STORING LIME IN THE SOIL 



their ability to hold what may be given 

 them that it is idle to offer any estimate on 

 this point. The amount of lime found in 

 the drainage waters of limestone land 

 teaches no lesson of value for other land, the 

 excessive loss in the former case being due 

 oftentimes to erosion that creates channels 

 through the subsoil,, through which soil and 

 lime pass. 



But we do know the tendency of lime to 

 get away, and the use of several tons of fine 

 stone per acre may easily be followed by 

 loss in many types of soil. It is wholly 

 reasonable to believe that some portion of 

 such an application should be coarse 

 enough to stay where put until needed by 

 exhaustion of the finer portion. It is upon 

 this theory that coarser material often is 

 preferred to the very finest. 



What Degree of Fineness? Assuming 

 that the farmer is in a position to store some 

 carbonate of lime in his land for future use, 

 giving the soil an alkaline character for five 

 or TO years, the degree of fineness of the 

 stone is important, partly because there will 

 be distinct loss by leaching from many 

 types of soils if all the material is fine as 

 dust, and specially because less finely pul- 



39 



