY MR. PUVIS.’

whence vegetables draw them, by means of
suitable organs ; and what is most remarka-
ble, is, that the vegetable, by receiving the
fixed principles of which it has need, ac-
quires, as we shall see, a greater energy to
gather for its sustenance the volatile princi-
ples which the atmosphere contains.

The greater part, then, of soils, to be car-
ried to the highest rate of productiveness,

require manures to improve their constitu-

2

tion. Alimentary manures give much vigor
to the leafy products—but they multiply
weeds, both by favoring their growth and
conveying their seeds; and they often cause
crops of [small grain] to be lodged, when
they are heayy. Manures which improve
the soil, more ‘particularly aid the formation
of the seeds, give more solidity to the stalks,
and prevent the falling of the plants. But it
is in the simultaneous employment of these
two means of fertilization by which we give
to the soil all the active power of which it is
susceptible. ‘They are necessary to each
other, doubling theiraction reciprocally ; and
whenever they are employed together, fertility
goes on without ceasing; increasing instead
of diminishing.

The greater part of improving substances
are calcareous compounds. ‘Their effect is
decided upon all soils which do not contain
lime, and we shall see that three-fourths, per-
haps, of the lands of France are in that
state. Soils not calcareous, whatever may
be their culture, and whatever may be the
quantity of manure lavished on them, are
not suitable for all products ; are often cold
and moist, and are covered with weeds. Cal-
careous manures, by giving the lime which is
wanting in such soils, complete their advan-
tages, render the tillage more easy, destroy
weeds, and fit the soil for all products.

Improving substances have been called
stimulants; they have been thus designated,
because it was believed that their effect con-
sisted only in stimulating the soil and the
plants. This designation is faulty, because
it would place these substances in a false
point of view. It would make it seem that
they brought nothing to the soil nor to plants ;
and yet their principal effect is to give both
principles which are wanting. Thus the
main effect of calcareous manures proceeds
from their giving, cn the one hand, to the soil
the caleareous principle which it does not
contain, and which is necessary to develope
its full action on the atmosphere ; and, on the
other hand, to vegetables, the quantity which
they require of this principle for their frame-
work and their intimate constitution. It

10

would then be a better definition than that
above, to say, that to improve the soil is to give
to it the principles which it requires, and
does not contain.

Importance of Manures which improve the
Constitution of Soils.

The question of improving manure is of
great interest to agriculture. This means of
meliorating the soil is too little known, and
above all, too little practised in a great part
of France ; and yet it is a condition abso-
lutely necessary to the agricultural prosperity
of acountry. In the neighborhood of great
cities, alimentary manures being furnished on
good terms may well vivify the soil; but ani-
mal manures can suffice only in a few situa-
tions, and those of small extent; and in
every country where tillage is highly prospe-
rous, improving manures are in use. The
Department of the North (of France) Belgi-
um, and England owe to them, in a great
measure, their prosperity. The Department
of the North (which is, of all Europe, the
country where agriculture is best practised
and the most productive,) spends every
year, upon two-thirds ofits soil, a million of
francs in lime, marl, ashes of peat and of
bituminous coal [houtlle*], and it is princi-
pally to these agents, and not to the quality of
the soil, that the superiority of its produc-
tion is owing. The best of its soil makes
part of the same basin, is of the same forma-
tion and same quality, as a great part of Ar-
tois and Picardy, of which the products are
scarcely equal to half the rate of the North.
Neither is it the quantity of meadow land
which causes its superiority ; that makes but
the fifth part of its extent, and Lille, tne best
Arrondissement, has scarcely a twentieth of
its surface in meadow, while Avesne, the
worst of all, has one-third. Nor can any
great additional value be attributed to ar-
tificial meadows, since they are not met with
except in the twenty-sixth part of the whole
space. Neither can this honor be due to the
suppression of naked fallows, since, in this
country of pattern husbandry, they yet take
up one-sixth of the ploughed land every year.
Finally, the Flemings have but one head of
large cattle for every two hectarest of land, a
proportion exceeded in a great part of
France. Their great products then are due to
their excellent economy and use of manures,
to the assiduous labor of the farmers, to
courses of crops well arranged, but, above
all, we think, to the improvers of soil, which

* Statistique du department du Nord.
} The hectare is very nearly equal to two and a
half English (or American) acres, Tr.

they join to their alimentary manures. Two
thirds of their land receive these regularly ;
and it is to the reciprocal action of these
agents of melioration, that appears to be due
the uninterrupted succession of fecundity
which astonishes all those who are not accus-
tomed continually to see the products of this
region.

At this moment, upon all points in France,
agriculture, after the example of the other
arts of industry, is bringing forth improye-
ments ; in all parts especially, cultivators are
trying, or wishing to try, lime, marl, ashes,
animal charcoal. It is this particular point in
progress, above all, for which light is wanting ;
and this opinion has induced the preparation
cf this publication. For more than thirty
years the author has devoted himself, from
inclination, to agriculture ; but he has been
especially attentive to calcareous manures.
He has studied in the practice of much ex-
tent of country, in that of his own particular-
ly, in personal experiments, and in what has
been written on them, both by foreigners and
countrymen. An Essay on Marl has been
the first fruit of his labors, an Essay on the
use of Lime will soon be ready: it is with
these materials that he now sets himself to
work. Toprepare for this object, a series of
articles, of the nature of a recapitulation ra-
ther than of a regular work, it was necessary
to be concise, and yet not to omit any thin
essential. It is proper, then, that he should
limit himself to the prominent parts i
subject, those especially useful to practice.
His advice will then be as often empirical as
regular, and his directions will be precise, al-
though supported by a few developements.

An extract from this work has appeared in
the Encyclopedie Agricole: here it will again
appear, but in the form of separate articles,
which will be corrected by a general system-
atic view of the theory, founded on prac-
tice. This is the moment for multiplying
publications on this subject, because in al-
most all parts of France it is the point in
agriculture most controverted ; that which in-
duces the most labor and the greatest expen-
diture ; which presents most doubts ; and
which has consequently most need of being
made clear.

We shall not here enlarge upon the man-
ner in which improving manures act: we will
put off this important question, with its de-
yelopements, to the article on lime. Here we
only present the theory. Hereafter, that
which we will hazard will be founded upon
facts, and yet we do not promise these deve-
lopements, except so far as may be necessary
for the purpose of enlightening and directing
practice.

ee a ee ee ee

a ee

a

a

Of the various kinds of Improving Manures.

The first in order, and the most important,
are calcareous manures. We comprehend
under this name, lime, marl, old plastering
mortar, and other rubbish of demolished
buildings, beds of fossil shells [falun],* or
shelly substances, plaster or gypsum: expe-
rience and reason will prove that we ought to
arrange in the same class, and by the side of
the others, wood ashes, ground bones, and
burnt bones. We will not place in the same
list the ashes of peat, of bituminous coal, and
red pyritous ashes: their effect is not owing
to their lime, but (as will be seen afterwards)
rather to the effect of fire upon the earthy
parts, and particularly upon the argil which
they contain.

We shall next in order treat of manures of
the sea, or saline manure of different kinds, of
mixtures of earth, of calcined clay: and
finally, of paring and burning turf, and the
different questions which peat presents in
agriculture.

Of Liming—On the Use of Lime for the Im-
provement of Soil.

1, Among the immense variety of sub-
stances, and of combinations which compose
the upper layers of the globe, the earthy sub-
stances, silex, alumine, and lime, form al-
most exclusively the surface soil : the greater
portion of other substances being unfit to aid
vegetation, they ought to be very rare upon a
surface where the Supreme Author willed to
call forth and to preserve the millions of spe-
cies of beings of all kinds, which were to
live on its products.

It was also a great benefit to man, whose
intelligence was to be exercised upon the
surface of the soil, to have so few in number
the substances proper to support vegetation.
The art of agriculture, already so complex,
which receives from so many circumstances
such divers modifications, if there had been
added new elements much more complicated,
would have been above the reach of human
intelligence.

2. But among these substances, the two
first, silex and alumine, form almost exclu-
sively three-fourths of all soils; the third, the
carbonate of lime, is found more or less
mixed in the other fourth: all soils in which

* “Falun. Beds formed by shells. ‘There is one
of these immense beds in Touraine. The cultivators
of that country use this shelly earth to improve their
fields.” This definition is from Rozier’s Cours Com-
plet, and though it clearly shows that the substance in
question is the same as what is called “marl” in Vir-
ginia, it is equally clear that neither of these authors
consider falun as being marl. Tr.

the latter earth is found, have similar charac-
ters, producing certain families of vegetables,
which cannot succeed in those in which it is
not contained.

The calcareous element seems to be in the
soil a means and a principle of friability.
Soils which contain calcareous earth in suit-
able proportions, suffer but little from mois-
ture, and let pass easily, to the lower beds, the
superabundance of water, and consequently
drain themselves with facility. Grain and
leguminous crops, the oleaginous plants, and
the greater part of the vegetables of com-
merce, succeed well on these soils.

It is among these soils that almost all good
lands are found. Nevertheless, the abun-
dance of the calcareous principle is more
often injurious than useful. Thus it is
among soils composed principally of carbon-
ate of lime that we meet with the most arid
and barren, as Lousy Champagne, part of
Yonne, and some parts of Berry.

3. The analysis of the best soils has
shown that they rarely contain beyond ten
per cent. of carbonate of lime; and those of
the highest grade of quality seem to contain
but from 3 to 5 percent. Thus the analysis
of Messrs. Berthier and Drapiez show 3
per cent. of it in the celebrated soil of the en-
virons of Lille.

