grass or clover. He puts on 100 bushels of slaked lime per acre, either
in the fall or in the spring, as most convenient. He limes one field
every year, and as the farm is laid off into eleven fields, all the land
receives a dressing of lime once in eleven years.

In some sections of the country, where lime has been used for many
years, it is possible that part of the money might better be used in the
purchase of guano, phosphates, fish-manure, etc.; while in this section,
where we seldom use lime, we might find it greatly to our interest to
give our land an occasional dressing of lime.

The value of quick-lime as a manure is not merely in supplying an actual
constituent of the plant. If it was, a few pounds per acre would be
sufficient. Its value consists in changing the chemical and physical
character of the soil--in developing the latent mineral plant-food, and
in decomposing and rendering available organic matter, and in forming
compounds which attract ammonia from the atmosphere. It may be that we
can purchase this ammonia and other plant-food cheaper than we can get
it by using lime. It depends a good deal on the nature and composition
of the soil. At present, this question can not be definitely settled,
except by actual trial on the farm. In England, where lime was formerly
used in large quantities, the tendency for some time has been towards a
more liberal and direct use of ammonia and phosphates in manures, rather
than to develop them out of the soil by the use of lime. A judicious
combination of the two systems will probably be found the most
profitable.

Making composts with old sods, lime, and barn-yard manure, is a
time-honored practice in Europe. I have seen excellent results from the
application of such a compost on meadow-land. The usual plan is, to
select an old hedge-row or headland, which has lain waste for many
years. Plow it up, and cart the soil, sods, etc., into a long, narrow
heap. Mix lime with it, and let it lie six months or a year. Then turn
it, and as soon as it is fine and mellow, draw it on to the land. I have
assisted at making many a heap of this kind, but do not recollect the
proportion of lime used; in fact, I question if we had any definite
rule. If we wanted to use lime on the land, we put more in the heap; if
not, less. The manure was usually put in when the heap was turned.

Dr. Voelcker analyzed the dry earth used in the closets at the prison in
Wakefield, England. He found