70 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE. 



The Liming of Soils. 



THE USE OF LIME FOR IMPROVING SOILS. 

 The recognition of the agricultural value of certain forms of lime is not 

 new, and it appears probable from the writings of Pliny that liming was practised 

 by the Romans more than two thousand years ago. In England, Germany, France, 

 and other European countries the application of lime in various forms has been and 

 is still practised extensively. Deherain states that certain regions of France have 

 undergone a veritable agricultural transformation owing to the use of lime and 

 marl. Miintz and Girard assert that more than one-fifth of the area of France 

 is of granitic origin, and that when the soils are supplied with lime and phosphoric 

 acid, which they lack, they undergo a complete transformation. In certain sections 

 of Germany carbonate of lime in the form of marl plays an important part in 

 maintaining the fertility of the soil. According to Wicke, the yields in certain 

 districts of Germany have at times been quadrupled by the employment of 

 marl, and many plants whose cultivation was previously impossible could be 

 grown at a profit after the soil was limed. Schultz, of Lupitz, one of the most 

 practical agriculturists of northern Germany, demonstrated the immense value of 

 marl in developing the productiveness of the light soil of that section of Germany. 

 By its use, in connection with abundant potash and phosphoric acid, he met 

 success in growing leguminous plants which gather from the air large stores 

 of nitrogen, thus making it possible by this addition of plant food and humus 

 to cultivate the light soil at a profit. Haxton, in a prize essay " On light land and 

 farming," mentions a number of siliceous sandy soils in various parts of Eugland 

 which are greatly benefited by liming, and in speaking of the granite formation 

 in Scotland asserts that " the whole of the granite soils are deficient in lime, 

 and the first step toward their improvement, after bnhig drained, is to apply 

 this substance in a hot or caustic state." 



Ruffin is perhaps the most prominent of the earlier writers who called 

 attention to the agricultural use of lime in the United States. As early as 1818, and 

 later, in 1821, articles on the subject were contributed by him to the " American 

 Farmer," and in 1832 appeared the first edition of his well-known work on 

 "Calcareous manures." He cites many instances showing the benefit derived 

 from calcium carbonate when applied in the form of marl to his own and 

 other Virginia estates. In certain parts of Pennsylvania and New York lime 

 has long been considered one of the essentials in wheat production. The beneficial 

 effect of liming has been demonstrated in Alabama, Alaska, New Hampshire, 

 Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Illinois, 

 and other parts of the United States, but, as Roberts states, probably 99 per 

 cent of the arable soil of the United States • has never been limed, and indeed 

 many large areas are not in need of it. The work of the experiment stations, 

 stimulated at the outset by that of Rhode Island, has now shown conclusively 

 that soils which respond profitably to liming, either on account of their acid 

 condition or of a deficiency of lime in other respects, are very widely distributed. 



DIRECT MANORIAL ACTION OP LIME. 



Authorities seem to agree that lime is necessary to the plant, and if it be 

 Wholly lacking in soils, even though an abundance of all the other essential 

 elements is presents the plant cannot develop normally. The plant cannot grow 