4. But all these properties, all these ad-
vantages, all these products, calcareous ma-
nures bear with them to the soils which do
not contain the calcareous principle. It is
sufficient to spread them in very small pro-
portions: a quantity of lime, which does not
exceed the thousandth part of the tilled sur-
face layer of the soil, a like proportion of
drawn ashes, or a two-hundredth part (or even
less) of marl, are sufficient to modify the na-
ture, change the products, and increase by one-
half the crops of a soil destitute of the calca-
reous principle. This principle, then, is
necessary to be furnished to those soils which
do not contain it ; it is then a kind of condi-
ment disposed by nature to ameliorate poor
soils, and to give to them fertility.

Ancient Date of the Use of Lime.

5. Lime, as it appears, has long ago been
used in many countries. However, nothing
proves that its effect was well known to the
Greeks and Romans, the then civilized por-
tion of mankind. Their old agricultural
writers do not speak of the use of lime on
cultivated lands, nor on meadows. Pliny,
the naturalist, tells us, however, that it was in
use for vines, for olives, and for cherry trees,
the fruit of which it made more forward : and he
speaks of its being used on the soil generally

12

in two provinces of Gaul, those of the Pic-
tones and Acdui,* whose fields lime rendered
more fruitful. The agriculture of the barba-
rians was then, in this particular, more ad-
vanced than that of the Romans. Afler that,
all trace of the use of lime in agriculture is
lost for a long time—whether because it had
ceased to be used, or only because the no-
tice of it was omitted by writers on agricul-
ture. The trace is again recovered with
Bernard Pellissy, who recommends the use
of it in compost in moist lands, and speaks of
his use of it in the Ardennes. Nearly a cen-
tury later, Olivier de Serrest advises its em-
ployment in the same manner, and reports
that they made use of it in the provinces of
Gueldres and Juliers [in Belgium]. He
makes no mention of its use in France: but
as the practices of agriculture were not then
much brought together, and were but little
known, it may be believed that at that time
Flanders, Belgium, and Normandy, made
use of lime.

In England, liming seems to have been in
use earlier and more generally than in France.
but then, and ever since, good agricultural
practices have remained in the particular
countries where they were established, without
being spread abroad. Now, novelties carry
no alarm with them—and within the last
twenty years liming has made more progress
than in the two preceding centuries.

Of Soils suitable for Liming.

6. Lime, as has been said before, suits
such soils as do not contain it already. To
distinguish these soils from others, chemical
analysis is, without doubt, the surest means ;
but it offers often too many difficulties, and
lime may be met with in a soil in proportion
great enough to exert its power on vegetation
without producing effervescence with acids. {
But visible characters may furnish indications
almostcertain. The soils where the cow
wheat, [melampyre,] rest-harrow, [l’ononis,
ou arrete-bauf,| thistles, colt’s foot, [tussi-
lage, | and red poppy, spring spontaneously—
which produce well in wheat, legumes, (or
plants of the pea kind,) and especially sain-
foin—where the chestnut succeeds badly—
which shows but little of dog’s-tooth, [chien-
dent, | volunteer grasses, or common weeds,
[gramines adventices] except of the small le-

* JEdui et Pictonescalce uberrimos fecere agres.

{Who wrote on Agriculture in the reign of Henry
IV. of France. Tr.

} This is a full though indirect admission of the
truth of the doctrine of neutral soils, maintained in the
Essay on Caleareous Manures. Tr.

the

guminous kinds—soils which, after being
dry, crumble with the first rain—all these
are almost certainly calcareous, have no need
of Jime, nor its compounds,* and would feel
frorn their use rather ill thao good effects.

On the contrary, all soils composed of the
moulderings [debris] of granite or schistus,
almost all sandy soils; those which are moist
and cold of the immense argilo-silicious table
lands [plateaux argilo-silicieux | which sepa-
rate the basins of great rivers ;f those where
rushes, [petit ajonc ] the heath, les pelils carex
blancs, the whitish moss spring spontaneous-
ly—almost all the soils infested with avoine a
chapelets, with dog’s-tooth, with bent grass,
[agrestis,] red sorrel, and the little fever-
few—that soil where, unless so clayey as to
offer great difficulty to cultivation, only rye,
potatoes, and buckwheat, can be made to
grow, and where sainfoin and the greater part
of the crops of commerce cannot succeed—
where, however, trees of all descriptions, and
especially of the resinous kinds, the wood-
pine, the sea pine, the larch, the northern
pine, and the chestnut, thrive better than in
the best land—all these soils are without the
calcareous principle, and all the improving
manures in which it is found, would give to

* Though both the truth and the usefulness of this
passage, in general, are admitted, yet it is incorreet in
the position that none of the “compounds of lime”
would be advantageously Supls on calcareous
soils. On the contrary, the sulphate of lime (gypsum),
the most important compound as a manure * to
the carbonate, is most effective where the land has
lime in some other form: and indeed, (as has been
maintained elsewhere,) it seems generally inert and
useless on soils very deficient in lime, [Essay on
Calcareous Manures, pp. 50, 92.]

{ The character of the lands called by the author
“ plateaux argilo-silicieux,” and which he refers to fre-
quently in the course of his essay, can only be gather-
ed from the context. They are poor, intractable under
tillage, and but little pervious to water, The name
indicates their composition to be siliceous and alumi-
nous earth almost entirely. It may be inferred that.
such lands resemble in soil the elevated level ridges,
which in lower Virginia separate different water cours-
es, and especially those which, in addition to being
miserably poor, are remarkably close, stiff, and “ wa-
ter-holding,” and are in some places called “eold
livery land,” “ pipe-clay,” or “ cray-fish” soils. Soil of
this kind, and ofthe most marked character, is particu-
laily described at page 40, Essay on Caleareous Ma-
nures, 2d ed. M. Puvis elsewhere speaks of this
argilo-silicicux” soil as being found every where in
France, and as known in different places under the va-
rious names of “terrain blanc,” “blanche terre,” in
the south, “boulbenne,” in the north, of “ terrecly-
tre,” and “terre a bois”—and the basin of the Loire,
“terre de Sologne.” The last name would direct us
tothe lands of Sologne, which furnish it, as it may be
presumed, as being of like quality. Arthur Young
says, “Sologne is one of the poorest and most unim-
proved provinces of the kingdom, and one of the most
singular countries Lhave seen. _It is flat, consisting of

a poor sand or gravel, everywhere on a clay or marl.

bottom, retentive of water to such a degree

every
ditch and hole was full of i.” Tn.

13

these the qualities of, and nourish the growths
peculiar to, calcareous soils.

But there, more than elsewhere, it is espe-
cially necessary to avoid too much haste.
Liming upon a large scale ought not to be
done, until after having succeeded in small ex-
periments on many different parts of the
ground designed to be improved.

Extent of Surface to which Lime is suitable.

7. A great proportion of the soil of France
does not contain the calcareous principle.
The country of primitive formation—the
mountains of which the rock is not calca-
reous—many soils even, of which the sub-
soils imclose calcareous formations—the
great and last alluvion which has covered the
surface, and which still composes it where-
ever the return waters have not carried it off
with them—also extensive surfaces, in the
composition of which the calcareous princi-
ple had not entered except in small propor-
tions, and which small amount has been
worn out by the successions of vegetation—
all these kinds of soil, which comprise at
least three-fourths of the surface of France,
to be fertilized, demand calcareous manures.
If it is admitted that one-third of all this
space has already received aid from lime,
marl, ashes of wood, or of peat, of bones
burnt, or pounded, there will still remain the
half of France to be improved by such
means ; an immense task, doubtless—but of
which the results will be still more prodigious,
since it will cause the products of all this
great space to_be increased one-half, or more.

Of the various Modes of applying Lime to
the Soil.

8. Three principal modes of proceeding are
in use for applying lime. The first is the
most simple, and is the most general where-
ever lime is obtained cheaply, and where cul-
ture is but little advanced in perfection, and
manuallabor is dear. This consists in putting
the lime [the burned limestone] immediately
on the ground in little heaps at 20 feet ave-
rage distance, and each heap containing, ac-
cording to the rate of limiting, from a cubic
foot of the stone to half that quantity. When
the lime has been slaked by exposure to the
air, and has fallen into powder, it is spread on
the surface so as to be equally divided.

9. The second mode differs from the first
in this respect: the heaps of stone are co-
vered with a coat of earth, about six inches
thick, according to the size of the heap, and
which is equal to five or six times the bulk of
the lime. When the lime begins to swell, by

slaking, the cracks and openings in the heap
are filled with earth: and when the lime is
reduced to powder, each heap is worked
over, so as to mix thoroughly the lime and the
earth. If nothing hurries the labor, this last
operation is repeated at the end of fifteen
days—and then, after waiting two weeks more,
the mixture is spread over the soil.

10. The third process, which is adopted
where culture is more perfect, where lime is
dear, and which combines all the advantages
of liming without offering any of their incon-
veniences, consists in making compost heaps
of lime and earth, or mould. For this, there
is first made a bed of earth, mould, or turf, of
a foot, or thereabouts, in thickness. The
clods are chopped down, and there is spread
over a layer of unslaked lime of a hecto-
litre* for the 20 cubic feet, or a ton to the
45 cubic feet of earth. Upon this lime
there is placed another layer of earth, equal
in thickness to the first, then a second layer
of lime; and then the heap is finished by a
third layer of earth. If the earth is moist,
and the lime recently burned, 8 or 10 days
will suffice to slake it completely. Then the
heap is cut down and well mixed—and this
operation is repeated afterwards before using
the manure, which is delayed as long as pos-
sible, because the power of the effect on the
soil is increased with the age of the compost ;
and especially if it has been made with the
earth containing much vegetable mould.
This method is the one most used in Bel-
gium and Flanders: it is becoming almost
the exclusive practice in Normandy: it is the
only practice, and followed with the greatest
success, in La Sarthe. Lime in compost is
never injurious to the soil. It carries with it
the surplus of alimentary manure which the
surplus of product demands for its suste-
nance. Light soils, sandy or gravelly, are
not tired by repetitions of this compost. No
country, nor author, charges lime, used in this
state, with having been injurious to the soil,
In short, this means seems to us the most
sure, the most useful, and the least expen-
sive mode of applying lime as manure.

