29 
INVESTIGATIONS OF THE CHLOROSIS. 
PREVIOUS WORK ON LIME-INDUCED CHLOROSIS. 
Although it has never before been shown that pineapples are 
intolerant of calcium carbonate and that chlorosis is induced in this 
plant by the excessive amount of lime, fhas been observed that many 
other species of plants growing on calcareous soils show chlorosis. 
The amount of lime that plants will tolerate varies greatly with the 
different species and also with the different varieties of the same 
species. The chlorosis of grapevines on certain marly soils of France 
and Germany is probably the best known example of lime-induced 
chlorosis. ‘Some American phyloxera-resistant stocks show chlorosis 
on soils containing as little as 5 per cent of carbonate of lime; other 
American stocks are much more resistant, while certain native French 
stocks and hybrids show no chlorosis on soils containing 50 to 70 per 
cent of lime carbonate." 
Yellow and blue lupines and seradella are very sensitive to lime, 
only tolerating about 2 per cent of calcium carbonate in the soil, and 
their growth is greatly depressed in soils containing as little as 1 per 
cent.?. The varieties of lupines, Lupinus mutabilis, L. albus and L. 
nanus, however, are lime-loving plants and resist even 30 per cent of 
lime carbonate.* 
A chlorosis of pear trees growing on a strongly calcareous soil of the 
Isle of Sainte-Anne is reported by Dauthenay.‘ In Hertfordshire, 
England, an orchard of various fruit trees planted on a soil overlying 
a chalk formation was strongly affected with chlorosis. The surface 
soil contained 13.53 per cent of lime carbonate. Pears, peaches, 
plums, nectarines, apricots, and cherries were among the trees 
affected.*° Hilgard reports a chlorosis of citrus trees growing on a 
marly subsoil containing 22 to 39 per cent of lime carbonate.* 
The chlorosis of many ornamental and uncultivated plants growing 
on calcareous soils has also been observed. Sachs’ reports the 
chlorosis of a large number of plants growing in the garden of the 
Botanical Institute in Wiirzburg. The soil of this garden he de- 
scribes as strongly calcareous. 
Aside from the observations of the chlorosis of plants on calcareous 
soils there is an extensive literature on the adaptability of various 
plants to calcareous soils. 
1 The amount of lime that the different varieties of grapevines will tolerate is given by J. M. Guillon and 
O.Brunaud. Rev. Vit., 20 (1903), p. 535. 
2 Landw. Jahrb., 30 (1901), Sup. 2, p. 61. 
3J. A.C. Roux. Traité des Rapports des Plantes avec le sol et de la Chlorose Végétale. Montpellier and 
Paris, 1900, p. 132. 
4H. Dauthenay. Rev. Hort. [Paris], 73 (1901), p. 50. 
5R.L.Castle. Gard. Chron.,3. ser., 25 (1899), No. 652, p. 405; 26 (1899), No. 653, p. 4. 
6 California Sta. Cire. 27. 
7J. Sachs. Arb. Bot. Inst. Wiirzburg, 3 (1888), p. 433. 
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