ng on this great loss of ammonia from liming, Prof. Way
observes:

"Is it not possible, that for the profitable agricultural use, the
ammonia of the soil is too tightly locked up in it? Can we suppose that
the very powers of the soil to unite with and preserve the elements of
manure are, however excellent a provision of nature, yet in some degree
opposed to the growth of the abnormal crops which it is the business of
the farmer to cultivate? There is no absolute reason why such should not
be the case. A provision of nature must relate to natural circumstances;
for instance, compounds of ammonia may be found in the soil, capable of
giving out to the agencies of water and air quite enough of ammonia for
the growth of ordinary plants and the preservation of their species;
but this supply may be totally inadequate to the necessities of man.
* * * Now it is not impossible that the laws which preserve the
supply of vegetable nutrition in the soil, are too stringent for the
requirements of an unusual and excessive vegetation, such as the
cultivator must promote.

"In the case of ammonia locked up in the soil, lime may be the remedy at
the command of the farmer--his means of rendering immediately available
stores of wealth, which can otherwise only slowly be brought into use.

"In this view, lime would well deserve the somewhat vague name that has
been given it, namely, that of a 'stimulant'; for its application would
be in some sort an application of ammonia, while its excessive
application, by driving off ammonia, would lead to all the disastrous
effects which are so justly attributed to it.

"I do not wish to push this assumption too far," says Prof. Way, in
conclusion, "but if there be any truth in it, it points out the
importance of employing lime in small quantities at short intervals,
rather than in large doses once in many years."

"The Squire, last year," said the Deacon, "drew several hundred bushels
of refuse lime from the kiln, and mixed it with his manure. It made a
powerful smell, and not an agreeable one, to the passers by. He put the
mixture on a twenty-acre field of wheat, and he said he was going to
beat you."

"Yes," said I, "so I understood--but he did not do it. If he had applied
the lime and the manure separately, he would have stood a better chance;
still, there are two sides to the question. I should not think of mixing
lime with good, rich farm-yard manure; but with long, coarse, strawy
manur