11. The reduction of burnt lime to pow-
der by means of a momentary immersion in
water in handle-baskets, serves much to has-
ten the slaking, whether the lime is to be ap-
plied immediately to the soil, or in compost
heaps—some hours in this manner sufficing,
in place of waiting two weeks ; however, the

* The hectolitre contains 6102.8 English cubicinch-
es, oris equal to 2.82, (or about 2.6-7) Winchester
bushels. ‘Therefore the hectolitre is rather more in
proportion to the hectare, than our bushel is to the
acre. The decalitre (named next page) is the tenth

of a hectolitre, and of course the ‘double decalitre”
is the fifth, ‘Tr. 73

14

effect of lime, in this state, may well be diffe-
rent, as we have then the hydrate of lime, and
less of the carbonate of caustic lime.* If great
rains follow, this process is not without its in-
conveniences, because then the lime, which
is already saturated with water, is more easily
brought to the state of mortar, which ought
to be avoided more than every other injury to
the manure.

The reduction of burnt limestone to pow-
der, whether it be spontaneous or by immer-
sion, produces in the compost a bulk greater
by one-half or more than that of the stone—
10 cubic feet, producing 15—or a ton, 10
cubic feet. This increase is not uniform
with all kinds of lime ; itis greater with the rich
[grasses], and less with the poor varieties.

Liming, as practised in different Countries.
In the Department of Ain.

~ 12. The application of lime in Ain dates
fifty years back. At the present time, the
soil which has been limed is still more pro-
ductive than the neighboring, not limed.
Nevertheless, liming is but beginning to ex-
tend, while marling, which was begun fifteen
years later, has already covered many thou-
sands of hectares. This is because marling
is an operation within the means of poor cul-
tivators, being accomplished by labor alone ;
while liming requires considerable advances,
especially in this country, where lime is dear,
and the dose given is heavy.

The dressings vary in quantity, from 60
to 100 hectolitres the hectare, according to
the.nature of the ground, and often accord-
ipg to the caprice of the cultivators. Al-
though these limings have not been made
with all the care and economy that was desir-
able, they have been very efficacious when
the soil has been sufficiently drained. The
following tables, extracted from the registers
of three contiguous domains, belonging to
M. Armand, three years before, and nine
years during the progress of liming, give us
the means of appreciating the results. The
quantities of seed and of crops, are calculat-
ed in double decalitres, or in measures of
fifths of hectolitres.

* An incorrect expression, certainly, but literally
translated. Tr.

Table of product of the domain of La Croi-
selte.

RYE.

Seed. | Product. || Seed. |Product.

Table of product of the domain of La Ba-

ronne.
RYE. WHEAT.

Product. || Seed. |Product.

Lae

15

The application of 3000 hectolitres [8,490
bushels] of lime, of the value of 6000
francs [$1116] upon 32 hectares [80 acres]
of ground, made successively during nine
years, has then more than doubled the crops
of winter grain, the seed being deducted.
The other crops of the farms have received
a proportional increase ; and the revenue of
the proprietor, in doubling, has annually in-
creased two-thirds more than the amount of
the sum expended in the purchase of lime.
Still, there is not yet half the arable land
limed, since of 66 hectares, only 32 have re-
ceived this improvement.

The products of 1834 are still greater than
those of 1833. But these are sufficient to
prove the importance and utility of applying
lime to suitable soils.

Many other examples sustain these re-
sults; and from them all it appears, that the
wheat seedings are increased from double to
triple—that the rye lands, from bringing four
to five [to one of seed] in rye, are able to
bring six to eight in wheat—and that other
products are increased in proportion. The
melioration then is, relatively, much greater
upon bad ground than upon good, since it is
two-thirds and more on. the wheat land, and
on the rye lands the crop is increased in ya-
lue three-fold.

Flemish Liming.

13. The use of calcareous manures in the
department of the North, as in Belgium, ap-
pears to be as old as good farming. It is now
much less frequent in Belgium. The an-
cient and repeated limings have, as it seems,
furnished to great part of the soil all that is
necessary to it, for the present. But the de-
partment of the North still receives lime,
marl, or ashes, every where, or nearly so,
where lime is not a component ingredient of
the soil. They distinguish in this country
two kinds of liming. The first [chaulage
foncier] consists in giving to the soil, every
10 or 12 years before seed time, four cubic
metres, or 40 hectolitres of lime to the hec-
tare.* They often mix with the slaked lime,
ashes of bituminous coal, or of peat, which
enter into the mixture in the proportion of
froma third to a half, and take the place of an
equal quantity of lime. The other mode of
liming [chaulage d’assolement], is given in
compost, and at every renewal of the rota-
tion, or upon the crop of spring grain. It is
also in regular use in this country, still more
than in Belgium, upon the meadows on eold
pasture lands, which do not receive the wa-

* 46 bushels to the acre, English or American mea-
sure. Tr.

ters of irrigation. It warms the ground and
increases and improves its products. The
older the compost is, the greater its effect,
which lasts from 15 to 20 years, at the end of
which time the dressing is renewed.

14. The limings of Normandy, the most
ancient of France, are kept up in the neigh-
borhood of Bayeux, while elsewhere they are
forbidden in the leases: however, now they
go over all the surface which has need of
them; but in place of being applied immedi-
ately to the soil, as in the ancient method, the
lime is almost always put in compost.

Liming of La Sarthe.

15. Of the modes of using lime, that of
La Sarthe seems preferable. It is at once
economical and productive, and secures the
soil from all exhaustion. It is given every
three years, at each renewal of the rotation,
in the average quantity of 10 hectolitres to
the hectare,* in compost made in advance,
with seven or eight parts of mould, or of
good earth, to one of lime. They use this
compost on the land for the autumn sowing,
and placed alternately with rows of farm-
yard manure. This method, of which the
success is greater from day to day, is ex-
tending on the great body of flat argilo-sili-
cious lands, which border the Loir@; and it
would seem that this method ought to be
adopted every where, on open soils that per-
mit surplus water to drain off easily.—On
very moist soils the dose of lime ought per-
haps to be increased.

We would desire much to iaculeate with
force the suitableness, and eminent advanta-
ges, of using at the same time lime and [ali-
mentary] manure. Here they do better still, in
using at the same time a compost of lime
with earth and dung. In addition, during the
half century that the Manceaux have been
liming, the productiveness of the soil has not
ceased to increase.

16. The countries of which we have spo-
ken, are those of France in which liming is
most general. However, more than half the
departments, I think, have commenced the
use, and in a sixth, or nearly, it seems to be
established. Doubtless, the first trials do
not succeed every where. There is required
arare combination of conditions for new ex-
periments, even when they have succeeded,
to induce their imitation by the great mass.
Still, successful results are multiplied, and
become the centres of impulse, from which
meliorations extend.

* 11} bushels to the acre. Tr.

16

English Liming.

17. The English limings seem to be esta-
blished upon quite another principle from that
of France. They are given with such pro-
digality, that the melioration upon the limed
soil has no need to be renewed afterwards.
Whilst in France we are content to give from
a thousandth toa hundredth of lime to the
tillable soil, from 10 to 100 hectolitres to the
hectare, they give in England from one to
six handredths, or from 100 to 600 hectolitres
the hectare. The full success of the me-
thod of our country might make us regard
the English method as an unnecessary waste.
It seems that they sacrifice a capital five, six,
ten times greater, without obtaining from it a
result much superior; and that without la-
vishing [alimentary ] manures also afterwards,
the future value of the soil would be endan-
gered in the hands of a greedy cultivator.

We will not urge the condemnation of a
practice which seems to have resulted in
few inconveniencies. The abundance of ali-
mentary manures which the English farmer
gives to his [limed] soils, has guarded against
exhaustion: and then, in very moist ground,
they have doubtless, by the very heavy liming,
made the soil healthy, and its nature seems
modified for a long time to come; and such
kinds, ahd where humus abounds, will take up
a heavy dose of lime, and, as it seems, al-
ways without inconvenient consequences ;
there is then formed there the humate of lime
in the greatest proportion, and we shall see
that this combination isa great means of pro-
ductiveness in the soil.*

Surface Liming.

18. In Germany, where liming and marl-
ing, like most other agricultural improye-
ments, have recently made great advances,
besides the ordinary modes of application,
lime is used as a surface dressing. ‘They
sprinkle over the rye, in the spring, a com-
post containing 8 to 10 hectolitres of lime to
the hectare, fifteen days after having sown
clover. Also on the clover of the preceding
year, they apply lime in powder, which has
been slaked in the water of a dunghill, the

* In this passage the author distinctly affirms the
truth of the chemical combination in the soil of calea-
reous and vegetable (or other putrescent)—or the
power of calcareous earth to fix and retain enriching
matter—which is maintained in the Essay on Calca-
reous manures, (pp. 30, 31,) to be the most important
aetion of calcareous matter as an ingredient of soil—
Still M. Puvis seems to attach much less importance
to this than to other agencies of lime, which are con-
eh in the Essay as of little value in comparison.

