THE ANALYSIS OF VIRGIN SOILS. 365 



INFLUENCE OF LIME UPON SOIL FERTILITY. 



Assuming as substantially correct the numerical data given 

 above in respect to the three leading ingredients of plant-food 

 phosphoric acid, potash and nitrogen, the dominant role 

 of lime in soil fertility, already mentioned, requires some 

 farther illustration and discussion. 



;c A Lime Country is a Rich Country." The instant change 

 of vegetation when we pass from a non-calcareous region to 

 one having calcareous soils, has already been alluded to. ( See 

 this chapter, p. 354). But it is not necessary to be a botanist 

 to see the change in the prosperity of the farming population 

 as one enters a lime district. The single log-cabin with, prob- 

 ably, a wooden barrel terminating the mud-plastered chimney, 

 is replaced, first by double log-houses, then by frame, and far- 

 ther on by brick buildings, with the other unmistakable evi- 

 dences of prosperity. Thus this is seen in passing from the 

 mountain region of Kentucky into the " bluegrass " country, 

 which is throughout underlaid by calcareous formations; and 

 thus, likewise, in crossing the strike of the formations of Ala- 

 bama, Mississippi and Louisiana, or any other region where un- 

 derlying calcareous formations have contributed to the for- 

 mation of the soils, as compared with some adjacent district 

 where this is not the case. The calcareous loess areas border- 

 ing on the Mississippi river and some of its chief tributaries, 

 are conspicuous cases in point, as are also the prairies of Illi- 

 nois and Indiana. 



Effects of High Lime-content in Soils. The table below il- 

 lustrates the fact that in the presence of high lime-percentages, 

 relatively low percentages of phosphoric acid and potash may 

 nevertheless prove adequate; while the same, or even higher 

 amounts, in the absence of satisfactory lime-percentages prove 

 insufficient for good production. 1 



1 This statement appears contradictory of the observations of Schloesing fils 

 upon the solubility of phosphoric acid in presence of lime carbonate (Am. Sci. 

 Agron., tome i, 1899), but the natural conditions seem to justify fully the above 

 conclusion. 



