(. 2450)

UNSUCCESSFUL VSE OF LIME IN MANURE.

Tov the Editor of the Agricultural Magazine. SIR, Fakenlam, Sept. 5, 1805.

N the course of last winter, I had occasion to collect a ] pretty large heap of weeds of almost every description, in= cluding also a mass of Such non-descript rubbish as may be always raked off a pease-stubble, when the pease have been but a thin crop. To this heap, consisting of about 5even or eight loads, Ladded tbhirty-Six bushels of unslacked lime, Spreading it 10 alternate layers between the weeds. The consequence was what 1 looked for in the first instance, a tborough decomposi- tion of the vegetable matter, and this too effected, as 1 Sup- Pposed,“ Secundum artem," by means of a Slow smothering fire, and no flame; for Such 1 understood the process Should be. Having accomplished this to my entire Satisfaction, 1 Couceived 1 had now at command a tew loads of manure of inestimable value, to bestow upov the poorest Spot in my farm. I had the preceding winter,(1803,) thrown down an old fence, which parted two inclozures, the bauk or mound of earth of which had, for centuries probably, Stood over a Strip of land, about four feet wide, and 1wo hundred yards long. This I had Ssown with oats upon the first earth, in the following March, but scarcely an oat reared its head upon that part, while its adjoining edges, 2. e. where the ditch and back bad been, produced a luxuriant crop. 1 cannot gay 1 was dis3appointed at my want of Success, having Seen re- peated instances of the Same kind: but Still I cannot ac- count for it. There can be no doubt, but that this narcow Swip of land was once capable of bearing corn before the bank of earth was raised upon it. Is the total deprivation of air fatal to its powers of fertility, and does it render its nature Similar to that of a Sub-S0il or dead earth? Not despairing, but that good tillage and exposure to frosts would bring it about again; I ploughed it as Soon as Iny pitilal crop ot oats was ofl, and left it till Jast March, when it was apparently of a better colour, and in good state for the reception of any grain. To place the matter beyond a doubt, and to make any crop certain, I then applied the dressing of compost which 1 have been describing, at the rate of. S:x Zoads upon a Square of eighteen yards; a very liberal allowance 1 con- Ceived, and Such as would never be tried upon a larger Scale than the present one. This dressing 1 ploughed under, very ſeet or Superficially, and Sowed sprivg vetches there. To my great astonisShment, Scarcely a veich yegetated to a Size