Lime 



knowledge one must base its use and avoid its 

 abuse. 



The use of lime must always be combined with 

 that of potash and assimilable phosphates, because, 

 a great quantity of nitrogen being liberated in the 

 form of ammonia by this means, a tendency to 

 vigorous vegetation will be promoted, and all the 

 necessary elements being present in sufficient 

 quantity there is no loss of nitrogen as long as the 

 dressings of lime are not exaggerated. 



On the other hand, tribasic phosphates, whether 

 mineral or animal, must not be used at the same 

 time as lime, because the lime, neutralising the 

 acids in the soil, makes them powerless to act on the 

 insoluble phosphates, since it is the acid which, by 

 making a combinatign with one or two bases, 

 renders the phosphates assimilable. 



In acid soils nitrification is not produced, unless 

 the acidity is first saturated with lime, whilst too 

 much lime hinders the progress of nitrification. 

 When the lime is in excess it bums the organic 

 matters on which the ferments depend, which 

 promote the microbes of nitrification, thus destroy- 

 ing the conditions which are necessary to their 

 development. Therefore, in destroying the humus 

 by an excess of lime one is destroying that which is 

 essential to the fertility of the soil. It follows, of 

 course, that the more humiferous the soil the more 

 lime can be applied, and the more acid it is, the 

 more one ought to apply it. Therefore the quantity 

 of lime which may be too much in one soil may be 

 only what is right in another, and may not be suffi- 

 cient in a third. 



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