R,

dose being less by one-half; the effect upon
the clover and the following crop of wheat is
very advantageous.

In Flanders, where they use lime mixed
with ashes, it is especially applied to mea-
dows, natural or artificial, and the application
is then made on the surface.

Burning Lime.

19. The burning of lime is performed with
wood, with pit coal, or with peat; in tempo-
rary kilns, or furnaces, in permanent, or in
perpetual kilns. It is burned in many places
most economically with coal, but it is not so
good a manure as the lime burned with wood,
because, as it seems, of the potash contained
inthe latter case. There are but few places
in which peat is used for this purpose ; how-
ever, in Prussia they succeed with three-
fourths peat and one-fourth wood. It is,
doubtless, a very economical process, and the
Sociélé d’Encouragement has given in its
transactions plans of peat kilns; but I know
not whether the operators who received prizes
for their use have continued the practice.

Temporary kilns admit of the burning of a
great quantity of lime; but the permanent
kilns burn it with most economy of fuel. In
the first, 5 quintals of wood burn 4 quintals,
or 1 ton, or 2} hectolitres of lime—and in the
others, the same quantity of wood will suffice
for 6 quintals or 3} hectolitres. But in the
permanent kilns such is the expense of con-
struction and repairs, that they cannot be jus-
tified except when kept in frequent use.
Coal burns from three to four times its bulk
of lime—the shape of the kiln, the kind of
limestone, and that of the coal, making the
difference. Hydraulic lime is calcined more
easily than the common [chaux grasses].
Egg-shaped kilns for coal seem to be prefer-
able to the conical, which are more generally
met with.

Precautions to be used in Liming.

20. Whatever may be the method adopted
for using lime, it is essential that, like all cal-
careous manures, it should be applied in pow-
der, and not in a state like mortar—and upon
the earth when not wet. Until the lime is co-
vered up finally, all rain upon it ought to be
avoided, which reduces it to paste or to clots:
and this injures its effect greatly, and even
more than reasoning can explain. It ought not
to be placed except upon soil,the surface mou
of which drains itself naturally pry permitting
the water to pass through.] On a marshy
soil, unless the upper layer has been well-
dried, or in a very moist soil, from which the

."

17

surface water does not sink or pass off easily,
the properties of lime remain as it were lock-
ed up, and do not make themselves seen, un-
til, by new operations, the vegetable mould
has been drained and put in healthy condi-
tion.

On an argillaceous and very moist soil, the
use of marl, which is applied in great quan-
tities, is preferable to that of lime, because it
can have a more powerful effect in giving the
deficient health to the surface mould. On
soil of this kind, a deep ploughing is a pre-
liminary condition, essential to the success of
either liming or marling: because in increas-
ing the depth of the tilled soil, we increase
also the means of putting the surface into
healthy condition.

21. To secure the effect of lime on the
first crop, it ought to be mixed with the soil
some time before the sowing of the crop:
however, if it is used in compost, it is suffi-
cient that the compost be made a long time
previously.

Lime, whether alone or in compost,
spread dry upon the soil, ought to be covered
by a very shallow first ploughing, preceded
by a slight harrowing, in order that the lime,
in the course of tillage, may remain always,
as much as possible, placed in the midst of
the vegetable mould.

Lime, reduced to the smallest particles,
tends to sink into the soil. It glides between
small particles of sand and of clay, and de-
scends below the sphere of the nutrition of
plants, and stops under the ploughed layer of
soil: and when there in abundance, it forms
by its combinations a kind of floor, which ar-
rests the sinking water, and greatly injures
the crops. This is an inconvenience of lime
applied in heavy doses, and is hastened by
deep ploughing.

Various qualities of Lime.

22. It is necessary for the farmer to know
the nature of the lime which he uses. It may
be pure, or mixed with silex, clay, or magne-
sia. Pure lime is the most economical, the
most active, that which ean produce the most
effect in the least quantity.”

Silicious limestone is used in greater quan-
tity. The lime from it receives, as does the
foregoing, the name of hot lime, and there is
little difference in the application, except that
more of the latter is wanting.

“Argillaceous lime is the same as the hy-
draulic lime, or the poor lime of builders.
It appears that the first two kinds are more
favorable to forming grain, while the latter
favors more the growth of straw, grasses,
and leguminous crops. It is better for the

3

improvement of the soil, but a heavier dose
of it is required.

Magnesian lime acts very powerfully, but
exhausts the soil if given in a large dose, or
if itis not followed by alimentary manure in
abundance. It has exhausted some districts
in England, and entire provinces of Ameri-
cea,* and it is to this kind that seem due most
of the complaints made against lime.

By chemical processes the farmer may
make himself sure of the nature of the lime
which he uses.

Pure lime is commonly white, and is dis-
solved, without any thing being left, in nitric
or muriatic acid.

Silicious lime is often gray, and leaves a
sandy residue [after solution ], which is rough
to the touch.

Argillaceous lime is obtained from stones
which have a clayey odor and appearance:
it is commonly yellow ; and leaves, after the
solution, a residue which is mostly an impal-
pable powder [et qui prend en masse], which
may be formed into a mass when wet.

Magnesian lime is made from stone com-
monly colored brown or pale yellow ; it forms
a white cloud in nitric acid, diluted with wa-
ter, and used in less quantity than sufficient
for saturation.

Of second Limings.

23. When the limed field returns to the
state in which it was before the operation,
when the same weeds re-appear, and the
crops lower in product, it is time to renew
the application of lime. It may be conceived
that the time of the second liming depends on
the amount given in the first. When the
dressing has been light, it is necessary, as
is done by the Flemings and the Manceaux,
to recommence entirely, or to the extent of
the first dressing: when it has been heavy,
the next may be diminished by one-half. Be-
sides, in this matter we should take counsel
of the state of the soil and of experience,
because there are some lands which de-
mand, and can use heavier doses of lime than
others.

Quantities applied.

24. The quantities of first as of second
dressings of lime, vary with the consistence

* The author has been deceived by exaggerated ac-
counts of injury fiom liming in America. It is proba~
ble that wherever it occurred, it was caused by the
usual ignorance of the action of lime: from errone-
ously considering it as alimentary, and directly ferti-
lizing manure, and after applying it, wearing out the
soil by continued grain crops. Such effects are spok-
en of by Bordley. Tr.

18

of soils: they ought to be small.on light and
sandy soils—and may, without ill conse-
quences, be heavy on clay soils.

The dose ought to vary according as the
soil is more or less pervious to water, or as
drained well or ill by its texture. Small ap-
plications to soils from which the superfluous
water does not pass easily, are but little felt;
but if the dressing is heavy, and the plough-
ing deep, the lime aids the draining and adds
to the healthy state of the soil. It may be
conceived that the quantity of lime ought also
to be increased with the annual quantity of
rain that falls—because in proportion to that
quantity ought the openness of the soil, and
its fitness for draining, to be extended.

Nevertheless, the practices of the depart-
ments of the North and of La Sarthe seem
to indicate the average dressing which suits
in general for land: thus the liming of the
North, which every ten or twelve years gives
to the soil 40 hectolitres of lime to the hec-
tare, or a little more than three hectolitres a
year, agrees with that of La Sarthe, which
gives eight or ten hectolitres every three
years. ‘The first plan gives at one dressing
what the other distributes in four: as both
make alike average, it may be thence inferred
that the earth demands annually three hectoli-
tres, [323 bushels to the acre, | to sustain its
fecundity. But as neither the soil nor the
plants consume all this quantity of lime, it is
to be believed, that at the end of a greater or
less length of time, the soil will have received
enough to have no more need of it for a cer-
tain space of time.

Manner of treating Limed Lands.

25. After having, by liming, given the soil
a great productive power, having put it in
condition to produce the most valuable crops,
which are often also the most exhausting, it
is necessary to husband these resources—to
give manure in return for the products obtain-
ed—to employ as litter, and not as food, the
straw, now increased by one half—to raise
grass crops from the soil now fitted to. bear
them with advantage—in short, to modify the
general plan, and the detail of the culture ac-
cording to the new powers of the soil, the
prices of commodities, and to local conye-
niences.

However, it is not necessary to hurry the
change of the rotation. Such an operation
is long, difficult, very expensive, and ought
not to be executed but with much delibera-
tion.

Effects of Lime on the Soil.

26. The effects of lime, although similar
to, are not identical with, those produced by

marl; and the qualities of soils limed, differ
in some points from those of natural calca-
reous soils. The grain from limed land is
rounder, firmer, gives less bran, and more
flour, than that from marled land : the grain of
marled Jand is more gray, gives more bran,
and resembles that made upon clover, though
it may be preferable to the latter. The grain
of a limed soil is more like that from land
improved with drawn ashes. Limed land is
less exposed to danger from drought than
marled land, on soils naturally calcareous.
The crop is not subject to be lodged at flow-
ering time, when the sowing was done in dry
earth. ‘

27. In limed earth, weeds and insects dis-
appear. The earth, if too light, acquires stiff-
ness, and is lightened if too clayey. The
surface of the argilo-silicious soil, before close
and whitish, is made friable, and becomes
reddish, as if rotten: it hardens and splits
with drought, and is dissolved by the rains
which succeed. ‘This spontaneous loosening
of the soil facilitates greatly the labor of the
cultivator, the moyement of the roots of the
growing plants, and the reciprocal action of
the atmosphere upon the soil, which remains
open to its influence.

