140 Report of Farmers' Iivstitutes 



burnt lime as ordinarily applied would combine witb the soil and 

 be held rather than leached. This " fixing " insures longer periods 

 of plant response than would ensue, were the leaching more 

 extensive than the fixing. Citation could be made to plats, long 

 since free of burnt lime or its carbonate, which continue to give 

 benefits from the liming. In other words, in ordinary practice, 

 usually less of burnt lime is applied than the amounts which a 

 soil is capable of fixing and holding in forms other than those of 

 hydrate or carbonate. 



Table V. 



COMPARISON BETWEEN CONSERVATION OF LIME APPLIED AS CaO AND THAT AF- 

 FILED AS FINELY GROUND LIMESTONE. COMPOSITES OF 4 TIERS. TOTAL 

 AVERAGE CaO AS BURNT LIME, 31,000 LBS.; AS GROUND LIMESTONE 36,960. 



Burnt Lime 

 Treatments and 6 Tons Burnt Ground 



Manure Lime Limestone 



CaO gain in 21 inches, as total CaO 



lbs. per A 19,536X 17,793 21,088 



CaO gain in 21 inches as CaCOj 



per A 11,766=3 10,703 13,542 



CaO gain in 21 inches as other forms 



lbs. per A 7,770X 7,090 7,546 



CaO gain in 21 inches as total CaO 



per cent of application 63* 57 4 57 



CaO gain in 21 inches as CaCOa per 



cent of application 37.9// 34.5 36.6 



CaO gain in 21 inches as other forms 



per cent of application !... 25.1 XX 22.9 20.4 



Using manure X 17099 *55 . 1 



Treated plats = 9501 //30 . 6 



As checks X 7598 XX24 . 5 



But, suppose we use ground limestone containing some pieces 

 of appreciable size. Being less soluble, it will react less exten- 

 sively than bunit lime, and we would still have limestone remain- 

 ing. In other words, a good portion of the coarse limestone is 

 not only not available immediately, but is probably never utilized. 

 Hence, in many cases, we may not receive maximum possible 

 increase per cent from applied CaO as limestone, because though 

 in part removed or reduced, the soil acidity has not been suffi- 

 ciently reduced or entirely overcome. This means that acidity 

 or rather acid reacting materials still exist uncorrected or un- 

 neutralized, although some of the limestone is still present and 

 subject to leaching by carbonated water. Again, would this con- 

 dition tend toward conservation of total lime? It would not. 



