The Bulletin 11 



On an average, one ton burned lime laid down in 



North Carolina costs about $8.27 



Enough unburned lime to make a ton burned lime 



costs S-^^ 



Difference in favor of unburned lime $3.19 



It is plain, therefore, that the advice of Extension Circular, No. 24, in 

 this case, is wholly wrong, and if followed by the farmers would cost 

 them untold thousands of dollars. 



To show what this advice would have cost the farmers during the past 

 fifteen months, had they made their purchases of lime in accordance with 

 these views, we have only to multiply the 18,000 tons of lime carbonate 

 by 56 per cent to get the number of tons of burned lime contained in it, 

 and this result by $3.19. This gives us $32,155.20 as the actual cash loss 

 that would have been unavoidably sustained in the original outlay. 

 Now, the most reliable experiments with the use of burned lime as com- 

 pared with unburned lime show conclusively that, on the average, about 

 $7 worth of soil nitrogen is destroyed for every ton of burned lime used. 

 Multiplying the 10,080 tons of burned lime by $7 gives us the additional 

 loss of $70,560 to be added to the original loss of $37,296, making a 

 grand total loss of $102,715.20 the farmers would have sustained had 

 they taken the advice given in Extension Circular, No. 24, rather than 

 that contained in the circular entitled "Liirie Facts for Landowners:' 



At the bottom of page 8 reference is made to the results of some experi- 

 ments conducted with caustic lime on the Iredell Test Farm, stating 

 that " In securing these results lime has been applied at the rate of 

 500 pounds of burned lime or 1,000 pounds of slaked lime per acre." 

 It is well known that the soils of the Iredell Test Farm are very low in 

 organic matter content. The use of caustic lime, therefore, would hardly 

 be expected to be attended with favorable results on crops that were not 

 members of the legume family, as the first effect of the lime would be to 

 sterilize the soil, deplete it of a part of its organic matter, and thus 

 reduce bacterial action and prevent the maximum evolution of ni- 

 trates. The results here, therefore, showed no gain in the cotton crop 

 from the use of burned lime; neither were there any favorable results 

 with lime on cotton at the Kaleigh Station, the soils of which are very 

 similar to those of the Iredell Farm in organic matter content. When, 

 however, caustic lime was used on cotton at the Edgecombe Farm good 

 results were secured, because, as the saying goes, "There is organic 

 matter to burn" in the soils of this farm. The good results here were 

 secured, doubtless, not only from the incidental sweetening of the sour 

 soils, but also from the liberation of an excess of nitrogen from the large 

 supply of humus in these sandy loams. The results with corn here were 

 similar to those with cotton. 