_ All these new properties which the limed
soil has acquired, doubtless explain in part
the fertilizing means which calcareous agents
bring to the soil : but we think it is still neces-
sary to seek some of these causes elsewhere.

28. Lime, according to the recent disco-
yeries of German chemists, seizes in the
soil the soluble humus or humic acid, takes
it from all other bases, and forms a compound
but slightly soluble, which appears, under this
form, eminently suitable to the wants of plants.
But as this compound is not soluble in less
than 2000 times it weight of water, while
without the lime the humus is soluble in a
volume of water less by one-half, it would
follow that, in consequence of lime, the con-
sumption of this substance, and the produc-
tive power of the soil would, in like propor-
tion, be better preserved. Since the pro-
ducts of the soil increase much from the
liming, while the humus is economised, since
these products borrow. yery little from the
soil, which remains more fertile while thus
yielding greater products, it follows that the
principal action of the lime consists, at first,
in augmenting, in the soil and in the plants,
the means of drawing from the atmosphere
the vegetable principles which they find there ;
and next, in aiding, according to the need, the
formation, in the soil or the plants, the sub-
stances which enterinto the composition of
plants, and which are: not met with ready
formed either in the atmosphere or in the soil.

19

- The researches upon these various points
are curious, important, interesting to practice
as well as to science—and will lead us to ex-
plain, by means not yet appreciated, the
action of lime upon vegetation.

rv

Absorption by plants of the principles of the
atmosphere, in the vegetation on uncultivated
soils. : :

29. Saussure has concluded, from his ex~
periments, that plants derive from the soil
about one-twentieth of their substance ; and
the experiments of Van Helmontand of Boyle
have proved that considerable vegetable pro-
ducts diminish very little the mass of the soil.
But this fact is still better proved by the ob-
servation of what passes in uncultivated soils.
~ Woodland that is cut over in regular suc-
cession (taillis) produces almost indefinitely,
without being exhausted, and even becoming
richer, the mass of vegetable products which
man gathers and removes, and of which the
soil does not contain the principles. If, in-
Stead of woodlands thus partially and suc-
cessively cut over, we consider upon the
same soil a succession of forests, and, for
greater ease of estimation, resinous forests,
we find for the products of the generation of
an age, forty to fifty thousand cubic feet to the
hectare. This product is Jess than that of
the resinous forests of many parts of the
country, and yet it is nearly equal in bulk to
half of the layer of the productive soil itself :
it represents an annual increase of 24.000
weight of wood to the hectare—and which is
produced not only without impoverishing, but
even while enriching the soil, by an enormous
quantity of droppings and remains of all kinds.

These products which do not come from
the soil, are then drawn from the atmosphere,
in which plants gather them by means of par-
ticular organs designed for that use. These
‘organs are the myriads of leaves which large
vegetables bear—aerial roots, which gather
these principles either ready formed in the
air, or which take up there the elements, to
combine them by means of vegetable power.
But these aerial roots exert quite a different
and superior energy in gathering the consti-
tuent principles of plants in the atmosphere, to
that of the roots in the ground—since the for-
mer furnish nearly the whole amount of the
vegetable mass, while the latter draw but very
little from the soil.

30. Plants may well find in the atmosphere
the greater part of the volatile principles
which compose them—the carbon, hydrogen,
oxygen, and azote. But it is not so easily
seen whence they obtain the fixed principles

of which their ashes are composed. These
products could not exist ready formed in the
soil—for the saline principles contained in the
ashes of a generation of great trees, which
would amount to more than 25,000 weight to
the hectare, would have rendered the soil ab-
solutely barren, since, according to the experi-
ments of M. Lecog of Clermont, the twentieth
part of this quantity is enough to make a soil
sterile. We would find a similar result in ac-
cumulating the successive products of an
acre of good meadow. It is then completely
proved that the saline principles of plants do
not exist ready formed in the soil. They are
no more formed in the atmosphere, or the
the analyses of chemists would have found
them there. However, as the intimate com-
position of these substances is not yet per-
fectly known, their elements may exist in the
atmosphere, or even in the soil, among the
substances which compose them.

Neither can it be said that these salts may
be derived from the atomic dust which floats
in the air; for this dust is composed of frag-
ments organic and inorganic, carried especial-
ly to the plants themselves, and then, in es-
timating this atomic matter at the most, we
will scarcely find in it the hundredth part of
the saline substances contained in the vegeta-
ble mass produced. We ought then to con-
clude that the saline substances of plants are
formed by the powers of vegetation or of the
soil.

31. In like manner as with the saline prin-
ciples, the lime and the phosphates which are
formed in ashes ought to be due to the same
forces, whether the roots take up their unper-
ceived elements in the soil, or the leaves gather
them in the atmosphere. This consequence
results evidently from this fact—that plants
grown in soils, of which the analysis shows
neither lime nor the phosphates, contain them
notwithstanding in large proportion in their
fixed principles—of which [or of the ashes]
they often compose half the mass.*

Absorption of plants, in vegetution on culti-
vated soils.

32. Vegetation on uncultivated soils ope-
rates under conditions altogether different
from those of the cultivated, so that the results
receive modifications which it is important to
examine.

Nature produces, and continues to produce,
all the vegetable mass in spontaneous growth,

* This fact is explained very different by the Es-
say on Calcareous Manures (Ch, VII.) where it is
used to sustain the doctrine of neutral soils.—[Tr.]

20

without any other condition than the alternation
and succession of the species. In vegeta-
tion on cultivated land, by bringing together
the same individual plants which are to grow
abundantly on a soil and in a climate which,
in most cases, are not those which nature had
designed, there are required, besides the ge-
neral condition of alternation of the species, fre-
quent tillage of the soil, and means to repair
its losses, that the culture may be productive
and be continued. However, with these new
conditions, the force of absorption of plants
on the atmosphere still furnishes the greater
part of the vegetable principles in soils not
limed—and still more in limed soils.

To form a precise idea, we will take it in
the land of the writer, its culture and its bien-
nial rotation. As the same qualities of soil
are found elsewhere, as no particular circum-
stance increases or impairs its products, there
would be found similar results, for the same
qualities of soil, with a different culture.—
The inferences which we will draw from ours
will apply then to all others.

On our soil of the third class, [or worst
quality, | fallow returns every two years, with
a biennial manuring of 120 quintals to the
hectare. This mass contains more than four-
fifths of water, which should not be counted
as manure, and consequently the substance
which serves for the reparation of the soil is
reduced to 24 quintals. We reap, in rye,
straw, and buckwheat, after the year of fal-
low, a dry weight of 40 to 50 quintals on an
average. If it is supposed that all the ma-
nure is consumed, or employed in forming
vegetable substance, still the soil would have
furnished 18 to 20 quintals more than it re-
ceived, and which excess would be due to the
power of absorption, whether of the soil or of
the plants, on the atmosphere.

On land of middle quality, which yields a
crop every year, with a double manuring, that
is to say, of 48 quintals of dry manure, in two
years there is a product of wheat, maize, or
potatoes, which amounts to from 12 to 15,000
weight, 120 to 150 quintals, of which two-
thirds, or 80 quintals at least, are derived from
absorption.

On soils of good quality, with a manuring
of one-third more than the last, which is equal
to 64 quintals of the dry substance to the hec-
tare, there are obtained of dry products, in
grain, straw, roots, or hay, double of the last,
or nearly so, of which three-fourths, or 180
quintals, are due to the power of absorption.

Lastly—upon the most fertile soils, (sols
@exceplion,) where manures are useless, the
product, often double, or at least half as much
more than the last-mentioned, will amount to

360 quintals to the hectare in two years.
This product would be, as in spontaneous
vegetation, entirely due to absorption.

e would have, then, to represent the pro-
ducts of two years, in quintals, in the four
classes of soil under consideration, the pro-
gressive amounts of 42, 130, 240, 360; or,
by deducting from these products the weight
of the manure, we would have, to represent
the power of absorption, the progression
18, 82, 176, 360 quintals. From this is de-
duced, as the first conclusion, that, suppos-
ing the plants have consumed and annibilat-
ed all the substance of the manure given,
(which is beyond the truth,) plants receive a
much greater part of their substance from the
atmosphere than from the soil; and that this
power of drawing food from the atmosphere
increases with the goodness of quality in soils.

33. The proportion of fixed substances,
or ashes, in agricultural products, is 43 lbs. to
the 1000, and consequently, in our four class~
es of land, the quantity amounts to 180, 559,
1032, 1548 pounds. But the soluble saline
substances form at least half of these ashes:
they are then produced in the two years of
the rotation, in the quantities of 90, 279, 516,
774 pounds. But, according to Kirwan, barn
yard manure yields 2 per cent. of soluble
salts: then the manure given to these soils
contained 48, 96 Ibs. 12S of saline substances,
which, being deducted from the preceding
quantities, leave the four classes of soils stat-
ed 42, 183, 388, 774 lbs. of products in so-
luble salts, in two years of the rotation, gain-
ed solely by the absorbing forces of the soil
and of plants.*

3.34. But, in the same soils, with the same
manures and the same tillage, by the addition
to the thickness of the ploughed layer of only
one-thousandth part of lime, the products,
whether volatile or fixed, are increased in a
striking manner: the soil of the first-named

(or lowest) quality reaches the product of the:

second—the second rises one-half or more
—and that of the best (of the manured soils)
increases a fourth. Thus, our scale of pro-
duct becomes 130,200,300 quintals—and de-
ducting the manure, 106,152,236 quintals,
for the two years of the rotation. The most
fertile soil (sol d’exrception) cannot receive
lime beneficially, because it contains it alrea-

* The proportions of ashes of different plants, and
of their saline matters, vary greatly—and the uniform
proportions assumed above, are far from correct, even
as averages of unequal proportions, This will suf-
ficiently appear from the following examples _extract-
ed from Saussure’s table of the products of various
vegetable substances.
Ill.)

