162 Lime Requiremeiits of New Zealand Soils 



this case the crop was more resistant to acid conditions, and persisted 

 until the soil showed an absorption of over 0-22 %. ' 



Unfortunately we have not in this country a series of experimental 

 results bearing on this point, but practical farm methods appear to 

 indicate that the Umits suggested in the above statement are too 

 narrow for adoption here. Thus, to take the case of the Wallacetown 

 soil, one giving a markedly acid reaction and with an indicated Ume 

 requirement of 0-265 % , it is found that a dressing of even 1 ton and 

 certainly of not more than 1|- tons of burnt hme, is ample for the practical 

 purpose of putting the soil into a condition to yield an abimdant harvest, 

 while owing to the high price of lime a phenomenal return would be 

 required for a further apphcation to prove profitable. Another point 

 is that the effect of hming is seen rather in the pastures than in the 

 cereal or root crops. At Edendale (where the practice of liming was 

 first introduced into Southland 25 years ago) they say that a want of 

 something in the soil was seen, not so much by low yield of oats and 

 turnips, as in the ill-health and lack of condition of stock depastured in 

 these fields. 



These points will be further referred to in the next part of this paper. 



11. Lime Requirements of some Soils of the 

 South Island, N.Z. 



In this section the hme requirements of the soils of two South 

 Island areas are considered, and an attempt is made to correlate the 

 indications given by Hutchinson and MacLennan's method with the 

 dictates of practical experience. 



In order to avoid interfering factors such as differences of climate, 

 rainfall, geological origin of the soils, systems of farming, etc., the 

 writer decided to confine his study to two areas. Fortunately enough, 

 the two districts most suitable from the point of view of accessibihty 

 to the writer and as having come within his own personal experience, 

 are also entirely suitable from other considerations. These two 

 districts are Mid-Canterbury and the Southland Plain. In the former 

 is situated the Canterbury Agricultural College, and it is preeminently 

 a district where the most diverse opinions are held as to the needs or 

 otherwise of hming. In Southland the writer has fairly intimate 

 knowledge of a good deal of agricultural country as well as a general 

 knowledge of the whole district. What is more important is that in 

 many parts practical experience shows that the soil demands hme ; that, 



