The Bulletin 



DISCUSSION OF STATEMENTS CONTAINED IN EXTENSION CIRCULAR, 



No. 24 



The following discussion is offered the people of North Carolina in 

 order to show them the reliability and trustworthiness of the statements 

 made in "Lime Facts for Landowners" and Bulletin i^o. 220, put out by 

 the Commissioner of Agriculture, and the danger to the economic agri- 

 cultural developm,ent of the State that would inevitably follow the adop- 

 tion of the teachings of Extension Circular, No. 2Jf, put out by the 

 Director of the United States Experiment Station at West Raleigh. 



CAUSTIC LIME. 



First, attention will be called to the advice given in Extension Cir- 

 cular, No. 24, concerning the use of caustic lime for agricultural pur- 

 poses. But before proceeding with this particular phase of this publica- 

 tion, it will be well to say that every informed agriculturist admits 

 that all normal plant growth requires certain amounts of phosphate, 

 potash, lime, and nitrogen in the soil. All of these plant-food con- 

 stituents must be present in the soil, having been placed there by nature, 

 or must be supplied from outside sources. Phosphate, potash, nitrogen, 

 and lime are the ones most often purchased, the other necessary- 

 elements being generally abundantly present in normal soils. As a 

 rule, that constituent, or those constituents, in which the soil is most 

 deficient are the ones that are most often subjects of purchase. 



It will also be well to say, at the outset, that burned or caustic lime 

 was almost the only form of lime the people of America could get till 

 limestone grinding machinery came into use, and that the custom of 

 using burned lime became general from necessity. Nevertheless, burned 

 lime has always been recognized as too concentrated a form of lime for 

 agricultural purposes, and objectionable not only on account of the 

 difficulty of handling, and the high original cost, but also on account of 

 its detrimental effect on the potential fertility of the land. While farm- 

 ers may, and some do, use caustic lime with good results, they all say 

 large amounts of organic matter must be added to the soil in connection 

 with it ; otherwise, their lands will soon deteriorate in potential fertility- 

 The wisdom gathered from the experience of the ages, in the use of 

 caustic lime the world over, is crystallized in the well known proverb, 

 "Lime and lime without manure makes both farm and farmer poor." 



Now to Extension Circular, No. 24. In paragraph 1 of this circular 

 the idea is conveyed that few farmers know how to use lime, and that 

 unless great care is taken disastrous results are sure to follow its use. 

 If burned lime alone is meant, the cry of warning is quite timely; but 

 if iniburnod lime is to bo included in the remarks, the advice is essen- 

 tially wrong nnd misleading, as this form of lime tends only to build 

 up and not to tear down the soil. There is, perhaps, no element of plant 