(See Davy’s Ag. Chem. Lee.
qv .

21

dy; these lands all belong to alluvions, where
the calcareous principle has almost always
been found in greater or less proportion.

35. The product of fixed principles [as
ashes] in the three classes of limed soils,
would be 559,868,1290 pounds, and in solu-
ble salts 278,430,645 pounds; and, deduct-
ing the soluble salts of the manure, the quan-
tities would be 230,334,525, A light addi-
tion of lime has then doubled the force of ab-
sorption, and almost tripled the quantity of sa-
line principles produced, One of the most
remarkable effects of lime consists then, in
making a soil produce a much greater propor-
tion of saline principles: and if the experi-
ments of M. Lecoq upon the efficacy of sa-
line substances on vegetation are to be ad-
mitted, it would be in part to the phenomenon
of their production that lime would owe its
fertilizing effect.

36. It results from what precedes, that salts
are formed in the soil or in vegetables: thus
we see every day the nitrates of potash and
of lime fofm under our eyes in the soil, or
elsewhere, without any thing indicating to us

Constituents of 100 parts of ashes.

E

7

Bs

2 og g

= 3s 3s a

Ss
Names of Plants. = # = s =

Es 2 & fe)

2 2m: © 2

= > > a = a

a hae i

472 A 8 Ge A
Wheat, in flower, — 43,25 12,75 0,25 32 0,5 12,25
Do. seeds ripe,—11 15 0,2554 1 18,75
Do. seeds ripe, 3310 11,75 0,25 51 0,75 23
Straw of wheat, 43225 6,2 1 61,51 78

Seeds of do, »

Bran,

Plants of maize, 12269
(Indian corn,) a
month before

13 47,16.44,5 —— 0,50,25 7,6
52 4,16 46,5 —— 0.50.25 86
5,75 0,25 7,5 0,25 17,25

flowering,
Do. inflower, 8169 [6 0,25 7,5 0,25 17
Do. seedripe, 46 =
Stalks of do. 8472,455 1 18 05 3,05
Spikes (tassels,) 16

- of do.
Seeds of do. 1062 36 —— 1 0,12 0,88
Oats (entire plant),31 1 24 -——60 0,25 14,75

The proportion of soluble salts, 2 percent. found by
Kirwan in barn-yard manure, however correctly as-
certained in a particular case, can no more be relied
on asa fixed and uniform proportion, or even a true
general average, as used by M. Puvis in the estimates
above. [Tr.]-

the origin of the potash which is contained.
But potash itself again forms spontaneously
in drawn ashes, according to the observations
of the chemist Gelhen. We see salts also
renewed in the artificial nitre beds, with the
aid of moisture and exposure to the air. But
itis the presence of lime that determines this
formation imore particularly. The nitrates
abound in the ruins of demolished edifices ;
they are formed in the walls, and in all parts
of houses situated in damp places; they ef-
floresce on the buildings of chalk in Cham-
pagne ; they are produced spontaneously in
the ploughed lands of the kingdom of Mur-
cia. This effect, which we see that the cal-
careous principle produces every where, we
think it produces in all the soils to which it is
given, and where meet the circumstances
which favour the formation of nitrates, viz :
humidity, vegetable mould, and exposure to
the air. But, according to the experiments
of M. Lecoq and others, and the opinion
which is established of the old agriculturists,
the nitrates are the most fertilizing salts. It
would be then to their formation, which it pro-
motes in the soil, that lime owes, in part, its
effect on vegetation.

37. The foregoing proofs of the daily for-
mation in the soil, and by vegetable life, of
saline and earthy compounds, taken in nature
and on a great scale, are doubtless sufficient:
but they may still be supported by the experi-
ments and opinions of able men who have
adopted the same system.

And first—in the experiment of Van Hel-
mont, in five years, a willow of five pounds
grew to weigh 169, and had caused a loss of
only two ounces to the soil which bore it.
But the 164 pounds which the willow had
taken contained five pounds of ashes, which
are due entirely to absorption, since the
leaves and the other droppings of five years,
which were not saved, would have given at
least one pound of ashes, which makes up
for, besides all that which, in spite of the sheet
of lead which covered the top of the vessel
in which the willow grew, it might have re-
ceived in the waterings, and from other for-
tuitous circumstances. Boyle has repeated
and confirmed this experiment in all its
parts.

Lampadius, in different isolated compart-
ments, some filled with alumine, others with
silex, others with [carbonate of] lime, all
pure, has made plants to grow, of which the
burning has yielded to analysis like results ;
and which, consequently, contained earths
which were not in the soils which bore them.

Saussure, in establishing that plants do not
take in the soil more than a twentieth of their

substance, in extract of mould and in carbonic
acid, has necessarily established, by the same
means, that almost the whole amount of fixed
principles do not proceed from the soil.

Braconnot has analyzed lichens, which
contained more than half their weight of oxa-
late of lime—and he has observed others co-
vered with crusts of carbonate of lime when
there was none of this earth in the neighbor-
hood.

Shrader, in burning plants grown in sub-
stances which did not contain any earthy
principle, has found in their ashes, earths
and salts which were neither in the seeds
sown, nor in the pulverized matters in which
the plants grew.

Lastly—the analyses of Saussure, though
showing more of the carbonate of lime in the
ashes of plants which grew on calcareous
soils than on soils not calcareous, yet, never-
theless, they have formed more than a sixth
of the ashes from vegetables on silicious
soils—and Einhoff has found 65 per cent.
of lime in the ashes of pines grown on sili-
cious soil.* The labors of science then
confirm what we have above established, that
plants, or the soil, form salts and earths.

* It is presumed, from the context, that these sili-
cious soils were not the least calcareous.-—[Ep. F. R.]

{+ Van Helmont’s experiment, cited first in the list
above, like M. Puvis’ reasoning in general, furnishes
ample proof that most of the volatile parts of vegeta-
bles, and the greater part of their bulk, are drawn
from the atmosphere—and they are equally defective
in proving that earths and other fixed principles are
thence derived, or are formed by the power of vegeta-
ble life. Distilled water is not entirely free from
earthy matter, and if it had been used for watering
the willow, it would in five years have given some
considerable part of the five pounds of solid matter in
the ashes. But as we are not told that it was either
distilled or rain water, it may be inferred that the
comparatively impure water of a fountain or stream,
was used for watering the plant, and which would
more than suffice in so long a time to convey the
whole increase of earthy and saline matter. The ex-
periments of Lampadius and Shrader are liable to the
same objection—and the former to this in addition—
that his earths were deemed absolutely pure, when,
in all probability, they were not so-—and that a very
slizht admixture of other kinds with each, would fur-
nish the minute quantity that a small plant could take
up during its short and feeble existence under the cir-
cumstances stated. The results stated of the experi-
ments of Braconnot, Saussure, and Einhoff, may be,
and probably are, entirely correct—-but they are fully
explained by the doctrine of neutral soils, and need no
support from, and give none to, our author’s doctrine
of the formation of lime by vegetable power.

But though deeming M. Puvis altogether wrong
in this, his main and most labored position, and that
the proofs cited above, as well as some others in the
preceding section, are of no worth, still these pages
which present his theory, contain what is of more va-
lue. He places in astrong point of view the important
truth that the atmosphere is the great treasury of na-
ture, from which nature doubles and tribles the amount
of all the small portions given to the earth by the in-
dustry of man. The author’s scale of actual products

38. The fertilizing effect of fallow, ‘or
ploughing, of moving and working the seits,
prove still more that all these circumstances
determine the formation of fertilizing princi-
ples, and probably of saline principles, in all
the parts of the soil which receive the atmo-
spheric influences.

But salts are also formed in plants. The
nitrate of potash, which takes the place of su-
gar in the beet—the oxalate of potash, so
abundant in sorrel—the carbonate of potash
in fern, in the tops of potatoes, and in almost
all vegetables in the first period of their life
—the sulphate of potash in tobacco—the ni-
trate of potash in turnsole and in pellitory
—prove, without reply, that vegetation forms
salts, as it forms the proper juices of plants,
since the soil contains the one kind no more
than the other. But can we say where plants
take the elements necessary for all these
formations? They can take them only in the
soil by means of their roots, or in the atmo-
sphere—in the soil, which would itself take
them in the atmosphere, in proportion to the
consumption of plants—or directly in the at-
mosphere by means of their leaves, which
would there gather these elements. And if
the analyses of the soils, and of the atmo-
sphere, show almost none of these elements,
it will be necessary to conclude from it that
the substances which analysis has found there,
are themselves, or would furnish if decom-
posed, the elements of the saline substances,
although science may not yet haye taught us
the means of reaching that end.

39. The formation of lime, like that of
the saline principles necessary to plants, is an
operation which employs all the forces of ve-
getation—and these forces, directed to this
formation, have no energy left to give a great
developement to plants: but when the vy
table finds the calcareous principles already
formed in the soil, it makes use of them, and
preserves all its forces to increase its own
vigor and size.

It would then result, from all that has
been said, that lime modifies the texture of
the soil—makes it more friable—invigorates
it—renders it more permeable—gives it the
power to better resist moisture as well as dry-
ness—that it produces in the soil the humate
of lime which encloses a powerful means of
fertility—that lime increases much the energy
of the soil and of plants to draw from the atmo-
sphere the volatile substances of which plants

from different grades of soil is also interesting. It
sustains the position assumed in the Essay on Calea-
reous Manures, that the worst soils are limed (or made
caleareous) to most profit—and that alimentary ma-
nures, when needed, are most productive on the best
soils.—[Ep. Far. Rec.

