22 RELATION OF LIME AND MAGNESIA TO PLANT GROWTH. 
0.13 to 1.44 percent. Very probably the mechanical condition of these 
soils is also very favorable. 
Soils froin [taly.—The analyses of soils from Italy, in the literature 
available to the writer, show a general preponderance of lime over 
magnesia.’ Some of these are limestone soils, containing from 11 to 
19 per cent of lime. One of them shows only 0.09 per cent of mag- 
nesia for 11.04 per cent of lime, or a proportion of lime to magnesia 
of 1:0.008. In most of the soils analyzed the amount of magnesia is 
less than one-half of that of lime. 
Soils from Germany.—Fhe analyses made of German soils relate in 
the majority of cases to lands manured for centuries. Liming is also 
an operation extensively practiced there. Nevertheless, there occur 
large districts that require liming, as in the northern part of the Oden- 
wald.’ Of thirty-seven samples of soils of this district, however, only 
two were found to contain more magnesia than lime, and this excess 
was moderate. The alluvium of the Rhine frequently contains more 
magnesia than lime. Thus Wohltman® has analyzed, for purposes of 
valuation, soils belonging to seven different degrees of fertility. Of 
these, only the first-class soil showed, besides a larger proportion of 
potassa and phosphoric acid, more lime than magnesia, while the soils 
from the second to the seventh class contained from one and one-fourth 
to eight times more magnesia than lime. On the other hand the Rhine 
deposit at Langenau (Hessia) contains eight times more lime than 
magnesia, as seen from the analysis of E. Schulze, 1873. 
Many soils of the province of Brandenburg are very poor in lime 
(Ulbricht). An excess of magnesia over lime exists in the Berleburg 
district in Westfalen,* while in other parts of that province lime pre- 
dominates over magnesia. On the other hand, in thirty samples of 
humus soils of Hanover and neighboring districts lime predominates 
over magnesia.” 
Per cent. 
Maxerm umn or lame ae rt ae. wane eee ase ic lee yu rae raed 3. 93 
Maximnimnot mae mesa) a ze kore Mere aang ie tena eienne) Se eae aon eee ge 39 
Minimum ort ‘liane fea ols, 2s). Rae ea ee ge ee eae “OR 
Minimum of magnesia: 22-2 )4 soe ek ae eee ee ee OL 
The limestone soils of the best wine-producing districts are often 
very rich in lime, not only in western Germany but also at the mouth 
1 These soils serve to a great extent for the culture of tobacco. Cf. work of N. Spar- 
ano; Guida Agrario-Merceologica, Rome, 1899. 
*Ludecke, Jahresbericht f. Agriculturchemie, 1898. 
*Centralbl. f. Agriculturchemie, 1897. 
* Jahresber. f. Agriculturchemie, 1873. Also in certain Bohemian districts mag- 
nesia predominates over lime. Ibid., 1875 and 1876. 
° Anaiysis by Alberti, ibid., 1873 and 1874. 
