Again-It is well known, by those who have been attentive, and have had opportunities of obferving the fact, that pease of any fort can never be fuccefsfully cultivated in any part of the country where lime or other calcareous manures have never been employed. If the ground be made as rich as poffible with common dung, although the pease in that cafe will vegetate and grow for fome time with vigour; yet, before they begin to ripen, they become blighted,-ufually die away entirely before a pod is formed, and but rarely produce a few half-formed pease. But, if the ground has ever been limed, altho', perhaps, at the diftance of thoufands of years from that period, it never lofes its power of producing good crops of peafe, if it is put in a proper tilth for carrying them at that time. Again-In countries that have never been limed, the kinds of grafs that fpontaneoutly neously appear, if left to themselves, are the finall bent grafs, and feather-grafs.—In places where lime has ever been used, the ground, if exhaufted, produces fewer plants of thefe graffes ;-but, in their ftead, white clover, the poa and fefcue graffes chiefly abound. The foil, in either of thefe cafes, may become equally poor; that is, may produce equally fcanty crops: But the means of recovering them will be fomewhat different. In the firft cafe, a fallow is almoft always of ufe. In the laft, it is often of no effect, fometimes even hurtful.—In the first, a moderate dreffing of dung produces a much more fenfible and lafting effect than in the other.-In the first, the quality of the grafs, as well as its quantity, rather improves by age.-In the laft, thefe circumftances are reversed. I might mention feveral other obfervations tending to fhow that ground which has been once impregnated with calcareous mat ter, ter, acquires qualities from that moment which it did not poffefs before, which it ever afterwards retains, and never returns exactly to its former ftate. But I have said enough to fuggeft this idea;-future observations will show how juftly it is founded. § 22. Altho' lime has fuch powerful effects on the foil, it does not feem ever to incorporate with the mold fo as to form one homogeneous mass; but the lime remains always in detached particles, which are larger or smaller in proportion as it has been more or lefs perfeâly divided when it was spread, or broken down by the fubfequent mechanical operations the foil may have been made to undergo. Hence it happens, that, in ploughing, if there chance to be any lumps of calcareous matter matter in a dry ftate upon the furface, they naturally tumble into the bottom of the open furrow, as foon as the earth is edged up upon the mold-board, fo as to fall into the lowest place that has been made by the plough before the furrow is fairly turned over. In confequence of this circumftance, it must happen, that, in the course of many repeated ploughings, more of the lime will be accumulated at the bottom of the foil than in any other part of it. And, as the plough fometimes goes a little deeper than ordinary, the lime that on these occafions chances to be depofited in the bottom of these furrows, will be below the ordinary ftaple of the foil, it will be ufelefs for the purposes of the farmer. It is commonly thought that the lime has funk thro' the foil by its own gravity ;-although it is certain that lime is fpecifically lighter than any foil, and can only be accu mulated there by the means above described. Τα : To obviate this inconvenience, it behoves the farmer, in the first place, to be extremely attentive to have his lime divided into as fmall particles as poffible at the time of spreading For, if these are sufficiently fmall, they incorporate fo intimately with the mold as to be incapable of being eafily detached from it.-On this account, as well as others, it is always moft adviseable to spread the lime when in its dry powdery ftate, immediately after flaking, before it has had time to run into lumps. It is alfo of importance to plough the foil with a more shallow furrow than usual, when lime is put upon it ;-efpecially the first time it is ploughed after the lime has been spread upon its furface. Because, at that ploughing, the lime being all on the furface, a larger proportion of it is turned into the bottom of the last made furrow, than at any fucceeding ploughing; and therefore more of it will be buried beneath the ftaple than at any other |