- 93 ~

are composed, oxygen, hydrogen, carbon,
and azote—that the limed soil in furnishing
to plants the lime which they need, relieves
the soil and plants from employing their
powers to produce it—and finally, that lime
promotes the formation of fixed substances,
earthy or saline, necessary to vegetables.
All this whole of reciprocal action and reac-
tion of lime, on the soil, plants, and atmo

sphere, explains in a plausible manner its fer-
tilizing properties.. We would, consequently,
have nearly arrived at the resolving of an im-
portant agricultural problem, upon which were
accumulated all these doubts.

The amount of lime taken up by vegetation.

40. The ashes of plants from calcareous
soils, or those which have been made so by
manures, contain 30 per cent. of the carbon-
ate and phosphate of lime, which, by taking
off the crop, is lost to the soil. But the pro-
duct of limed land of middle quality, is during
the two years of the course of crops, about
20,000lbs. of dry products to the hectare,
which contain a little less than a hectolitre-of
lime in the calcareous compounds of the
ashes. The vegetation has then used half a
hectolitre a year. But we have shown that
there was necessary, on an average, three
hectolitres per hectare each year. Vegeta-
tion then does not take up, in nature, but a
sixth of the lime which is given profitably to
the soil; the other five-sixths are lost, are
carried away by the water, descend to the
lower beds of earth, are combined, or serve
to form other compounds, perhaps even the
saline compounds, of which we have seen
that lime so powerfully favors the formation.
Another portion, also, without doubt, remains
in the soil, and serves to form this reserve,
which in the end dispenses, for many years,
with the repetition of liming.

Of the exhaustion of the soil by liming.

41. “ Lime,” it is said, “‘ only enriches the
old men: or it enriches fathers and ruins
sons.” This is indeed what experience
proves, when, on light soils, limed heavily, or
without composts coming between, succes-
sive grain crops have been made without rest,
without alternations of grass crops, or without
giving to the soil alimentary manures in suit-
able proportion. It is also what has happen-
ed when magnesia, mixed with lime, has car-
ried to the soil its exhausting stimulus. But
when lime has been used in moderation—
wher, without overburdening the land with
exhausting crops, they have been alternated
with green crops—and when manure has

been given in proportion to the products taken
off—the prudent cultivator then sees continue
the new fecundity which the lime has brought,
without the soil showing any sign of exhaus-
tion. No where has there been complaint
made of argillaceous soils being damaged by
lime ; and the productiveness of light soils is
sustained in every case that the lime was used
in compost.

In America, where the lime of oyster shells
has taken the place of that of magnesian
limestone, the complaints of the exhausting
effects of lime have ceased.

Healthiness given to the soil and to the coun-
try by calcareous agents.*

42. The unhealthiness of a country is not
caused by the accumulation of water, nor from
soil being covered by water. Places on the
borders of water do not become sickly except
when the water has quitted some part of the
surface which it previously overflowed, and
the summer’s sun heats the uncovered soil,
and causes the decomposition of the remains
of all kinds of matter left by the water, and
contained in the upper layers of the soil.
Thus, ponds are not unhealthy except when
drought, by lowering the waters, leaves ex-
tensive margins bare, to be acted on by the
sun and air. In rainy years, fevers on the
borders of ponds are rare.

Epidemic diseases most often arise on the
borders of marshes laid dry—in the neigh-
borhood of mud thrown out of ditches or pits
—and in the course of bringing new land into
cultivation, where the ploughed soil is for the
first time exposed to the summer’s sun. In
the interior of Rome, the vineyards, the gar-
dens are remarkably unhealthy—while the
sickliness disappears where the emanations
from the soil are prevented by buildings. In
the Pontine marshes, they cover the dried parts
with water to arrest the danger of their efflu-
via. It is then from the soil, and not from the
waters at its surface, that insalubrious emana-

* There was no position in the Essay on Calcareous
Manures whichits author assumed with so much hesi-
tation as the agency of those manures in removing
causes of disease. ‘That hesitation did not arise from
doubt of the truth of the position—-but because of its
very high importance and its entire novelty—its be-
ing then sustained but by few known facts furnishing
direct evidence, and by no known authority whatever
of earlier writers. It is therefore the more gratifying
to find in the work now presented, that about the same
time, another and far remote investigator of the same
subject, by a different course of reasoning, and by dif-
ferent proofs, had arrived at precisely the same con-
clusion—and that he maintains, even more generally
than the former work, the important and sure effects
of calcareous. manures in rendering a country more
healthy, [Tr.]

24

tions proceed. Waters placed on the sur-
face, always in motion, agitated by every
wind, are not altered in quality, and do not
become unhealthy; but whenever they are
contained in some place without power to re-
ceive exterior influences, or to have motion,
they are altered in their odor, taste, and con-
sequently injured in relation to health.

Whenever water then, without covering the
soil, penetrates the upper layer without being
able to run through the subsoil, it remains
without motion, and stagnant, within the soil
—is changed by the summer’s sun, serves to
hasten the putrefaction of the broken down
vegetable remains in or on the mould, and
the exhalations from the ground become un-
healthy. Thus are all drained marshes, of
which the surface only is dry, while the water
still penetrates the subsoil—thus, all the mar-
gins of rivers which have been covered by re-
cent inundations of summer, are unhealthy ;
thus also, (for a great and unhappy example,)
the argilo-silicious plateaux, whenever the
closeness of the subsoil does not let the wa-
ter pass through, produce, in dry years, at the
close of summer, emanations which attack
the health of the inhabitants.

43. But this unhappy effect appears al-
most no where in calcareous regions: the
margins of lakes and ponds there situated do
not produce the same unhealthiness, and
even the marshy grounds there are less un-
healthy.

The waters which spring out of, or run
over calcareous beds, are always healthy to
drink. The borers of Artesian wells are
anxious that the water which they obtain, to
be good, may come out of the calcareous
strata which they go through. When the
waters which hold carbonate of lime in solu-
tion in carbonic acid* run over the surface,
they give health to the meadows, in changing
the nature and quantity of the products.

Linneus thought that the unhealthiness of
most countries depended on the nature of the
water, and was owing to the argillaceous par-
ticles which they contain ; now these argilla-
ceous particles are always precipitated by the
calcareous compounds. For this reason, the
waters which stand upon, or run oyer marl
or calcareous rock, are almost always limpid
and clear, because the argillaceous particles
have been precipitated by the effect of the
solution in the water of the calcareous princi-

* As in limestone water, Jime with the greatest
proportion with which itcan combine of carbonic acid,
(forming super-carbonate of lime,) is soluble in water.
The excess of acid is lost by heat, by exposure to air,
&c., and then the lime is in form of carbonate—and
fa insoluble in water, falls separate to the bottom.
{Tr.]

ple, which is itself dissolved by an excess of
carbonic acid.

We are not far from believing then, that
throwing rich marl, or limestone, into a well
of muddy and brackish water, might have the
effect, in part at least, of clearing it, and mak-
ing it healthy to drink. This remedy, if it
should not be as useful as we think, at least
could not produce any injury.

Lime, in all its combinations, destroys the
miasmata dangerous to life. Its chloride an-
nihilates all bad odors, arrests putrefaction,
and in short, has subjected the plague of
Egypt to the skill and courage of Parisot.
The white wash of lime upon infected build-
ings, upon the walls and mangers of sta-
bles, is regarded as serying to destroy the
contagious miasmata of epidemic and epi-
zootic diseases.

Lime destroys the plants of humid and
marshy soils, and makes those suitable to
better soils spring up: then its effect is to
give healthiness or vigor to the soil, to dry it,
and make it more mellow and permeable.
The water then is no longer without motion,
and altered consequently in its condition.
The limed soil then, to the depth it is plough-
ed, ought to change the nature of its emana-
tions as well as its products: and if the lower
strata or subsoil, send up emanations, these
effluvia, in passing through the improved
layers of soil, where the calcareous agent is
always at work and developing all its affini-
ties, ought also to be modified, and take the
character of those of the upper bed. The
limed soil then, it would seem, ought to be
made healthy.

But what we maintain here by induction,
by reasoning, is fortunately a fact of exten-
sive experience. Among all the countries
in which lime has carried and established fer-
tility, there is not cited, that I know of, a sin-
gle one where intermittent fevers prevail—
while they have never disappeared in a coun-
try even where an active culture draws good
products from the impermeable argilo-sili-
cious soil. ;

44. To extend the great benefit of healthi-
ness to the whole of a country, it is no doubt
necessary that the whole country should re-
ceive the health-giving agent. However, on
every farm, in proportion as liming is extend-
ed over its surface, the chances of disease
will be seen to diminish—and the healthiness
of the country will keep pace with the pro-
gress of its fertility.

Result of the use of improving manures on
the soil of France in general. -

Three-fourths of the whole tefritory of
France, to be rendered fruitful, have need

25

of calcareous agents. If the third of this
extent has already received them, (which we
believe is above the truth,) upon the other
two-thirds, or the half of the whole, the agri-
cultural products, by this operation, would be
increased one-half or more, or one-fifth of
the total amount. But agriculture, in en-
riching itself will increase its power, its ca-
pital, and its population ; and will naturally
carry its exuberant forces, its energy and ac-
tivity to operate on the greater part of the
7,000,000 of hectares of land now [en friche]
untilled, waste, and without product. By
bringing these lands into cultivation and fer-
tilizing them by liming, or by paring and burn-
ing the surface, they would be made to yield
at least one-sixth of the total product. The
gross product of the French soil, then increas-
ed by a third or more, might also give employ-
ment and sustenance to a population one-third
greater than France now possesses ; and
this revolution due successively to the tillage
of the soil, to annual improvements keeping
pace with the progressive increase of crops,
would be insensible. The state would grow
in force, in vigor, in wealth, in an active and
moral population, which would be devoted to
peace, and to the country, because it would
belong to this new and meliorated soil. And
this great result would be owing simply to
applying calcareous manures to the extent of
the soils of France which require them!

