CARBONATE OF LIME. 139 



Arkansas needs lime badly, except in her alluvial 

 soils along the Mississippi Eiver. There one sees 

 luxuriant alfalfa grown. Some of the "buckshot" 

 soils of Arkansas have in them a great amount of 

 lime carbonate and are destined to be great alfalfa- 

 producing regions. The hill soils and uplands 

 mostly are in need of more lime. There are excep- 

 tional areas of upland that have already sufficient 

 lime native in their soils, but these areas have not 

 yet been accurately defined. 



Missouri grows alfalfa about in proportion to her 

 lime content. In Pemiscot county along the Missis- 

 sippi Eiver on "buckshot" soil alfalfa grows glori- 

 ously. This soil contains about Ij4% of calcium 

 carbonate. Prof. M. F. Miller, of the Missouri Col- 

 lege of Agriculture, reports that where about ^ of 

 1% of carbonate of lime is in Missouri soils and 

 humus is supplied through use of manures, alfalfa 

 thrives. 



At this time (1909) it is unknown how much of 

 Iowa would be helped by application of more lime. 

 A letter giving results from Scott County is pre- 

 sented on a preceding page. It is probable that 

 over much of the prairie section of the state a light 

 application, say one ton to three tons per acre of 

 ground limestone, would put the right condition 

 there for proper bacterial life in the soil. That is 

 about all there is to it; lime enough is needed to 

 make the earth swarm with the right sort of bac- 

 teria. Lime enough is needed to correct any toxic 

 principle exhaled from the alfalfa roots. 



