<6i2 Journal oj Agriculture, Victoria. [ioOct.. 1912. 



{a) If spread by hand, the lime may be placed on the ploughed 

 land in small heaps at regular inter\al.s. and co\ered with fine soil. 

 If quicklime be used, it may be allowed to ''air slack" by 

 atmospheric moisture or by showers of rain, in which case a mixture 

 of carbonate and hydrate is obtained ; or it may be slaked quickly 

 by the adBition of sufficient water to break down the mass into 

 fine powder. If this latter operati(jn be judiciouslv performed, and 

 ■excessive amounts of water be avoided, the whole mass will break down 

 into very fine powder which will act most beneficially on the soil. After 

 slaking, the lime may be mixed with earth (to facilitate evenness in d stri- 

 bution and render it less objectionable to^ handle), and then spread with a 

 shovel and harrowed in. 



Since lime naturally tends to ' ' sink ' ' in the soil and to be remo\ed 

 by solution from the surface layers, it is unad\isable to plough it in and 

 thus place it at the bottom of the furrow. The bett<-r practice is to 

 spread it on the surface and harrow it in. 



FIG. I. LIMESPREADER. 



{b) Lime and ground limestone may be sown with an ordinary seed 

 drill, but only in relatively small quantities, i.e., a few cwt. per acre. 

 If larger dressings are to be applied with the drill, it becomes necessarv 

 to go over the land twice, which obviously increases the cost of the appli- 

 cation. 



{c) There are, however, a number of specially constructed limespreaders 

 now on the market, which will satisfactorily sow from 2 or 3 cwt. up to 

 2 tons per acre with great uniformity. The general principle of these 

 spreaders is that the lime is fed into a V-shaped hopper containing a 

 series of slots either at the bottom or .side of the box, through which the 

 lime is forced by means of a revolving chain, a set of teeth, or by a set 

 of beaters. The amount of lime sown is regulated bv an alteration in the 

 size of the exit slots. Figures I., II.. III. represent three limespreaders 

 procurable on the Melbourne market. These limespreaders do very satis- 

 factor\- work, and will spread from 3 cwt. to 2 tons of lime per acre 



