CARBONATE OF LIME. 139 
Arkansas needs lime badly, except in her alluvial 
soils along the Mississippi River. 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 River on ‘‘buckshot’’ soil alfalfa grows glori- 
ously. This soil contains about 14% 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. 
