The Rkl.xtioxs of Li mi-: to Son. Improvkmext. 



623 



Average of 10 Plots. 



It appears from this data tliat the yield of hay was increased ahnost 

 40 per cent; the proportion of alfalfa was increased 10 per cent; the 

 percentage of nitrogen in the crops was increased ; lastly, the amount 

 of available nitrogen in the soil at the end of the growing season after 

 feeding a larger crop was larger on the limed soil than on the unlimed 

 soil. These results are in accord with general experience, and similar 

 results have previously been obtained on the University farm. It is clear, 

 therefore, that an adequate supply of lime carbonate in the soil is essential 

 to the formation of available nitrogen. 



(d.) Lime assists in maintaining the favorable sanitary condition of 

 the soil. As has been intimated, the normal soil teems with organisms. 

 Some of these are concerned with the food supply ; others with the 

 normal decay of organic matter; still others produce an injurious or 

 poisonous form of decay, and yet others produce various types of dis- 

 eases. To a large extent those forms which produce a favorable type of 

 decay are promoted by the presence of lime, and those which produce 

 the opposite or toxic form of decay are to a similar extent inhibited. 



This is seen in another way. An important part of the farmers' 

 attention is now directed to the control of various diseases of his crop 

 produced by fungi, bacteria, ttc. Some of these, as, for example, the 

 club-root or fingcr-and-toe disease of cabbage, turnips, etc., can be 

 readily prevented by the use of lime on the soil. Other diseases, as 

 the potato scab, are favored by lime. These relations are sufficient to 

 indicate the practical concern of the presence or absence of that material. 



(2.) Chemical effects, (a.) Lime liberates certain plant food 

 elements from their more insoluble combinations. In the early days of 

 agricultural chemistry, it was thought that by an analysis of the soil and 

 of the ash of plants, the proper fertilizer to be applied could be deter- 

 mined. We now recognize this to be impracticable for at least two 

 reasons: (1) The soil contains a large store of the plant food constit- 



