4O Coco-nuts The Consols of the East 



'''Liming, a very necessary branch of 

 agriculture, is almost entirely neglected in 

 Ceylon. I do not intend writing a dissertation 

 on lime, though a paper could be written 

 exclusively on this one subject. The action 

 of lime on soil is partly physical and partly 

 chemical. It gives cohesion to a light sandy 

 soil, and renders a hard soil friable. It is 

 specially useful on alluvial and clayey soil. 

 By its chemical action it sets free plant food 

 which exists in an insoluble condition. Per- 

 haps its most important attribute is that it 

 assists . the work of nitrifying bacteria. It 

 should be applied to the land after it has been 

 tilled or ploughed, and to trees a few months 

 before the application of manure, so that it 

 may have time to revert to the carbonate 

 form by the action of the atmosphere and 

 rain. Unless this chemical change occurs, the 

 nitrogen in the manure to be applied will 

 be dissipated as ammonia. The action of 

 manure will be increased by a previous appli- 

 cation of lime to the soil. Now, as to the 

 quantity of lime that should be applied per 

 acre. In European agriculture it used to be 

 applied at the rate of six to eight tons per 

 acre at intervals of five to six years, but I 

 believe this harmful system has now been 

 abandoned. I advised a gentleman who con- 

 sulted me about the treatment of a heavy 

 alluvial soil to apply about 10 bushels of lime 

 per acre biennially. He was more than 



