12 The Bulletin 



On page 11 we find this statement: "At the Iredell Farm the aver- 

 age results show that lime, whether used alone or in combination 

 with fertilizing materials carrying nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and 

 potash, was used at a loss. On a whole, indications were that for 

 the growing of corn the soil on this farm does not especially need 

 lime when corn, cotton, small grains, and similar crops have been 

 grown continuously on the land, but that they are benefited by 

 lime when peas, clover, and similar crops have been grown and 

 turned back into the soil, thereby adding a large amount of vege- 

 table matter to it." In other words, caustic lime did no good where 

 there was no organic matter to burn, but when large amounts of organic 

 matter were added this caustic lime proceeded to burn this organic 

 matter and liberate enough nitrogen and ammonia to make a showing 

 in the succeeding crop. The experiments on the Buncombe Farm show, 

 also, that the caustic lime was profitable in growing the corn crop, 

 especially where large amounts of organic matter were transmitted or 

 added to the soil. This, it will be seen, is a strong argument against 

 the use of burned lime for agricultural purposes, as no results of im- 

 portance were secured anywhere unless large amounts of humus were 

 supplied on which this caustic material could wreak its vengeance. 



On page 9 are two soil analyses that show a calcium oxide content of 

 5,000 to 8,000 pounds to the acre. These analyses are misleading, as 

 there can be no caustic lime in any soil unless placed there by man. 

 The lime is in a silicate and, therefore, unavailable form in these ISTorth 

 Carolina soils. 



ACTION OF BURNED AND UNBURNED LIME ON SOIL HUMUS. 



Let us now turn to the literature on the relative efficiency of carbonate 

 lime and burned lime for maintaining soil fertility, and for other agri- 

 cultural purposes as discovered by the leading agricultural thinkers and 

 experimenters of the present generation, and we will find that ground 

 limestone and burned lime are about as much alike in their action as 

 water and fire. Both cause a necessary liberation of the nitrogen from 

 the organic matter of the soil for use in the production of the crop. But 

 the two forms of lime liberate the nitrogen in two very different chemical 

 bodies that act very differently toward the.potential fertility of the land. 



Ground limestone neutralizes any excessive acidity and otherwise 

 creates a favorable condition for the growth and multiplication of 

 nitrate-forming organisms in the soil. These organisms attack the soil 

 humus and liberate its contained nitrogen and combine this nitrogen 

 with calcium or lime to make calcium nitrate; or with soda to form 

 sodium nitrate ; or with potash to build up saltpetre or potassium nitrate. 

 All of these nitrogenous compounds are nonvolatile, solid bodies, that 

 are readily dissolved in the soil water and taken up by the crop. Little 

 or none is lost by leaching under normal conditions, as the crop takes it 



