and sown with turnips. The turnips are eaten off on the
land by sheep; and it is reasonable to suppose that on the half of the
field dressed with lime there would be a much heavier crop of turnips.
These turnips being eaten off by the sheep would furnish more manure for
this half than the other half. Then again, when the land was in grass or
clover, the limed half would afford more and sweeter grass and clover
than the other half, and the sheep would remain on it longer. They would
eat it close into the ground, going only on to the other half when they
could not get enough to eat on the limed half. More of their droppings
would be left on the limed half of the field. The lime, too, would
continue to act for several years; but even after all direct benefit
from the lime had ceased, it is easy to understand why the crops might
be better for a long period of time.

"Do you think lime would do any good," asked the Deacon, "on our
limestone land?"--I certainly do. So far as I have seen, it does just as
much good here in Western New York, as it did on my father's farm.
I should use it very freely if we could get it cheap enough--but we are
charged from 25 to 30 cts. a bushel for it, and I do not think at these
rates it will pay to use it. Even gold may be bought too dear.

"You should burn your own lime," said the Deacon, "you have plenty of
limestone on the farm, and could use up your down wood."--I believe it
would pay me to do so, but one man cannot do everything. I think if
farmers would use more lime for manure we should get it cheaper. The
demand would increase with competition, and we should soon get it at its
real value. At 10 to 15 cents a bushel, I feel sure that we could use
lime as a manure with very great benefit.

"I was much interested some years ago," said the Doctor, "in the results
of Prof. Way's investigations in regard to the absorptive powers of
soils."

His experiments, since repeated and confirmed by other chemists, formed
a new epoch in agricultural chemistry. They afforded some new
suggestions in regard to how lime may benefit land.

Prof. Way found that ordinary soils possessed the power of separating,
from solution in water, the different earthy and alkaline substances
presented to them in manure; thus, when solutions of salts of ammonia,
of potash, magnesia, etc., were made to filter slowly through a bed of
dry soil, five or six inches deep, arranged in a flower-pot, or other
suitable vessel