46. Upon our extent of 54,000,000 of hec-
tares, our population, increased to 44,000,000,
would have for each, one hectare and a quar-
ter, and would be less confined than the
24,000,000 of inhabitants of the English soil,
who have only one hectare to the head ; and
yet our soil is at least as good, and it is more
favored by climate. And, then our neigh-
bors consume in their food at least a fourth
or fifth of meat, while only one-fifteenth of
the food of our population consists of meat ;
and as there is required twelve or fifteen times
the space to produce meat as bread, it follows
that twice the extent of soil is necessary to
support an Englishman as a Frenchman.
Hence it results, that with an increase of one-
third, our population would still have a large
surplus product which would not exist in
England, with an equal increase of popula-
tion and equal increase of products of agri-
culture.

But this prosperity of the country, (yet far
distant, but towards which, however, we will
be advanced daily,) would be still much less
than in the department of the North, where a
hectare nearly supports two inhabitants. And
yet they have more than a sixth of their soil

4

in woods, marshes, or unproductive lands :
they have, besides, another sixth, and of their
best ground, in crops of commerce, which
consume a great part of their manure, and
which are exported almost entirely. This
prodigious result is, without doubt, owing in
part toa greater extent of good soil than is
found elsewhere; but it is principally owing
there, as well as in England, to the regular
use of calcareous manures. As we have
seen, more than two-thirds of this country
[the North] belongs to the class of soils not
calcareous, to the argilo-silicious plateaux, and
makes use of lime, marl, or ashes of all kinds.

47. After this great result of increased pro-
ductiveness, that upon health, although appli-
ed to the least extents of surface, would be
most precious. Upon one-sixth of our coun-
try the population is sickly, subject to intermit-
tent and often fatal fevers, and the deaths ex-
ceed in number the births. Well ! -upon this
soil without marshes, calcareous manures
would bring a growing population, more nu-
merous than that of our now healthy parts of
the country—and as labor would offer itself
from every side, these regions, made healthy,
would soon be those where the people would
be most happy, the richest, and the most ra-
pidly increasing in numbers.

48. If we are not under an illusion, the
calcareous principle and its properties upon
the soil, form the great compensation accord-
ed by the Supreme Author to man, in con-
demning him to till the earth. Three-fourths
of our soil, seem not to produce, except by
force of pain and labor, the vegetables abso-
lutely necessary for man. On all sides, and
often beneath this surface so little favored,
is found placed the substance necessary
to the soil to render it as fertile as the best
ground, to enable the cultivator to use for his
profit the vegetable mould which it contains
and has been accumulating for ages—and to
cause the entire soil to be covered by a popu-
lation active, moral, and well employed. And
this precious condiment, this active principle
of vegetation, is only needed to be applied
in small proportions, to obtain products of
which the first harvest often compensates for
all the labor and expense. And to complete
the benefit, insalubrity, which afflicts the in-
fertile soil, disappears ; the new population
finds there at the same time strength, riches,
and health. There, without doubt, is one of
the most happy harmonies of the creation,
one of the greatest blessings with which the
Supreme Author has endowed the laborious
par who is devoted to the cultivation of the
earth.

“

Sora siaamonahe ro) ahha ‘
Wor! Yo bee diene ce vernbbtinessi +r Y

font eacenen Yo re. or drraty

bus ceva ind Yo Sey feehy 'ss aera fo a ho Nal ta
cul" agleniie saorn ys ‘botwotrs i -hoHemeun wield vil ong
oe io ont) ve

a Mtoe spony vei Mio. exviz ory stl. [vs
ei endl Roe boo Yo beaten yasiody pes hai _s nwnugitge. ie vais bah
gies vogioning 2d J Bid. 7p otodyeets bobo TIror wh aeored Hie Voesiy
wwhuggn odd e8 be ily ai wn Sn ep" mod ewier fu hun ; vointapaq €
ovsd ow ef Rune Suasielns Yo dey soe hen ven) wipes rate h
gaan vid? to ebsidtow! rigdlt side nos ad) Yo pome wena ohh aie
fous aliog to aanto od? 0} sydalad [die odt] fLodsiwkes} eainhund ie eau:
hata xige malqenoiaiie-<i ete HE OF mateatas a Hvbmg dade bea.
abet Its sO aaden to ioe acdil to 9 tong n hap, northarej! tag, otra
Ong BR eersad te Sneon tewty ayy roth. 2 : Biting ae Ser omense
“Hag ’ i qenvedalac Athol nogwind wesoouigoh play abehear oct his ow tom ‘
sd bhusive abn “do pet AS pattot oy bey ol? outer: hctod ork Wo
tees cinta hoot nan tF pchorig jroo | saaaai tod ibaa S ot tony
iw peat toy igiane, ‘Av ie > 5} sats cog wth eo : qolqrny wens gala Sdjena etn WON
-29 Aftinels onl bow evar Lei solto See ft) fevii-n@o puiteluge G A Od SON MAG,
eel moegate | 1ESVES eebttiold rxddriiete fit 29 ban pameqnaog: won Oouuth
Pino, saoaganign soe sin dipoy! , aetitosd of qrbiavoatca amb gaibelie
“gt MOG otalngyy Rabies op gnitd Madyer qoinyaoa clannyroyyin fangs” ot ;
Pa? -bne reliinadl wen yo ta Wit and! <irotor got? 0, ad¢agunet owieee Pal oul
Twat 9d Dbhow: yodsh ea baa Uri adt korg” hii” ote! Se, ae
» itlnad obpar ,anoigor oxodt ola eo wet bias “oiliahe meu Ailes we a
Skene olyos aq ond rode cB odf cae neni of Se torah. ad gel Aviek
Dt ont ont has «deodsty “acl Heqyad teotir bef blue. i sensed smo
node 1 pierre Vile” bit’ diow batmoiloar bas. wane
“odd oie ne cobas tom bie awe Ph ot lemi2 patwo. od, bigow oooh AD |
A WM: myo att bine Ahyi yi nay ff POSE eta: b Yo Sales eri os eon namvaath GA
-trigoart suitmanuneran tele: edt 10rd ioe od Tigedh odaper doida one Soon,
Hoo ni gute ek tuNdet an Qe dit vd Ba <yadt‘lo OF 10 ,000,b6 to deez Wd
vibt-andD | .ctxeo add lit oF soit Quip °,000,000,b% of haxg ot anidaling
(4d Jqaeraoouhong ol tom ines hoe te Yo ~ ips bite sebsod 240. 2ua.s0 aH
-ede ecidatamine sioded tig au du boidl cont! nid - Bowthoao aol ot ou. r
bos #obr ile a0 wane SUF viraRavan Asti lioe dayadt sdk to ‘i to
ie tO visit Bit om dondnine eikt AR nots an dbo tt ot crash Gus
PRP Soamadves esp bowale List et SAG ai He pewe Trsosg tm teak J
cs a). nlite ainah dhbagod) Boe) ad¥'Ay” ~ Poe madd Jrcety -tenuite
Lorviet sotrdphon alt sides Wa BY «| re thio? I x Jae ul te Doth th Ad Bi J
th dlondive isting slat eye“ de oap say "ye Capatia-ray qa Be tr 4dqinstt
} Dittieenapeneny italiani oA Sed Bact | sei to eivihan coontiealateqeny tho ¥
Lgog aad ites wd at iihe “itis sdfoe inn 24qail Tae vw ovlont bertiarnst 4. an
if. absrelwns thew bem lavore avitie dota! evrolluhs: besrd en tear sonbony oF Y
ini MG o7itet width Shisha euckiad sylt nr 7 tA ¢) #i tier, to mere otlt sie
Pettepsa ret od: Hinbawdig retin, i ay iNoaeapie is atroione ol, 9. 26 dpoitels on
lo eohcvestsengey wieslota etrothedignre Hang Nt emo ts eaeerait ng dried mile :
10} +i}! @eaisrepaMa cathe des 9 val ferit ott ditive — den! ween lite fluseve, Aes ral
9 hgeo 9. Oh fork pana > Mien di cht Hitt, Seino soa bile svi atthe
on ait: EEN Bomber yesifule sett dink off estinGhige to, oxme ton Kaas )pnes ‘ne ee
moi enlapgpey Wan ddd -¢ et66 58h (hoe deh. ae Sogiat rey, enmoatine DAR
Soduke itgtiant> nit? aay Ar ty sabi wturtt r oman
to Sae iilhrots tod ctind’C “GMned fake a attains ord Sin sateioe Tey MAD HAT
fee haere do goomousted veyed Sector five ae Gerowod .toiky DSW OF | Terd satel Hf
atl dabfin: Hive equieactd tootkesy off Jo and veo! déstny Slits ad >'uewn Coyle aie be @
Lonndel sd dewebapned AWE éomerqu® & ody drei" ot to tos
ef) ter apiternitiaty seidy ot Badorrs) wt otter gnc Cnides. ovat aoy
. Arise Now RH Yo dite in 0 tebe

vi lenciac
feclisr®, onl hy

s

al IS