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The Need for Lime and How to Meet it. [June, 



THE NEED FOR LIME AND HOW 

 TO MEET IT. 



B. H. Bedell. 



Before the general use of artificials enabled the farmer to 

 forget for a time his ancient friend the lime kiln, he had limed 

 not always wisely but frequenth^ too well, with the result that 

 such stores of lime were laid up in the soil that many fields 

 to-day owe much of their fertility to excessive dressings of lime 

 applied perhaps forty years ago. This happy state of affairs 

 is, however, becoming more and more rare as the years succeed 

 one another and no lime is returned to the soil to replace the 

 inevitable losses. It has been computed that to meet the lime 

 requirements of the arable land only in England and Wales, 

 3 J million tons of burnt lime would be needed, and that the 

 losses due to all causes on this same land do not fall far short 

 of 800,000 tons a 3'ear. As it is improbable that more than 

 850,000 tons are applied annually it is not difficult to see that 

 we are heading straight for national lime bankruptcy. In fact 

 a time is approaching, and on some farms has already arrived, 

 when no amount of artificial manure can restore loss of fertility 

 due to soil acidity which only lime in some form can correct. 



The writer feels, therefore, that no apology is needed for 

 drawing attention to some of the considerations incidental to 

 the production of lime to meet this urgent need. 



There are two forms in which lime may be applied to the 

 soil, neglecting unessential modifications. The first of these 

 is burnt lime, and the second is ground limestone (or ground 

 chalk) , and each of these can be obtained by the farmer in two 

 ways; he can either buy them, or if his land overlies a chalk or 

 limestone formation, he can produce them himself. At the 

 present time there is a feeling among agriculturists that lime 

 producers are demanding much more profit than they are 

 economically entitled to, or than the increased costs of produc- 

 tion warrant. The writer believes that this feeling is by no 

 means always justified by the facts, but where it is well founded, 

 the purchasers (either individually or collectivel}^ as a co-opera- 

 tive society) might think well of adopting the second alternative 

 and eliminate the producer's profit altogether by providing their 

 own lime. With this possibility in view, it is proposed to 

 offer a few suggestions as to the plant required and the processes 

 involved, first in the production of ground limestone (or chalk) 

 and secondly in burning these materials to obtain quick lime. 



