1880 



LIME 



LIME 



parts of New England, New York, New Jersey, Penn- 

 sylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, and in 

 many of the southern and western states. 



The chief function of lime is to correct the chemical 

 reaction of acid soils. 



The necessity of lime as a direct plant-food for the 

 higher orders of plants has been indisputedly demon- 

 strated and its physiological role is of the greatest 

 significance. 



Lime is of indirect service in various ways: (1) It 

 aids in transforming the nitrogen of organic matter 

 and ammonium salts into nitric acid, which, in com- 

 bination with potash, soda, lime, and magnesia, 

 furnishes most plants the major portion of their nitro- 

 gen. (2) It serves as an indirect food by transforming 

 or setting free other soil ingredients which plants 

 require. (3) It appears probable that liming favors 

 symbiosis and the consequent assimilation of atmo- 

 spheric nitrogen in the case of clovers, alfalfa and cer- 

 tain other legumes, while it may have an opposite 

 effect upon others, among which may be mentioned 

 serradella and certain lupines. (4) Lime attacks cer- 

 tain more or less inert combinations of potash and of 

 phosphoric acid which exist in soils, thereby rendering 

 their manurial constituents more readily assimilable. 

 (5) Noxious iron compounds in soils are so acted upon 

 by lime as to overcome their poisonous tendency. (6) 

 The presence in soils of carbonate of lime and of 

 silicates highly charged with lime prevents the forma- 

 tion of "sour" humus and toxic aluminum compounds, 

 and hence injury to a large class of agricultural plants. 

 (7) Liming makes clays more friable and sandy soils 

 more compact, thus improving the texture of each. 

 By the flocculation of the small particles of the former, 

 water passes into them more readily and the danger 

 of serious washing is thus diminished. (8) Soluble 

 phosphates are less liable to be lost or changed into 

 unassimilable forms in soils containing lime. (9) 

 Lime lessens the danger of the destruction of nitrates, 

 especially in soils which are in bad physical condition. 



Large quantities of lime should not be employed on 

 sandy soils in a single application, although there is 

 less danger in using ground limestone than in the 

 employment of either burned or slaked lime. 



The repeated use of highly magnesian lime is fraught 

 with possible danger, although if applied only occa- 

 sionally in the place of ordinary lime the magnesia 

 may sometimes prove highly beneficial. 



The use of lime, whether in wood-ashes, burned 

 lime, slaked lime, ground limestone, or combined with 

 organic acids, increases the tendency to alkalinity of 

 the soil, and hence makes it more favorable to the 

 development of at least the common potato-scab, 

 provided the fungus, which is the direct cause of the 

 disease, is already in the soil or is introduced into it 

 on the "seed" tubers. 



The "root-rot" of tobacco, chlorosis of pineapples 

 and the "dry spot" of oats may be promoted by exces- 

 sive liming. 



The disease which develops upon turnips and upon 

 certain other plants, known as "club-foot," or "club- 

 root" and "finger-and-toe," is lessened to a marked 

 degree by large applications of lime. For this purpose 

 burned and slaked lime are the most efficient forms to 

 apply. 



Slaked lime is usually applied to land, for ordinary 

 purposes, at rates ranging from half a ton to two and 

 a half tons to the acre, and at intervals of four to six 

 years. Slaked lime usually contains 65 to 70 per cent 

 of lime and magnesia; burned lime before slaking con- 

 tains 90 to 98 per cent of lime and magnesia, whereas 

 giound limestone and high grade marl contain from 48 

 to 52 per cent. The quantities of each of these forms 

 to employ should be varied in accordance with their 

 analysis, bearing in mind, however, that it is usually 

 safer on light soils to make the applications of burned 



and slaked lime relatively smaller than those of ground 

 limestone and marl. On all light, sandy, and gravelly 

 loams which are likely to become dry, ground limestone 

 or marl should always be used if possible, but for floc- 

 culating heavy clay soils, burned or slaked lime is 

 usually more quickly effective. 



Lime should be thoroughly worked into the surface 

 soil after plowing. Slaked lime can be applied with 

 much greater safety on sandy soils if it is first composted 

 with vegetable matter. Its beneficial effects in con- 

 nection with composting have long been known. If 

 lime is mixed with layers of loam, weeds, muck, coarse 

 stable manure and other vegetable and animal matter, 

 it forms in a few months, if kept moist, an excellent 

 material for the use of gardeners. If worked over a 

 few times, at intervals, the fermentation is materially 

 hastened. The introduction of a little common salt 

 or of muriate of potash facilitates the process by vir- 

 tue of the formation of carbonate of soda or carbonate 

 of potash. In order to prevent the loss of ammonia, 

 compost heaps should be kept covered with a layer of 

 moist earth. 



The influence of lime on plant growth is often 

 astounding. Lettuce, spinach, beets, onions, musk- 

 melons, asparagus, clovers, timothy, Kentucky blue- 

 grass and certain poppies are almost failures on very 



2175. Acid lime. Citrus aurantifolia. 



acid soils until lime is applied. Watermelons, lupines, 

 serradella, cranberries, rhododendrons, azaleas and 

 other plants might be cited, some of which are known to 

 be indifferent, injured, or even ruined by heavy appli- 

 cations of lime. Their natural home is on a sour soil. 

 The Early Richmond and Black Tartarian cherries are 

 both helped by liming. The Delaware grape seems to 

 be helped by liming in a greater degree than the Con- 

 cord. The Blackcap raspberry does not respond to 

 liming on a very acid soil whereas the Cuthbert, a 

 red variety, responds favorably to the treatment. 

 The quince is more in need of lime on an acid soil than 

 the apple, pear, or peach. The American linden and 

 American elm are helped by lime on acid soils whereas 

 the white birch may show utter indifference to it. The 

 success of the beech on the limestone soils of Europe 

 indicates its natural home. Chestnut trees are said 

 not to thrive well on limestone soils, and the heavy 

 liming of certain spruces and pines is often injurious, 

 although it is reported from France that the light 

 liming of certain soils which were presumably exceed- 

 ingly acid has sometimes been found helpful. Goose- 



