24 RELATION OF LIME AND MAGNESIA TO PLANT GROWTH. 
Government. Some typical soils show the following percentages of 
‘ime and magnesia: 
Percentages of lime and magnesia in some typical soils of Japan. 
Cea) Per cent of | Per cent of 
lime. | Mmagnesia. | 
ClayiSoila= Wot aerate ees ee Ae A RRsat ey een es eee We OI 0. 96 0.87 
Glaly Soil =o 5 Si eae Me yi Nea eh. ay De eee 32) 0.99 | a 
GIESISS Lo apnea 2 Pe eee NE Soe Le a I Re aes RA 0539)" 0. 04 
iacbiy, Ge; Vo apa 2 sae cyetaie et Be Me eke a ea ea ee a se) 0. 1-1: Ostet), 
Aas ithe: Taya as ee i eo hy A as an 2 a a 0 a Se ee 1.7-4.0 | 1. 3-3.0 
DIADaS SOM a2 eh ata. tat ars VL SUR ole ere raat TR 0.90 | 1.87 
BAS lb WTA se: ce seme Shade ees Se ei ee prerelease Pa PAL 1.38 
The last-mentioned soil is described as an excellent one. While in 
this case the ratio of lime to magnesia is as 1:0.6, there occur soils 
which contain more than double as much magnesia as lime. 
Soils from India.—TVhe soils from the Indo-Gangetic alluvium? are 
almost without any pebbles. One of the most fertile soils shows the 
proportion of 0.47 per cent lime to 0.32 per cent magnesia, or 1:0.67. 
The highest percentage of lime (limestone soils excluded) was found 
to be 2.07 per cent, and of magnesia 1.97 per cent. The ratio of lime > 
to magnesia varies from 1:0.56 to 1:2.35 among the eleven samples 
analyzed. 
In the brown alluvial soils from Madras lime occurs partly as carbon- 
ate and partly as hydrous silicate. The amount of lime varied in ten 
samples from 0.05 to 1.28 per cent, and that of magnesia from 0.20 to 
1.87 per cent, and the ratio of lime to magnesia from 1:1.52 to 1:1.42. 
It was not stated whether these loams and sandy soils contained the 
magnesia only as carbonate or partially as silicate; neither is mention 
made about fertility and the principal crops raised. Of seven samples 
of red soils from Madras, only one contained more lime than magnesia, 
and in one of them the amount of magnesia (1.1 per cent) exceeded 
that of lime (0.1 per cent) eleven times. 
In eighteen samples of the black cotton soils of Regur the amount 
of lime varied from 1.16 to 5.35 per cent, that of magnesia from 1.79 
to 3.09 per cent, and the proportion of lime to magnesia from 1:005 to 
1:2. In the twelve samples of laterite soils analyzed the amount of 
lime varied from 0.14 to 1.5 per cent, that of magnesia from 0.2 to 0.81 
per cent, and the ratio of lime to magnesia from 1:0.4 to 1:2. 
In five samples of manured coffee soils the amount of lime varied 
from 0.3 to 0.44 per cent, that of magnesia from 0.38 to 0.66 per 
cent, and the ratio of lime to magnesia from 1:1.2 to 1:1.5. In 
eleven samples of tea soils the amount of lime varied from 0.03 to 0.25 
per cent, that of magnesia from 0.08 io 1.08 per cent. 
1 Analyses from T. W. Leather, in the Calcutta Agricultural Ledger, 1898, No. 2. 
