On the Lime-factor for Different Crops, 



BY 



O. Loew. 



Remarks on the foregoing communications 

 of Jlfr. Aso and Mr. Furuta. 



On reviewing the results of Mr. Aso and Mr. Furuta the 

 fact that the greatest yield of a certain crop depends — other 

 things being equal — upon a distinct ratio between lime and 

 magnesia cannot be denied. Mr. Aso has operated with water 

 cultures and restricted^ his observations to the period before 

 flowering and fruiting, while Mr. Furuta has operated with soil- 

 cultures and directed his observations to the ripened harvest. 

 On comparing Aso s results with barley with Furuta 's results 

 with oats, the conclusion may be drawn that cereals before the 

 fruiting stage require more lime relatively to magnesia than 

 in the fruiting stage. This docs not surprise us, since on the 

 one hand the formation of the leaves requires much lime, while 

 on the other hand the formation of grains, much magnesia. It 

 is a fact that the grains of cereals contain more magnesiumphos- 

 phate than calciumphosphate. 



The greater the leaf surface to be developed in a given 

 time the greater will be the amount of lime required, hence we 

 observe also in the above experiments that soy beans (Aso) and 

 buckwheat (Furuta) require more lime relatively to magnesia 



CaO 



than oats (Furuta). The best ratio of n is according to 



