32 EXPERIMENT STATION EECORD. 



The results in general show that lime produces its full effect only when used 

 in connection with liberal manuring or fertilizing. 



The bulletin also discusses different forms of lime and gives instructions as 

 to the liming of different crops. 



The relative effect of lime as oxid and carbonate on certain soils, H. B. 

 Hutchinson and K. MacLennan (Jour. Agr. 8ci. [England^, 6 {1914), No. 3, 

 pp. 302-322, pis. 2, figs. 2; abst. in Jour. 8oc. Chem. Indus., 33 {191Jt), No. 21, pp. 

 1065, 1066; Chem. A1)S., 8 {1914), No. 23, p. 3834).— In a continuation on broader 

 lines of previous work (E. S. R., 29, p. 730) it was attempted to determine the 

 amount of lime required to induce partial sterilization and the relative values 

 of, and the character of the changes produced by, calcium oxid and carbonate in 

 acid and other soils. 



In laboratory studies with soils of widely different types the amount of 

 caustic lime necessary to induce specific changes in the flora and fauna of the 

 soil was found to depend very largely on the character of the soil. Light sandy 

 soil, poor in organic matter and in carbonate, reacted sharply with from 0.2 

 to 0.3 per cent of caustic lime; a clay soil, poor in organic matter but rich in 

 carbonate, reacted with from 0.8 to 0.4 per cent; an acid soil required an 

 amount between 0.5 and 1 per cent, as did also a rich garden soil which already 

 contained carbonate; a soil with a high organic and low carbonate content 

 failed to react even with applications of 1 per cent of caustic lime. " Each of 

 these soils, as well as many others examined, appears to absorb directly a 

 definite amount of caustic lime, and until these requirements are fully satisfied 

 the partial sterilization phenomena do not set in." Smaller applications than 

 those required for partial sterilization induced a temporary suspension of 

 nitrification, and consequent accumulation of ammonia, for periods varying 

 with the amount of lime and the character of each soil, and also led to a 

 temporary increase in the numbers of bacteria. 



" Caustic lime chemically breaks down some of the organic matter of the 

 soil, as shown by the ammonia formed during periods when soil bacteria are 

 quiescent; when, however, bacterial growth commences there is a large in- 

 crease in the rate of ammonia production. The return in nitrogen, as ammonia 

 and nitrate, for each increment of lime applied varies with the character and 

 reaction of the soil and the carbonate content. . . . Carbonate gave less re- 

 turns, apparently because of its relative inaction on soil organic matter." 



Pot experiments showed amounts of available nitrogen in the soils compar- 

 able with the amounts of ammonia and nitrate produced in the laboratory ex- 

 periments. In some cases the amount of caustic lime applied was sufficiently 

 large to check the growth of bacteria and to depress plant growth in the first 

 crop, but in the case of a rich garden soil the bacteria were active although 

 plant growth was depressed. 



Inhibition of nitrification resulting from applications of lime was found to 

 lead to a higher nitrogen content in the plants. Where the amount of lime 

 did not check nitrification the nitrogen content of the plants was about normal. 



A bibliography of the subject is appended. 



New fertilizer materials and by-products, H. D. Haskins {Massachusetts 

 8ta. Bui. 155 {1914), PP- 1113-181). — Analyses of the following materials are 

 reported with notes on their value and use as fertilizers : Sheep manure and 

 wool waste, wool waste feed from grease (sud cake), fine-ground foreign whale 

 guano, rockweed, crude unground garbage tankage, calcined phosphate, calcium 

 cyanamid, garbage tankage, picker dirt from cotton mill, cocoa-shell dust, 

 shoddy dirt from woolen mill, lime refuse from manufacture of lactic acid, 

 lime refuse from a bleachery filter bed, and lime refuse from a tannery. 



