626 Circular No. 7, 



Warrington reports the remark of an English farmer to the effect that 

 liming clay soil enabled him to plow with two horses where he for- 

 merly used three. 



(b.) The effect of lime in flocculating and fixing humus has 

 been mentioned. It is partly a physical action. 



(c.) Lime has been considered to bind sandy soils. We know 

 of no experimental evidence on this point. We should consider other 

 effects it might have as primary and this binding action under field 

 culture as secondary. 



THE GENERAL NEED OF LIME. 



We have now sketched some of the effects of lime on soil, from 

 which may be seen its importance. Before discussing the forms of 

 lime and other practical details, a few words concerning the relative 

 extent of soils in need of lime and also the rate of loss of lime from 

 soil may not be amiss. 



While the use of lime has been largely confined to the States north 

 of the Mason-Dixon line and east of Indiana, that limitation is not to 

 continue. We find that under cultivation there is a larger removal of 

 basic elements than of acid elements. This develops a lack of basicity. 

 The rate at which the need for lime will be developed will 

 depend on several conditions. Among these are the supply of lime 

 and other bases in the soil, the crop yields and types of farming, and 

 the fertilizers and manures used. The larger the amount of humus in 

 the soil in proportion to lime the larger will be the removal of lime in 

 the drainage. Those fertilizers leaving sulfuric and hydrochloric acid 

 residues in the soil especially favor loss of lime. 



On the Rothamsted plots in England about 312 pounds of lime 

 was lost per acre from the plot receiving no manure or fertilizer, while 

 723 pounds were lost from the plot receiving ammonia and magnesium 

 sulfate and acid phosphate. 



In New York we have large sections of the state in the improve- 

 ment of which the use of lime is highly desirable if not absolutely essen- 

 tial. The part of the state in need of lime is much larger than the 

 part not in need of hme. All our highland section in the Southwest- 

 ern quarter of the state needs lime, especially for success with clover. 

 Much of the lake plains and of the eastern part of the state have a 

 similar need. In the improvement of our soil zve emphasise, first, the 

 control of water, involving drainage payiiciilarly; second, an adequate 



